The present invention, in some aspects, relates to systems and methods for determining oxidized proteins, including glutathionylated proteins such as S-glutathionylated proteins. The systems and methods of the invention can be used in vitro (e.g., in cell or tissue culture) or in vivo, for example, to diagnose a person having an oxidative stress condition. For instance, in some cases, the invention can be used to spatially determine the location and/or concentration of oxidized proteins within cells and/or tissues (e.g., through visual detection).

The present invention relates to the field of biomarkers. More specifically, the present invention relates to biomarkers useful in diagnosing brain injury or neurodegeneration. In one embodiment, a method for diagnosing brain injury in a patient comprises the steps of (a) obtaining a sample from the patient; (b) determining the ratio of citrullinated to unmodified arginine residues at one or more arginine residues of one or more brain injury biomarker proteins; and (c) correlating the ratio to a patient having brain injury or to a patient not having brain injury, thereby providing the diagnosis.

The present invention generally relates to the fields of cancer therapy and cancer prevention. More particularly, the present invention generally relates to a diagnostic marker for predicting the efficacy of topoisomerase I (topo I) inhibitors in the treatment of cancers. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods, machines, computer systems, computable readable media and kits which can be used to identify and determine the effectiveness of topoisomerase I (topo I) inhibitors in the treatment of cancers, and in some embodiments, the level of sensitivity or resistance of a tumor cell to a topoisomerase I inhibitor, such as camptothecin (CPT), or CTP analogues such as topotecan and irinotecan and derivatives thereof. More specifically, the present invention related to methods, machines, computer systems, computable readable media and kits which can be used to determine the presence of phosphorylation of topoisomerase I polypeptide, in some embodiments phosphorylation at residue serine 10 (S10) of a topoisomerase I polypeptide, wherein the presence of phosphorylation, in particular the phosphorylation at serine 10 of a topoI polypeptide indicates a cancer is likely to be unresponsive to a topo I inhibitor, whereas the absence of phosphorylation, in particular, the absence of phosphorylation at residue serine 10 (S10) identifies a cancer is likely to be responsive to a topo I inhibitor. Other aspect of the present invention relate to phospho-serine10 topoisomerase I antibodies and other protein binding moieties, and uses thereof.

The present invention relates to neukinase, a downstream protein kinase in the neuregulin signaling pathway. In certain aspects, the present invention provides isolated neukinase-encoding nucleic acids, neukinase polypeptides, oligonucleotides that hybridize to neukinase nucleic acids, and expression vectors containing neukinase-encoding sequences. The present invention further provides isolated host cells, antibodies, transgenic non-human animals, compositions, and kits relating to neukinase. In other aspects, the present invention further provides methods of identifying predisposition to cardiac dysfunction, methods of detecting the presence of neukinase, neukinase nucleic acid, methods of screening for agents which affect neukinase activity, and methods of modulating neukinase activity.

The present invention provides biomimetic sensor devices that utilize proteinssuch G-protein coupled receptorsand are useful in high-sensitivity analysis of analyte-containing samples. These sensors may be used to determine the presence or concentration of one or more analytes in a sample. The invention also includes methods of fabricating the devices and methods of using the devices to assay samples.

Disclosed are methods and apparatus for separation of biomolecules via two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, methods and apparatus for immunoblotting separated biomolecules, and methods for the use of biomolecules processed via the methods and apparatus of the present invention, including use in a clinical setting. The methods and apparatus for separation of biomolecules via two-dimensional gel comprises vertical agarose gel electrophoresis in the first dimension, and the electrophoresis of a novel non-denaturing 3-35% concave gradient polyacrylamide gel in the second dimension. This novel gel can be cast in a modified gel caster that can facilitate the pouring of multiple gels simultaneously. The methods and apparatus for immunoblotting are useful with any type of immunoblotting, including Western blot, Northern blot, and Southern blot analyses. These methods and apparatus provide safe, efficient and cost-effective immunoblots, while facilitating the reduction of exposure to toxic or radioactive materials, as well as the disposal of those materials.

The invention relates to a method for quantitatively identifying relevant HLA-bound peptide antigens from primary tissue specimens on a large scale without labeling approaches. This method can not only be used for the development of peptide vaccines, but is also highly valuable for a molecularly defined immunomonitoring and the identification of new antigens for any immunotherapeutic strategy in which HLA-restricted antigenic determinants function as targets, such as a variety of subunit vaccines or adoptive T-cell transfer approaches in cancer, or infectious and autoimmune diseases.

The invention discloses a method for measurement of peptidic degradation products of a proteolytic cascade in biological samples, especially blood samples, wherein the sample is incubated until a steady state equilibrium is reached for at least one peptidic degradation product involved in said proteolytic cascade and wherein said at least one peptidic degradation product in steady state equilibrium of the proteolytic cascade is quantified in the sample.

The present invention relates to the field of biomarkers. More specifically, the present invention relates to biomarkers useful in diagnosing brain injury or neurodegeneration. In one embodiment, a method for diagnosing brain injury in a patient comprises the steps of (a) obtaining a sample from the patient; (b) determining the ratio of citrullinated to unmodified arginine residues at one or more arginine residues of one or more brain injury biomarker proteins; and (c) correlating the ratio to a patient having brain injury or to a patient not having brain injury, thereby providing the diagnosis.

The invention relates to senescent cell biomarkers and the uses thereof. The invention also extends to methods and kits for detecting senescence, and drug conjugates and pharmaceutical compositions for killing senescent cells.