The present disclosure relates to novel analyte-specific multivalent recombinant antibodies that are particularly useful in immunoassays. Specifically, hexavalent, octavalent and decavalent antibodies are disclosed, including their construction, production, characterization and use in target antigen detection assays.

The present invention provides compositions and methods that can be used to determine a peptide signature for an antibody repertoire in a sample comprising multiple antibodies. The of an antibody specificity in method can be used to characterize a phenotype in a sample, such as providing a diagnosis, prognosis or theranosis of a medical condition.

The present invention provides compositions and methods that can be used to determine a peptide signature for an antibody repertoire in a sample comprising multiple antibodies. The method can be used to characterize a phenotype in a sample, such as providing a diagnosis, prognosis or theranosis of a medical condition.

A multiplexed lateral flow device includes an impermeable internal reservoir having an opening to receive a sample deposition. A fluid distributor pad is arranged in fluid communication with a lower surface of the internal reservoir. The fluid distributor pad includes a paper based microfluidic element having a pattern of a hydrophobic material to distribute a portion of the sample deposition substantially equally among a plurality of flow paths. Lateral flow assays having a plurality of flow lines are aligned with flow paths of the distributor pad. An impermeable top cover has a first window arranged over the opening of the internal reservoir, and at least a second window arranged over the test results of the lateral flow assays. A housing element houses the reservoir, the distributor pad and lateral flow assays. The housing element includes an impermeable bottom cover and a spacer element arranged between the top and bottom covers and, provides a gap between the lateral flow assays and the impermeable top cover.

Sensitive and specific detection of nucleic acids can be achieved using a chemical ligation-based template assisted rapid assay (TARA-L) with simple chemical reactions between probes and without the need for enzymes. Probes are designed to form a ligation product when they anneal to adjacent portions of a target nucleic acid. The ligation products can be detected, such as in immunochromatographic assays. The methods allow for the fast, efficient analysis of biological samples for the presence of nucleic acids and can be used, for example, in point of care settings.

The present invention relates to antibody derivatives against HIV based on a mutated CD4-IgG scaffold with enhanced antiviral and immunomodulatory activities. These antibody derivatives are characterized for having an increased ability to (i) block the entry of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) into host cells and (ii) elicit effector functions through the activation, of natural killer (NK) cells. The present invention further relates to nucleic acids, vectors and host cells expressing said antibody derivatives, as well their therapeutic and diagnostic applications in human health.

This invention relates to a method and device for improving the accuracy and performance of detecting or diagnosing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) or STI-causing pathogens. In one embodiment, the present method and device are related to removing one or more interfering molecules such as urea from urine sample, where these interfering molecules alter the performance of Lateral-Flow Immunoassay (LFA). In one embodiment, an aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) embedded entirely within a porous material allows spontaneous phase separation and the target STI-causing pathogens is concentrated in one of the separated phases. In one embodiment, a detection module such as the Lateral-Flow Immunoassay (LFA) is used in connection with other modules so as to detect or diagnose the sexually transmitted infections or the pathogens associated with STIs with an improved performance.

The invention provides a method for determining whether a human immunodeficiency virus is resistant to a viral entry inhibitor. The methods are particularly useful for determining resistance to inhibitors that act by a non-competitive mechanism. In certain aspects, the methods comprise determining whether an HIV population is resistant to an HIV entry inhibitor, comprising determining a log-sigmoid inhibition curve comprising data points for entry of the HIV population in the presence of varying concentrations of the HIV entry inhibitor, wherein if the entry of the HIV population cannot be completely inhibited by the HIV entry inhibitor, the HIV population is resistant to the HIV entry inhibitor.

One aspect of the invention provides a system for drug discovery, drug development, drug screening, or drug validation. The system includes: a sample chamber comprising a target protein and a drug candidate that may interfere with the target protein in the sample chamber, wherein the sample chamber is configured to: detect one or more of the following: (a) interference between the drug candidate the target protein and/or (b) one or more dynamics of the drug candidate on the target protein, wherein the one or more dynamics comprise affinity of the drug candidate to the target protein, and select the drug candidate if one or more desirable dynamics is detected. The system includes one or more immobilized surfaces and is configured to detect interactions between the drug candidate and the target protein at the single-molecule level.

Methods for separating blood plasma from whole blood in the absence of performing centrifugation are provided. The method combines mechanical filtration and blood cell aggregation and is adapted for use in POC clinical testing.