The present invention relates to vitro method for analysing a liquid sample as to the presence, identity and properties of microbes comprising: a) isolating microbes from the liquid sample; b) analysing said microbes spectroscopically by means of spontaneous Raman spectroscopy; and c) determining antibiotic susceptibility of said microbes spectroscopically by means of spontaneous Raman spectroscopy. The present invention also refers to device for analysing a liquid sample as to the presence, identity and properties of microbes, wherein the device comprises as a first unit (i) a chip comprising a filtering unit and an antibiotics exposure unit capable of determining the susceptibility of microbes to an antibiotic; as a second unit (ii) a Raman spectroscopy system; and as a third unit (iii) an evaluation module which is coupled to the Raman spectroscopy system.

The present invention relates to a method of characterizing the binding characteristics between a peptide of interest and MHC molecules of a given cell type, the method comprising the steps of: (i) Providing two or more cells characterized by displaying, on their surface, MHC molecules, (ii) dispensing the two or more cells in two or more vessels, so that each vessel comprises one or more cells, (iii) adding, to the different vessels, different variants of a peptide of interest, wherein the variants of said peptide are labeled and have the same amino acid sequence, yet differ from one another in the type of labeling and their concentration, and exposing the cells thereto so as to form, in the different vessels, peptide-MHC complexes on the surface of the cells, (iv) isolating the thus formed peptide-MHC complexes and (v) determining the concentration of the different peptide-MHC complexes formed (FIG. 1).

A material, article, system and method include a probe composition that includes a hydrophobic portion, a hydrophilic portion, an analyte-binding portion and a fluorophore portion. The analyte-binding portion is configured to bind to an analyte in an aqueous solution. The fluorophore portion is configured to change an optical property of fluorescent light emitted in response to incident excitation light when the probe composition changes between a first state in which the analyte is not bound to the analyte-binding portion and a second state in which the analyte binds to the analyte-binding portion. A material includes the probe composition and a silicone hydrogel substrate having a hydrogel network that allows flow of aqueous solution through the solution and a silicone network that occupies interstices of the hydrogel network. A contact lens having the material enables remote detection of glucose concentration in tear fluid of a subject.

This invention provides devices for use in various analytical applications including single-molecule analytical reactions. Methods for detecting analytes optically by propagating optical energy by waveguides within a substrate are provided. Analytical devices are provided which have both shallow and deep waveguides in which illumination light is transported through the deep waveguides and coupled into the shallow waveguides. The shallow waveguides provide evanescent field illumination to analytes, such as single-molecule analytes, within nanometer scale wells. Integrated devices including integrated detectors such as CMOS detectors are included.

A method for detecting biomarkers with shortened test time and maximized precision. A sample from the body fluid is made to flow over a sensor surface coated with a capture antibody to allow binding of a biomarker in the sample to the capture body. An optical method detects and counts the individual binding events along the sensor surface with single molecule resolution, and difference in the binding events along the sensor surface is detected in real time and analyzed to determine the biomarker concentration.

Aspects relate to devices, systems, and methods for non-invasive testing. The device may include a cartridge that analyzes a nasopharyngeal swabbing sample. The device may also include first and second waveguides, where each waveguide is configured to propagate an electromagnetic (EM) wave.

Provided herein is a sensing apparatus comprising, at least one LSPR light source, at least one detector, and at least one sensor for LSPR detection of a target chemical. The sensor comprises a substantially transparent, porous membrane having nanoparticles immobilized on the surface of its pores, the nanoparticles being functionalized with one or more capture molecules. There is further provided a self-referencing sensor for distinguishing non-specific signals from analyte binding signals. The self-referencing sensor comprising one or more nanoparticles having at least two distinct LSPR signals.

Methods for detecting target analytes utilizing an array of wells are advantageous for detection of low concentrations of target analytes. Use of an array of wells requires sealing of the wells. The methods provided herein utilize digital microfluidics to seal wells of an array with a fluid that is immiscible with the aqueous liquid present in the wells to prevent evaporation and contamination of the aqueous fluid during analysis of signals from the wells. The disclosed method include generating a biphasic droplet composed of the immiscible fluid and an aqueous fluid. The immiscible fluid present in the biphasic droplet is moved over the array of wells to seal the wells by electrically actuating the aqueous fluid present in the biphasic droplet which in turn pulls the immiscible fluid.

Apparatus and methods for the detection of proteins in biological fluids such as urine using a label-free assay is described. Specific proteins are detected by their binding to highly specific capture reagents such as SOMAmers that are attached to the surface of a substrate. Changes to these capture reagents and their local environment upon protein binding modify the behavior of color centers (e.g., fluorescence, ionization state, spin state, etc.) embedded in the substrate beneath the bound capture reagents. These changes can be read out, for example, optically or electrically, for an individual color center or as an average response of many color centers.

An optical probe for a bio-sensor selectively conjugated to a target analyte and configured to retro-reflect incident light thereto is disclosed. The optical probe for the bio-sensor includes: a transparent core particle; a total-reflection inducing layer covering a portion of a surface of the core particle, the inducing layer is made of a material having a refractive index lower than a refractive index of the core; a modifying layer formed on the total-reflection inducing layer; and an analyte-sensing substance bound to the modifying layer, the sensing substance is selectively conjugated to the target analyte. This optical probe may serve as an excellent optical probe for both a non-spectral light source and a spectral light source.