A method of monitoring viability of stem cell-derived cells used in stem cell therapy comprises introducing one or more stem cell-derived cells to a cell culture media, introducing one or more nanoprobes to the cell culture media, whereby the one or more stem cell-derived cells are transfected with the one or more nanoprobes, and detecting an optical signal from the one or more nanoprobes after transfection. The method may further comprise introducing the one or more transfected stem cell-derived cells to a subject and detecting the optical signal from the one or more nanoprobes in vivo. The one or more stem cell-derived cells may include a stem cell.

A conditionally replicating adenovirus were generated that can specifically replicate and express therapeutic genes in neuroendocrine tumors. The promoter-specific expression of the adenoviruses is regulated upstream by an INSM1 (insulinoma-associated-1) promoter that is silent in normal adult tissues but active in developing neuroendocrine cells and neuroendocrine tumors. By placing the INSM1-promoter with an insulator and two copies of neuronal restrictive silencer elements in an adenoviral vector, the construct can retain tumor specificity and drive expression of a mutated adenovirus E1A gene (424E1A) and the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene. The INSM1-promoter-driven viruses could replicate specifically in the INSM1-positive cells and I NSM1-specific HSV-tk expression in combination with ganciclovir treatment displayed dose-dependent tumor cell-specific killing in insulinomas. When the INSM1-promoter driven HSV-tk was combined with 424E1A and INSM 1 p-HSV-tk viruses, the co-infected insulinoma expressed higher levels of HSV-tk and more efficient tumor suppression as compared to the INSM1 p-HSV-tk virus alone.

Provided herein, in some embodiments, are hydrogel-elastomer and hydrogel-alginate devices, compositions and associated methods to encapsulate living cells.

The present invention provides method for monitoring physiological status of an organ in a subject by monitoring morphological changes over time in transplanted tissue on an eye of the subject.

Disclosed are methods, compositions of matter, and protocols useful for the detection of altered cells in a patient. Immune cells capable of clonal expansion are engineered to produce a soluble signal upon activation and/or clonal expansion. The cells may possess a suicide gene, inducible upon administration pharmacological or light/radiation activatable, so as to eliminate the cells from body when desired. In another embodiment, immune cells produce a localized marker, the marker being visible with imaging technology. In other embodiments cells capable of non-clonal expansion are utilized. The disclosure provides means of utilizing the immunosurveillance properties of immune cells to diagnose and localize diseases associated with alteration of host cells.

A method of delivering a compound of interest to the lungs of a subject by the intravenous injection of Sertoli cells loaded with a plurality of chitosan nanoparticles coupled with the compound of interest is provided. Testis-derived rat Sertoli cells were pre-loaded with chitosan nanoparticles coupled with or without the drug curcumin, pre-labeled with a fluorescent cell marker and then injected intravenously into the control or asthmatic mouse model host. Intact pre-loaded, pre-labeled Sertoli cells were present in the lungs at 15 minutes post-injection, appeared entrapped in the pulmonary pre-capillary vascular bed around alveolar sacs but were not present one hour post-injection although Sertoli cell label and cellular debris was. Most of the injected nanoparticle load (70%) and curcumin load (80%) was present in the lungs 15 minutes post-injection, and remained at 70% and 80%, respectively, one hour post-injection.

A filamentous plant virus carrier comprising a filamentous plant virus particle that has been modified to carry an imaging agent or cytotoxic compound is described. The filamentous plant virus carrier can be used in a method of targeting cancer cells and tissue by administering it to a subject. Cancer tissue targeted by the filamentous plant virus carrier can be imaged using an imaging agent, or treated using a cytotoxic compound.

The present invention provides method for monitoring physiological status of an organ in a subject by monitoring morphological changes over time in transplanted tissue on an eye of the subject.

A method of delivering a compound of interest to the lungs of a subject by the intravenous injection of Sertoli cells loaded with a plurality of chitosan nanoparticles coupled with the compound of interest is provided. Testis-derived rat Sertoli cells were pre-loaded with chitosan nanoparticles coupled with or without the drug curcumin, pre-labeled with a fluorescent cell marker and then injected intravenously into the control or asthmatic mouse model host. Intact pre-loaded, pre-labeled Sertoli cells were present in the lungs at 15 minutes post-injection, appeared entrapped in the pulmonary pre-capillary vascular bed around alveolar sacs but were not present one hour post-injection although Sertoli cell label and cellular debris was. Most of the injected nanoparticle load (70%) and curcumin load (80%) was present in the lungs 15 minutes post-injection, and remained at 70% and 80%, respectively, one hour post-injection.

Disclosed herein are methods of detecting tumors, monitoring cancer therapy, and selectively inhibiting the proliferation and/or killing of cancer cells utilizing a papilloma pseudovirus or a papilloma virus-like particle (VLP).