The invention provides methods for characterizing cellular physiology by incorporating into an electrically excitable cell an optical reporter of, and an optical actuator of, electrical activity. A signal is obtained from the optical reporter in response to a stimulation of the cell. Either or both of the optical reporter and actuator may be based on genetically-encoded rhodopsins incorporated into the cell. The invention provides all optical methods that may be used instead of, or as a complement to, traditional patch clamp technologies and that can provide rapid, accurate, and flexible assays of cellular physiology.

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.

The present invention relates to compositions and methods that provide novel therapies in cancer. The invention includes a phagocytic cell modified with a repressor of signal regulatory protein-alpha (SIRP) and bound to a targeting antibody to enhance phagocytic activity of the phagocytic cell toward tumor tissue. Methods of enhancing phagocytic activity and treating a tumor are also included.

Living cells, such as red blood cells (RBCs) modified with functional micromotors with the aid of ultrasound propulsion and magnetic guidance. Iron oxide nanoparticles are loaded into the RBCs, where their asymmetric distribution within the cells results in a net magnetization, thus enabling magnetic alignment and guidance under acoustic propulsion. The RBC motors display efficient guided and prolonged propulsion in various biological fluids, including undiluted whole blood.

The present invention is directed generally to eukaryotic cells comprising single-celled organisms that are introduced into the eukaryotic cell through human intervention and which transfer to daughter cells of the eukaryotic cell, and methods of introducing such single-celled organisms into eukaryotic cells. The invention provides single-celled organisms that introduce a phenotype to eukaryotic cells that is maintained in daughter cells. The invention additionally provides eukaryotic cells containing magnetic bacteria. The invention further provides eukaryotic cells engineered with single-celled organisms to allow for multimodal observation of the eukaryotic cells. Each imaging method (or modality) allows the visualization of different aspects of anatomy and physiology, and combining these allows the imager to learn more about the subject being imaged.

A method and a composition of matter formed in accordance with the method for anchoring and/or impregnation of a biological vehicle with a cargo molecule includes mixing the biological vehicle and the cargo molecule in suspension to create a cargo molecule and biological vehicle mixture, placing the cargo molecule and biological vehicle mixture inside a pressure vessel, subjecting the cargo molecule and biological vehicle mixture to subcritical or supercritical fluid, returning pressure and temperature within the pressure vessel to ambient conditions, and recovering a biological vehicle bound cargo molecule.

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.

A nanoshell is disclosed, comprising a star polymer occlusion complex comprising i) an amphiphilic unimolecular star polymer having a crosslinked core covalently linked to 6 or more independent polymer arms, and ii) a cargo material occluded in the star polymer; and a shell comprising an inorganic material in contact with a peripheral surface of the star polymer occlusion complex.

Apparatus is provided for implantation of live cells in a subject. The apparatus includes an implantable immunoisolation device, which includes (a) a chamber, which contains the live cells; (b) an inner membrane layer, which is disposed at an external surface of the chamber, and which comprises a selective membrane that is permeable to nutrients; and (c) an outer hydrogel layer, which comprises a hydrogel, and which is attached to and coats an outer surface of the inner membrane layer. Other embodiments are also described.