The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for determining the renal glomerular filtration rate or assessing the renal function in a patient in need thereof. The system includes a computing device, a power supply, one or more sensors, and at least one tracer agent that fluoresces when exposed to electromagnetic radiation. The electromagnetic radiation is detected using the sensors, and the rate in which the fluorescence decreases in the patient is used to calculate the renal glomerular filtration rate in the patient.

The present invention provides fusion polypeptides for inhibiting angiogenesis, fusion protein nanocages having peptides for inhibiting angiogenesis, and diagnostic and therapeutic (theranostic) uses thereof.

Described herein are fluid complex coacervates that produce solid adhesives in situ. Oppositely charged polyelectrolytes were designed to form fluid adhesive complex coacervates at ionic strengths higher than the ionic strength of the application site, but an insoluble adhesive solid or gel at the application site. When the fluid, high ionic strength adhesive complex coacervates are introduced into the lower ionic strength application site, the fluid complex coacervate is converted to a an adhesive solid or gel as the salt concentration in the complex coacervate equilibrates to the application site salt concentration. In one embodiment, the fluid complex coacervates are designed to solidify in situ at physiological ionic strength and have numerous medical applications. In other aspects, the fluid complex coacervates can be used in aqueous environment for non-medical applications.

Provided is use of miR-21 in preparation of a therapeutic drug or diagnostic reagent for intrauterine adhesion and/or thin endometrium.

Conjugates comprising a drug, cell or biological molecule bound to a photoluminescent polymer nanoparticle, in particular a cross-linked polyfluorene nanoparticle, are described herein, as well as their methods of manufacture and their uses in biological imaging and sensing applications.

The present invention relates to novel fluorophores and their use in combination with novel nucleic acid molecules, called aptamers, that bind specifically to the fluorophore and thereby enhance the fluorescence signal of the fluorophore upon exposure to radiation of suitable wavelength. Molecular complexes formed between the novel fluorophores, novel nucleic acid molecules, and their target molecules are described, and the use of multivalent aptamer constructs as fluorescent sensors for target molecules of interest are also described.

A method for determining a glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in a patient includes administering to said patient a compound of Formula I and transdermally measuring spectral energy emitted by the compound of Formula I over a measurement time window. The spectral energy is emitted by the compound of Formula I in response to electromagnetic radiation delivered to the compound of Formula I. The method also includes determining the GFR in said patient based on the measured spectral energy emitted by the compound of Formula I over the measurement time window by fitting an exponential function to the spectral energy as a function of time or a linear function to the log of the spectral energy as a function of time to calculate a rate constant associated with renal clearance over the measurement time window and directly related to the GFR normalized to a body size metric of the patient.

The present invention provides a compound of Formula (I) as defined herein. The present invention also provides a nanoparticle comprising a plurality of the conjugates of the present invention, and methods of using the nanoparticles for drug delivery, treating a disease, and methods of imaging.

The present invention relates generally to novel rhodamine dyes which upon conjugation with another molecule form single isomeric conjugation products. These novel rhodamine dyes contain only one single functional group on the rhodomine molecule for conjugation so that their conjugation products are single isomeric conjugation products.

Described are conjugated polymers and conjugated polymer nanoparticles formed therefrom. The conjugated polymers and conjugated polymer nanoparticles have a maximum emission of light that occurs within a tissue transparent window of the electromagnetic spectrum. These emission properties are particle-size independent. The sizes of the conjugated nanoparticles are controlled by altering the concentration of the conjugated polymer used to make conjugated polymer nanoparticles. Also described are methods of making conjugated polymer nanoparticles that have larger sizes than have been traditionally reported, involving a modified reprecipitation approach. The conjugated polymers and/or conjugated polymer nanoparticles can be used as fluorescent probes in biological imaging.