Disclosed herein are compounds having activity as cell penetrating peptides. In some examples, the compounds can comprise a cell penetrating peptide moiety and a cargo moiety. The cargo moiety can comprise one or more detectable moieties, one or more therapeutic moieties, one or more targeting moieties, or any combination thereof. In some examples, the cell penetrating peptide moiety is cyclic. In some examples, the cell penetrating peptide moiety and cargo moiety together are cyclic. In some examples, the cell penetrating peptide moiety is cyclic and the cargo moiety is appended to the cyclic cell penetrating peptide moiety structure. In some examples, the cargo moiety is cyclic and the cell penetrating peptide moiety is cyclic, and together they form a fused bicyclic system.

Provided herein are sustained release biodegradable intracanalicular inserts comprising a hydrogel and an active agent, methods of treating or preventing an ocular disease in a subject in need thereof by administering such inserts as well as methods of manufacturing such inserts.

Embodiments of the invention are directed to a technique for electroporation that allows for a delivery of long electrical pulses of high magnitude in highly conductive buffers and minimizes damage to cells undergoing electroporation.

Disclosed are compounds and methods useful in the detection of e.g., Zn.sup.2+, in vitro and in vivo. The compounds include amino acids and peptides functionalized with a moiety that binds, e.g., Zn.sub.2+. Importantly, the compounds do not exhibit substantial fluorescence in the absence of zinc.

Disclosed herein are compounds having activity as cell penetrating peptides. In some examples, the compounds can comprise a cell penetrating peptide moiety and a cargo moiety. The cargo moiety can comprise one or more detectable moieties, one or more therapeutic moieties, one or more targeting moieties, or any combination thereof. In some examples, the cell penetrating peptide moiety is cyclic. In some examples, the cell penetrating peptide moiety and cargo moiety together are cyclic. In some examples, the cell penetrating peptide moiety is cyclic and the cargo moiety is appended to the cyclic cell penetrating peptide moiety structure. In some examples, the cargo moiety is cyclic and the cell penetrating peptide moiety is cyclic, and together they form a fused bicyclic system.

The present invention relates to diagnostic and therapeutic agents comprising recombinant antibody fragments to bind a protein associated with cancer and methods of use of these diagnostic and therapeutic agents.

Methods and compositions are provided for covalently linking a chemical species to a recombinant or synthetic polypeptide. The methods involve the reaction of a thioester-comprising polypeptide with a reagent comprising a reactive amino-thiol group connected to the chemical species which is to be covalently linked to the polypeptide, via a linker. Such chemical species can be a functional group, a label or tag molecule, a biological molecule, a ligand, or a solid support. Efficient and catalyst-free methods for C-terminal protein labeling are also provided. The methods expand current capabilities in the area of protein functionalization, providing useful and complementary tools for the isolation, detection, characterization, and analysis of proteins in a variety of in vitro and in vivo applications.

Provided is a glucose derivative, which is taken into cells via a membrane sugar transport system and is represented by formula (1). Also provided are an imaging agent and an imaging method for a cell or intracellular molecule using said glucose derivative. Further provided are a method for detecting cancer cells with good accuracy using said glucose derivative and an imaging agent to be used in said method. More specifically provided are D-glucose derivatives and L-glucose derivatives in which glucose is bound to the 7-position of a fluorescent molecular group with a coumarin backbone or a quinolone backbone. Also provided are a cell imaging agent and imaging method using the derivative. A cancer cell imaging agent and imaging method using the L-glucose derivative is also provided. G is a group selected from formulas (G1)-(G4) below.

The present invention relates to silica nanoparticles comprising at least two dyes. Said dyes have a respective relationship of donor-acceptor couple in an energy transfer process and have a molar absorption coefficient 10,000 M.sup.1 cm.sup.1 for the considered spectral region, a fluorescence quantum yield 0.01, good overlap integral, according to the Frster theory, between said donor and said acceptor dye; said active compounds may be lipophilic or may present a functionality useful for the introduction of a trialkoxysilane moiety. The dyes provide an efficient energy transfer process. Said nanoparticles are useful as probes in the field of medicine, in particular therapy and diagnostics, more particularly in theranostics, and in the field of analytical chemistry.

The present disclosure is directed to near infrared fluorescent oxonol dyes and imaging agent compositions including compounds according to Formula (I)

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and their uses in bioimaging applications. The disclosure is further directed to oxonol precursor compositions and compounds according to Formula (II)

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and their uses in synthesizing oxonol dyes and imaging agents.