The invention relates to amphiphilic dye-coated inorganic nanoparticle clusters and uses thereof. Specifically, the invention relates to cyanine and/or cyclic tetrapyrrole dye-coated metallic nanoparticle clusters for use in medical imaging and treatments.

Described is a versatile surface modification approach to, for example, modularly and orthogonally functionalize nanoparticles (NPs) such as, for example, PEGylated nanoparticles, ith various types of different functional ligands (functional groups) on the NP surface. It enables the synthesis of, for example, penta-functional PEGylated nanoparticles integrating a variety of properties into a single NP, e.g., fluorescence detection, specific cell targeting, radioisotope chelating/labeling, ratiometric pH sensing, and drug delivery, while the overall NP size remains, for example, below 10 nm.

An improved method for diagnosing and characterizing peripheral nerve lesions to permit early identification and characterization of peripheral nerve injuries that will require surgical intervention.

The invention provides a droplet encapsulate comprising: a drop of a hydrophobic medium; a peripheral layer of non-polymeric amphipathic molecules around the surface of the drop; and an aqueous droplet within the peripheral layer, the aqueous droplet comprising: (a) an aqueous medium and (b) an outer layer of non-polymeric amphipathic molecules around the surface of the aqueous medium. The invention also provides processes for preparing the droplet encapsulates. Various uses of the droplet encapsulates are also described, including their use as drug delivery vehicles, in synthetic biology, and in the study of membrane proteins.

The present disclosure relates to the generation of an antibody that specifically recognizes and binds Endosialin, a cell surface antigen characteristic of tumor pericytes and cells of tumor stroma. The antibody has the ability to become internalized in Endosialin expressing cells and to block the activation of MAPK in PDGF stimulated human pericytes. The antibody is able to block angiogenesis induced by LGALS3BP, a known Endosialin interactor and to inhibit tumor growth alone and in combination with 1959, a humanized antibody against LGALS3BP in human osteosarcoma xenograft. Furthermore, upon conjugation of the hu manized version of the anti-Endosialin antibody with a duocarmycin derivative, the resulting ADC displays potent and antigen de pendent in vitro tumor cell cytotoxicity and effective antitumor efficacy in vivo. The disclosure is also related to nucleotides encoding the antibodies of the disclosure and cell expressing the antibodies.

Provided are androstane and dihydrotestosterone compounds functionalized with carbocyclic groups or heterocyclic groups that may be saturated or unsaturated. The compounds may be used in methods of inhibiting cell growth of malignant cells and/or hyperplastic cells and/or treating individuals having diseases associated with malignant cell growth (e.g., cancer, such as, for example, prostate cancer) and/or hyperplastic cell growth and/or molecular imaging of malignant cells and/or hyperplastic cells and/or inducing degradation of a target protein. Also provided are compositions.

The present invention provides a .sup.19F-MR/fluorescence multi-mode molecular imaging and drug loading diagnosis-treatment integrated nanoprobe, and a preparation method and an application. The nano-probe is a nanoparticle formed by coating a mixture of a surfactant containing a molecular targeting treatment drug and a fluorescent dye with a Perfluorocarbon (PFC) carrier; and by uniformly dispersing a mixed solution into water and glycerol, processing ultrasonically, removing a component which is not effectively coated, and purifying, the drug-loading nanoparticle capable of being used for 19 F-MR imaging may be prepared. The nano-probe may implement in-vivo 19F-MR molecular imaging; a carried molecular targeting treatment drug can implement targeted binding and targeted treatment; and by virtue of a characteristic that PFC in a nucleus may carry and release oxygen massively, an anaerobious microenvironment in the tumor is improved, a chemosensitization effect is achieved, and thus the diagnosis-treatment integration of the tumor is implemented finally.

The present disclosure provides imaging and contrast agents, and methods of using the agents. According to some embodiments of the disclosure, agents and methods for magnetic resonance imaging and related technologies are provided.

Disclosed are capped nanoparticles that are effectively trapped within an aqueous gelling solution to produce stable gels and function as a contrast agent for vascular imaging. The contrast agent has good radioopacity, is inexpensive to produce, and is safe to handle. This provides a new method to image the fine vasculature of biological systems.

The present disclosure relates to a metalloprotein binder that specifically binds to a N-terminally modified peptide. Also provided herein is a method and related kits for treating or analyzing a peptide using the metalloprotein binder and/or modified cleavase. In some embodiments, the method provided herein comprises binding metalloprotein binder-coding tag conjugates to a modified N-terminal amino acid residue of an immobilized peptide associated with a recording tag, transferring identifying information from the coding tag to the recording tag using a ligation or primer extension, and cleaving the modified N-terminal amino acid residue. The method and metalloprotein binders provided herein are useful for de novo peptide identification or sequencing.