The present disclosure relates to compounds comprising a negatively-charged polymer moiety which is capable of entering a nanopore and upon entering a nanopore in the presence of positive ions results in an increased flow of the positive ions through the nanopore. The present disclosure provides methods of preparing the compounds and for their use as nanopore-detectable tags, in particular, for nanopore-based nucleic acid detection and sequencing.

The present disclosure relates to compounds comprising a negatively-charged polymer moiety which is capable of entering a nanopore and upon entering a nanopore in the presence of positive ions results in an increased flow of the positive ions through the nanopore. The present disclosure provides methods of preparing the compounds and for their use as nanopore-detectable tags, in particular, for nanopore-based nucleic acid detection and sequencing.

The invention relates to compositions and methods for isolating extracellular vesicles (EVs) from a biological fluid sample. The compositions and methods of the invention are based on the combination of a polycation with an extracellular matrix forming polymer. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are isolated from biological fluids such as blood, serum, plasma, saliva, urine or cerebrospinal fluid, or from the conditioned medium of a cell culture, such as an adult stem cell culture. The use of the isolation methods and compositions of the invention results in a higher EVs recovery, enrichment in exosomes, simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and in the isolation of EVs that retain their biological activities in vitro.

The invention relates to compositions and methods for isolating extracellular vesicles (EVs) from a biological fluid sample. The compositions and methods of the invention are based on the combination of a polycation with an extracellular matrix forming polymer. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are isolated from biological fluids such as blood, serum, plasma, saliva, urine or cerebrospinal fluid, or from the conditioned medium of a cell culture, such as an adult stem cell culture. The use of the isolation methods and compositions of the invention results in a higher EVs recovery, enrichment in exosomes, simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and in the isolation of EVs that retain their biological activities in vitro.

The present disclosure relates to compounds comprising a negatively-charged polymer moiety which is capable of entering a nanopore and upon entering a nanopore in the presence of positive ions results in an increased flow of the positive ions through the nanopore. The present disclosure provides methods of preparing the compounds and for their use as nanopore-detectable tags, in particular, for nanopore-based nucleic acid detection and sequencing.

The present disclosure relates to compounds comprising a negatively-charged polymer moiety which is capable of entering a nanopore and upon entering a nanopore in the presence of positive ions results in an increased flow of the positive ions through the nanopore. The present disclosure provides methods of preparing the compounds and for their use as nanopore-detectable tags, in particular, for nanopore-based nucleic acid detection and sequencing.

A gold nanoparticle-based assay for the detection of a target molecule, such as Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) RNA in serum samples, that uses positively charged gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in solution based format. The assay has been tested on 74 serum clinical samples suspected of containing HCV RNA, with 48 and 38 positive and negative samples respectively. The developed assay has a specificity and sensitivity of 96.5% and 92.6% respectively. The results obtained were confirmed by Real-Time PCR, and a concordance of 100% for the negative samples and 89% for the positive samples has been obtained between the Real-Time PCR and the developed AuNPs based assay. Also, a purification method for the HCV RNA has been developed using HCV RNA specific probe conjugated to homemade silica nanoparticles. These silica nanoparticles have been synthesized by modified Stober method. This purification method enhanced the specificity of the developed AuNPs assay. The method can detect a target molecule, such as HCV RNA in serum, by employing modified silica nanoparticles to capture the target from a biological sample followed by detection of the captured target molecule using positively charged AuNPs. The assay is simple, cheap, sensitive and specific. Another aspect of the invention is anisotropic silver nanoparticles and methods of their use.

A gold nanoparticle-based assay for the detection of a target molecule, such as Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) RNA in serum samples, that uses positively charged gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in solution based format. The assay has been tested on 74 serum clinical samples suspected of containing HCV RNA, with 48 and 38 positive and negative samples respectively. The developed assay has a specificity and sensitivity of 96.5% and 92.6% respectively. The results obtained were confirmed by Real-Time PCR, and a concordance of 100% for the negative samples and 89% for the positive samples has been obtained between the Real-Time PCR and the developed AuNPs based assay. Also, a purification method for the HCV RNA has been developed using HCV RNA specific probe conjugated to homemade silica nanoparticles. These silica nanoparticles have been synthesized by modified Stober method. This purification method enhanced the specificity of the developed AuNPs assay. The method can detect a target molecule, such as HCV RNA in serum, by employing modified silica nanoparticles to capture the target from a biological sample followed by detection of the captured target molecule using positively charged AuNPs. The assay is simple, cheap, sensitive and specific. Another aspect of the invention is anisotropic silver nanoparticles and methods of their use.

Some embodiments presented in this disclosure concern an Automated Tissue Dissection (ATD) System. An ATD system is a one stop, and potentially low-cost, system to perform dissections on a substrate from pathologist digital mark or pen mark on the substrate using non-contact and/or mechanical method to extract a Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded (FFPE) tissue sample with: (a) only the ROI or ROIs as area to be saved; and (b) remove or decompose nucleic acid content in the region of no interest (RONI) and collect all tissue sample from a standard microscope substrate into a specific container.

Provided herein are Mycobacterium smegmatis porin nanopores, systems that comprise these nanopores, and methods of using and making these nanopores. Such nanopores may be wild-type MspA porins, mutant MspA porins, wild-type MspA paralog porins, wild-type MspA homolog porins, mutant MspA paralog porins, mutant MspA homolog porins, or single-chain Msp porins. Also provided are bacterial strains capable of inducible Msp porin expression.