Provided herein according to some embodiments of the invention are aryl boronate and/or aryl diaminoboryl compounds. Also provided are methods of detecting the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H.sub.2O.sub.2) and/or other reactive oxygen species (ROS) in a cell and/or tissue by contacting the cell and/or tissue with aryl boronate and/or aryl diaminoboryl compounds. Also provided according to embodiments of the invention are methods of producing persulfides in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H.sub.2O.sub.2) and/or other reactive oxygen species (ROS) in a cell and/or tissue by contacting the cell and/or tissue with aryl boronate and/or aryl diaminoboryl compounds.

Described herein are polymeric compounds including an acceptor dye and donor luminophore, a polymer, and optionally a bioconjugate group. A polymeric compound of the present invention may have a structure represented by: A-B-C or C-A-B, wherein A is an acceptor dye; B is a polymer comprising one or more hydrophobic unit(s) and one or more hydrophilic unit(s); and optionally C, wherein C, when present, comprises a bioconjugate group, wherein one or more donor luminophore(s) are each separately attached to a portion of the polymer and/or to a portion of the acceptor dye. Also described herein are compositions comprising the polymeric compounds and methods of preparing and using the same.

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.

A Cu(I)-Catalyzed Azide-Alkyne Cycloadditions (CuAAC) ligand comprising: a catalytic core; a fluorous tag; and a linker binding the fluorous tag to the catalytic core. A method for carrying out a Cu(I)-Catalyzed Azide-Alkyne Cycloaddition reaction, comprising: combining in a solution an alkyne-tagged component, an azide-tagged component and a Cu(I)-Catalyzed Azide-Alkyne Cycloadditions (CuAAC) ligand comprising: a catalytic core; a fluorous tag; and a linker binding the fluorous tag to the catalytic core; filtering the solution through a solid phase extraction filter to remove Cu(I)-ligand catalyst and/or excess ligand.

The invention provides a labeling composition for an intraocular tissue of a living individual, which specifically labels the intraocular tissue without need of an invasive operation such as exposure of an ocular tissue or injection of a staining agent into the ocular tissue or a nerve tissue linking to the ocular tissue, a method of noninvasively labeling an intraocular tissue of a living individual, and a screening method using the labeling composition for the intraocular tissues. The composition contains a compound capable of labeling at least a photoreceptor cell layer of a retina, wherein the compound is a staining compound having a particular structure as a partial structure thereof.

The invention provides a multimodal ultrasound and photoacoustic contrast agent based on polymeric microparticles having a gas core and carrying at least one photoacoustic agent in its shell that stabilizes the gas core, for use in ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging. Such multimodal ultrasound and photoacoustic contrast agent is also suitable as a carrier of drugs and for use in photodynamic therapy, and for tissue imaging ex vivo.

The present disclosure provides light chain polypeptides that include a C-terminal extension, as well as antibodies and antibody conjugates containing such modified light chain polypeptides, where the C-terminal extension includes one or more cysteine residues. Conjugates that include an antibody of the present disclosure conjugated to an agent via the cysteine residue of the C-terminal amino acid extension are also provided. The present disclosure further provides nucleic acids encoding an antibody light chain polypeptide that includes a C-terminal amino acid extension including a cysteine residue. Pharmaceutical compositions including the antibodies or conjugates of the present disclosure are also provided, as are methods of making and use of the modified anti-bodies and conjugates of the present disclosure.

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.

Silica nanorings, methods of making silica nanorings, and uses of silica nanorings. The silica nanorings may be surface selective functionalization, with one or more polyethylene glycol (PEG) group(s), one or more display group(s), one or more functional group(s), or a combination thereof. The silica nanorings may have a size of 5 to 20 nm. The silica nanorings may be made using micelles. The absence or presence of the micelles during PEGylation and/or functionalization allows for the surface selective functionalization. The silica nanorings may be used in various diagnostic and/or treatment methods.

The invention relates to a poly(n-butyl cyanoacrylate) nanoparticle with dual modifications, a drug delivery system comprising the nanoparticle, and a method for preparing the nanoparticle or the drug delivery system. The nanoparticle is modified with a first modifier and a second modifier on the surface, the first modifier is a hydrophilic polymer, and the second modifier is an amino acid and/or a lipid. The invention further relates to a use of the nanoparticle in promoting drug penetration across the blood brain barrier in a subject.