摘要:
The invention relates to methods and systems that can be used for treatment and/or diagnosis. In one aspect, the present invention involves systems and methods for activating a biological cascade in a subject, and administering, to the subject, a composition or a component comprising an agent able to bind a product of a biological cascade or otherwise interact with the biological cascade. The biological cascade may be, for example, a coagulation cascade, a complement cascade, an inflammation cascade, or the like. In some cases, the concentration of a protein, the metabolic demand for a substrate, or the like may be increased as a result of activation of the biological cascade. As a specific non-limiting example, in one set of embodiments, the biological cascade may be a coagulation cascade and the composition administered to the subject may include a fibrin-binding peptide and an antitumor species. By activating the biological cascade, e.g., with an activation composition or by applying energy, coagulation may be induced in a tumor, which the antitumor species may associate with due to an increase in fibrin caused by the coagulation cascade. In addition, in certain aspects, the present invention involves systems and methods for changing tissue from a first state to a second state, for instance, with a first composition comprising nanoparticles. The second composition may be more responsive to the tissue in the second state than in the first state in some cases. In still other aspects, the present invention is generally directed to systems and methods for making such compositions, systems and methods for promoting such compositions, kits involving such compositions, or the like.
摘要:
The present invention provides triggered self-assembly nanosystems. Such nanosystems comprise a population of triggered self-assembly conjugates, each conjugate comprising one or more monomeric units and one or more complementary binding moieties. In some embodiments, inventive nanosystems and conjugates can be used to treat and/or diagnose a disease, disorder, and/or condition.
摘要:
This invention relates to methods to stabilize and/or improve the function of parenchymal cells. Also provided are systems of co-cultures of hepatocyte-stabilizing non-parenchymal cells used in bioreactor microenvironments to identify hepatic stabilizing factors by gene-expression profiling.
摘要:
The present invention provides particle conjugates for drug delivery. Such conjugates comprise one or more heatable surfaces, one or more thermally-responsive linkers, and one or more agents to be delivered. In some embodiments, conjugates and populations of conjugates can be used to treat and/or diagnose a disease, disorder, and/or condition. The present invention provides methods for producing and/or using thermally-responsive conjugates.
摘要:
An electrochemical apparatus 1 permits electric-field-assisted fluidic assembly of objects 2 on a patterned silicon substrate 11 by means of electrical addressing. Charged objects 2 such as beads and live cells are moved electrokinetically, like as in electrophoresis, through a solution, typically water 3, towards a micro-patterned charged semiconductor electrode, such as a silicon electrode 11 patterned with silicon dioxide, silicon nitride or agarose gel. The charged objects 2 are thus localized and assembled, most typically into arrays of multiple or single particles, in accordance with the patterning of the electrode 11. Correlating with theoretical predictions, negatively charged polystyrene beads of 20 μm diameter, or live mammalian cells of 20-30 μm diameter, can be assembled and disassembled on 100 μm feature size micro-patterned substrates by means of electrical addressing. The apparatus 1 has applications in creation of active cellular arrays for cell biology research, drug discovery and tissue engineering.