Escherichia coli O157:H7 (E. coli O157:H7) is a dangerous foodborne pathogen, mainly found in beef, milk, fruits, and their products, causing harm to human health or even death. Therefore, the detection of E. coli O157:H7 in food is particularly important. In this paper, we report a lateral flow immunoassay strip (LFIS) based on aggregation-induced emission (AIE) material labeling antigen as a fluorescent

Anastrozole, an aromatase inhibitor drug, is used for the treatment of breast cancer in pre- and postmenopausal women. Anastrozole’s incorporation into nanoparticulate carriers would enhance its therapeutic performance. To perceive the exact loaded amount of drug in nanocarriers, a valid analytical method is required. The reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method was developed

Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a major role in addressing novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19)-related issues and is also used in computer-aided synthesis planning (CASP). AI, including machine learning, is used by artificial neural networks such as deep neural networks and recurrent networks. AI has been used in activity predictions like physicochemical properties. Machine learning in de novo design

The best-known rapid test using gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) is the human chorionic gonadotropin pregnancy test. AuNPs are a powerful tool in point-of-care testing because of their flexibility, modifiability, and visibility. Here, we report a method to detect impurities for at-line process control in water-for-injection (WFI) manufacturing through the example of endotoxins. If a distinct concentration

In the last decade, several studies have proven that when at low concentration reactive oxygen species (ROS) show an adaptive beneficial effect and posited the idea that they can be utilized as inexpensive and convenient inducers of tissue regeneration. On the other hand, the recent discovery that cancer cells are more sensitive to oxidative damage paved the way for their use in the selective killing

Behavioral analysis of moving animals relies on a faithful recording and track analysis to extract relevant parameters of movement. To study group behavior and social interactions, often simultaneous analyses of individuals are required. To detect social interactions, for example to identify the leader of a group as opposed to followers, one needs an error-free segmentation of individual tracks throughout

Sharing physical laboratory space optimizes resource use among research departments, improves collaboration, and reduces costs. Universal inventory management is essential to successful space sharing, item tracking and availability, and data mining; therefore, our lab was interested in a tool for these purposes. Different research groups have differing needs, priorities, and considerations. We investigated

Derivation and differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) provide the opportunity to generate medically important cell types from individual patients and patient populations for research and the development of potential cell therapies. This technology allows disease modeling and drug screening to be carried out using diverse population cohorts and with more relevant cell phenotypes

Cell culturing is a basic experimental technique in cell biology and medical science. However, culturing high-quality cells with a high degree of reproducibility relies heavily on expert skills and tacit knowledge, and it is not straightforward to scale the production process due to the education bottleneck. Although many automated culture systems have been developed and a few have succeeded in mass

Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects in the Earth’s environment and is a global problem of increasing importance. The laboratory and health care industries contribute to this problem by the widely accepted single use of plastics, including microtiter plates used for compound testing. At AstraZeneca, we predict the use of more than 45,000 384-well and more than 11,000 1536-well microtiter

This year has seen an unprecedented worldwide pandemic that has been brought on by the rise of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which results in COVID-19 (coronavirus 2019) infections. COVID-19 has impacted every aspect of our lives and has required the world to rapidly mobilize to address all aspects of diagnosis and treatment of this disease. COVID-19 has brought to light

Low-volume liquid handling capabilities in bioanalytical workflows can dramatically improve sample processing efficiency and reduce reagent costs, yet many commercial nanoliter liquid handlers cost tens of thousands of dollars or more. We have successfully adapted a low-cost and open-source commercial pipetting robot, the Opentrons OT-1, to accurately aspirate and dispense nanoliter volumes. Based

There is an urgent need to accelerate the development and validation of both diagnostics and vaccines for COVID-19. These priorities are challenging both public and private sector research groups around the world and have shone a spotlight on both existing bottlenecks in the research workflows involved as well as on the implications of having to do much of this work remotely because of enforced social

Little is known about the metabolic response of pediatric Crohn’s disease (CD) patients to partial enteral nutrition (PEN) therapy and the impact of disease activity and inflammation. We analyzed plasma samples from a nonrandomized controlled intervention study investigating the effect of partial enteral nutrition (PEN) on bone health and growth throughout one year with untargeted metabolomics using

High-throughput analysis of compound dissolved in DMSO and arrayed in multiwell plates for quality control (QC) purposes has widespread utility in drug discovery, ranging from the QC of assay-ready plates dispatched by compound management, to compound integrity check in the screening collection, to reaction monitoring of chemical syntheses in microtiter plates. Due to the large number of samples (thousands

Robust and well-established techniques for the quantification and characterization of extracellular vesicles (EVs) are a crucial need for the utilization of EVs as potential diagnostic and therapeutic tools. Current bulk analysis techniques such as proteomics and Western blot suffer from low resolution in the detection of small changes in target marker expression levels, exemplified by the heterogeneity

The general trend of automation is currently increasing in life science laboratories. The samples to be examined show a high diversity in their structures and composition as well as the determination methods. Complex automation lines such as those used in classic industrial automation are not a suitable solution with respect to the required flexibility of the systems due to changing application requirements

It is often desirable to evaluate the ability of cells to move in an unrestricted manner in multiple directions without chemical gradients. By combining the standard radial migration assay with injection-molded gaskets and a rigid fixture, we have developed a highly reliable and sensitive method for observing and measuring radial cell migration. This method is adapted for use on high-throughput automated

Bacterial motility in response to chemicals, also called bacterial chemotaxis, is a critical ability to search for the optimal environment to ensure the survival of bacterial species. Recent advances in microbiology have allowed the engineering of bacterial chemotactic properties. Conventional methods for characterizing bacterial motility are not able to fully monitor chemotactic behavior. Developments

Technicians in a commercial laboratory manually uncap up to 700 sample tubes daily in preparation for bioanalytical testing. Manually twisting off sample tube caps not only is a time-consuming task, but also poses increased risk for muscle fatigue and repetitive-motion injuries. An automated device capable of uncapping sample tubes at a rate faster than the current workflow would be valuable for minimizing

Oxidative stress induced by excessive levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) underlies several diseases. Therapeutic strategies to combat oxidative damage are, therefore, a subject of intense scientific investigation to prevent and treat such diseases, with the use of phytochemical antioxidants, especially polyphenols, being a major part. Polyphenols, however, exhibit structural diversity that determines

Foodborne illness is a major public health issue that results in millions of global infections annually. The burden of such illness sits mostly with developing countries, as access to advanced laboratory equipment and skilled lab technicians, as well as consistent power sources, is limited and expensive. Current gold standards in foodborne pathogen screening involve labor-intensive sample enrichment

Since being first detected in China, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread rapidly across the world, triggering a global pandemic with no viable cure in sight. As a result, national responses have focused on the effective minimization of the spread. Border control measures and travel restrictions have been implemented in a number of countries to limit the import and export of the virus. The

The detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2), which is responsible for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), using chest X-ray images has life-saving importance for both patients and doctors. In addition, in countries that are unable to purchase laboratory kits for testing, this becomes even more vital. In this study, we aimed to present the use of deep learning for

The inverse relationship between the cost of drug development and the successful integration of drugs into the market has resulted in the need for innovative solutions to overcome this burgeoning problem. This problem could be attributed to several factors, including the premature termination of clinical trials, regulatory factors, or decisions made in the earlier drug development processes. The introduction

Thermo Fisher Scientific released the Precision ID Ancestry Panel, a 165-single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) panel for ancestry prediction that was initially compatible with the manufacturer’s massively parallel sequencer, the Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine (PGM). The semiautomated workflow using the panel with the PGM involved several time-consuming manual steps across three instruments, including

We present a low-cost clinically viable ventilator design, AmbuBox, using a controllable pneumatic enclosure and standard manual resuscitators that are readily available (AmbuBag), which can be rapidly deployed during pandemic and mass-casualty events with a minimal set of components to manufacture and assemble. The AmbuBox is designed to address the existing challenges presented in the existing low-cost

The emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) threatens the health of the global population and challenges our preparedness for pandemic threats. Previous outbreaks of coronaviruses and other viruses have suggested the importance of diagnostic technologies in fighting viral outbreaks. Nucleic acid detection techniques are

As of July 22, 2020, more than 14.7 million infections of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), have been confirmed globally. Serological assays are essential for community screening, assessing infection prevalence, aiding identification of infected patients, and enacting appropriate treatment and quarantine protocols in the battle against this rapidly expanding

In 2019, a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was found to cause a highly contagious disease characterized by pneumonia. The disease (COVID-19) quickly spread around the globe, escalating to a global pandemic. In this review, we discuss the virological, immunological, and imaging approaches harnessed for COVID-19 diagnosis and research. COVID-19 shares many clinical characteristics with other respiratory

Testing the sensitivity of patient-derived tumor cells ex vivo can potentially help determining the appropriate treatment for each patient and spot the development of resistance to a given therapy. The number of cells obtainable from a biopsy is, however, often insufficient for performing ex vivo tests in conventional microtiter plates. Here, we introduce a novel Droplet-Microarray platform based on

Ciprofloxacin (CIP), a widely used antibiotic, is a poor biopharmaceutical resulting in low bioavailability. We optimized a CIP polymer–lipid hybrid nanoparticle (CIP-PLN) delivery system to enhance its biopharmaceutical attributes and the overall therapeutic performance. CIP-PLN formulations were prepared by a direct emulsification–solvent–evaporation method. Varying the type and ratio of lipid was

Covance Drug Development produces more than 55 million test results via its central laboratory services, requiring the delivery of more than 10 million reports annually to investigators at 35,000 sites in 89 countries. Historically, most of these data were delivered via fax or electronic data transfers in delimited text or SAS transport file format. Here, we present a new web portal that allows secure

The fact that practically all living cells are covered with carbohydrates gives an indication that these unique molecules are of tremendous importance to life with impacts in health and disease. One example of the significance of carbohydrates is found in the blood types that are determined by minor differences in the structure of the glycans on the surface of red blood cells. Other examples include

We present a spheroid trapping device, compatible with traditional tissue culture plates, to confine microtissues in a small area and allow suspension cultures to be treated like adherent cultures with minimal loss of spheroids due to aspiration. We also illustrate an automated morphology-independent procedure for cell recognition, segmentation, and a calcium spike detection technique for high-throughput

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations are the most common carcinogenic driver mutations in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, while invasive tissue biopsy has certain inherent defects. PubMed, Ovid Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were systematically searched on January 4, 2020, using the keywords “liquid biopsy,” “EGFR,” and “NSCLC.” The pooled sensitivity and specificity

Heparin has been in clinical use as an anticoagulant for the last eight decades and used worldwide in more than 100 million medical procedures every year. This lifesaving drug is predominantly obtained from ~700 million pig intestines or bovine organs through millions of small and medium-sized slaughterhouses. However, the preparations from animal sources have raised many safety concerns, including

Digital microfluidics (DMF) is a liquid handling technique that has been demonstrated to automate biological experimentation in a low-cost, rapid, and programmable manner. This review discusses the role of DMF as a “digital bioconverter”—a tool to connect the digital aspects of the design–build–learn cycle with the physical execution of experiments. Several applications are reviewed to demonstrate

Development of efficient drugs and therapies for the treatment of inflammatory conditions in the intestine is often hampered by the lack of reliable, robust, and high-throughput in vitro and in vivo models. Current models generally fail to recapitulate key aspects of the intestine, resulting in low translatability to the human situation. Here, an immunocompetent 3D perfused intestine-on-a-chip platform

This study demonstrates the utilization of a flow chemistry system for continuous glycan hydrolysis and saccharide labeling to assist with the existing methods in glycan structural analysis. Acidic hydrolysis of glycans could be accelerated in a flow system. Aldoses and α-ketoacid-type saccharides were effectively labeled with naphthalene-2,3-diamine (NADA) at 60 °C for 10 min to form the fluorescent

Over the past decade, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have become a major focus of stem cell and developmental biology research, offering researchers a clinically relevant source of cells that are amenable to genetic engineering approaches. Though stem cells are promising for both research and commercial endeavors, iPSC-based assays require tedious protocols that include complex treatments,

Centralized high-throughput purification laboratories routinely produce large numbers of test tubes with fractions containing the purified compounds of interest interspersed with test tubes containing fractions collected from undesired peaks. Because the next step after purification entails the removal of the solvent in a centrifugal evaporator with multiple sample positions per rotor, select test

The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/Cas9 system is a widely used genome-editing tool with great clinical potential. However, its application is limited because of low editing efficiency of some target sequences and off-target effects. As this system contains only the Cas9 protein and a single-guide RNA (sgRNA; engineered from crRNA and tracrRNA), the structure and

Rhamnogalacturonan II (RG-II) is a structurally complex pectic polysaccharide that exists as a borate ester cross-linked dimer in the cell walls of all vascular plants. The glycosyl sequence of RG-II is largely conserved, but there is evidence that galacturonic acid (GalA) methyl etherification and glucuronic acid (GlcA) methyl esterification vary in the A sidechain across plant species. Methyl esterification

Protein glycosylation can impact the efficacy and safety of biotherapeutics and therefore needs to be well characterized and monitored throughout the drug product life cycle. Glycosylation is commonly assessed by fluorescent labeling of released glycans, which provides comprehensive information of the glycoprofile but can be resource-intensive regarding sample preparation, data acquisition, and data

Tissue engineering has been largely confined to academic research institutions with limited success in commercial settings. To help address this issue, more work is needed to develop new automated manufacturing processes for tissue-related technologies. In this article, we describe the automation of the funnel-guide, an additive manufacturing method that uses living tissue rings as building units to

Novel methods in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy have recently been developed to investigate the binding properties of intermolecular complexes endowed with biomedical functions. Among these methods is the saturation transfer difference (STD), which enables the mapping of specific binding motifs of functional ligands. STD can efficiently uncover the specific and preferential binding sites

SiO2 Medical Products, Inc. developed hybrid blood collection tubes (BCTs) that combine the breakage resistance of plastic and a shelf life approaching that of glass. These blended attributes provide improved BCT safety and reliability for patients and clinical workers. A shelf life of at least 2 y with less than 10% draw volume variation was demonstrated on evacuated hybrid BCTs, which is approximately

High-throughput enzyme screening for desired functionality is highly demanded. This paper utilizes a newly developed microfluidic pneumatic printing platform for high-throughput enzyme screening applications. The novel printing platform can achieve distinct features including a disposable cartridge, which avoids crosstalk; a flexible cartridge design, allowing for integration of multiple channels;

Glycoproteins play key roles in various molecular and cellular functions and are among the most difficult to analyze biomolecules on account of their microheterogeneity, non-template-driven synthesis, and low abundances. The stability, serum half-life, immunogenicity, and biological activity of therapeutic glycoproteins, including antibodies, vaccines, and biomarkers, are regulated by their glycosylation

Quickly and easily producing uniform populations of microsphere-based 3D cell cultures using droplet-based templating methods has the potential to enable widespread use of such platforms in drug discovery or cancer research. Here, we advance the design of centrifuge-based droplet generation devices, describe the use of this platform for droplet generation with controlled cell occupancy, and demonstrate

Acoustic liquid handlers deliver small volumes (nL-µL) of multiple fluid types with accuracy and dynamic viscosity profiling. They are widely used in the pharmaceutical industry with applications extending from high-throughput screening in compound management to gene expression sequencing, genomic and epigenetic assays, and cell-based assays. The capability of the Echo to transfer small volumes of

This paper presents a novel microflow-based concept for studying the permeability of in vitro cell models or ex vivo tissues. Using the proposed concept, we demonstrate how to maintain physiologically relevant test conditions and produce highly reproducible permeability values for a range (31) of drug compounds. The apparent permeability coefficients (Papp) showed excellent correlation (0.89) with

Liver vessel density can be evaluated by an imaging biomarker diffusion-derived vessel density (DDVD): DDVD/area(b0b2) = Sb0/ROIarea0 – Sb2/ROIarea2, where Sb0 and Sb2 refer to the liver signal when b is 0 or 2 (s/mm2); ROIarea0 and ROIarea2 refer to the region of interest (ROI) on b = 0 or 2 images; and Sb2 may be replaced by Sb15 (b = 15). This concept was validated in this study. Liver diffusion

Matrix polysaccharides are a diverse group of structurally complex carbohydrates and account for a large portion of the biomass consumed as food or used to produce fuels and materials. Glucuronoxylan and arabinogalactan protein are matrix glycans that have sidechains decorated with 4-O-methyl glucuronosyl residues. Methylation is a key determinant of the physical properties of these wall glycopolymers

Many biological methods are based on single-cell isolation. In single-cell line development, the gold standard involves the dilution of cells by means of a pipet. This process is time-consuming as it is repeated over several weeks to ensure clonality. Here, we report the modeling, designing, and testing of a disposable pipet tip integrating a cell sensor based on the Coulter principle. We investigate

The quantitation of sugars, including glucose, the primary fermentable sugar; maltose (DP2); and maltotriose (DP3), is a standard procedure during the corn-to-ethanol fermentation process. The quantitation of glucose by the Megazyme Assay utilizing glucose oxidase and peroxidase enzymes (GOPOD) and UV-Vis detection, high-performance liquid chromatography with refractive index detection (HPLC-RID),

Single-cell cloning is essential in stem cell biology, cancer research, and biotechnology. Regulatory agencies now require an indisputable proof of clonality that current technologies do not readily provide. Here, we report a one-step cloning method using an engineered pipet combined with an impedance-based sensing tip. This technology permits the efficient and traceable isolation of living cells,

G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are modulated by many marketed drugs, and as such, they continue to be key targets for drug discovery and development. Many GPCR targets at Merck Research Laboratories (MRL) are profiled using homogenous time-resolved fluorescence (HTRF) inositol monophosphate (IP-1) cell-based functional assays using adherent cells in 384-well microplates. Due to discrepancies observed

New insights into the biomechanical properties of cells are revealing the importance of these properties and how they relate to underlying molecular, architectural, and behavioral changes associated with cell state and disease processes. However, the current understanding of how these in vitro biomechanical properties are associated with in vivo processes has been developed based on the traditional