Invention Description In the rapidly evolving field of live-cell analysis, recent innovations have enabled the sensing and quantification of specific intracellular nucleic acid targets, such as messenger RNA (mRNA) and other RNA species, in viable cells without requiring cell lysis or destruction of the sample. This capability is critical for drug...

Single-molecule techniques make it possible to digitally count even extremely rare biomarker molecules, providing greatly improved sensitivity for early disease detection. However, in standard setups, there is a necessary balance: if the concentration is too high, molecules overlap and become unreadable; if too low, there are not enough events for robust...

Cells have developed various means for transporting molecules across membranes as well as cellular compartments separated by membranes. Channels and pores can be formed with different protein assemblies to enable the regulated passage of molecules in and out of cells, which has led to them being exploited as molecular sensors for characterizing biomolecules...

Traditional bulk diagnostic assays suffer from signal dilution and averaging, making it difficult to detect rare biomarkers and subtle molecular variations critical for early disease diagnosis. Microarrays address this limitation by enabling high-throughput, multiplexed analysis with improved specificity and sensitivity. Their structured array format...

Of the emerging pathogens, the most concerning seem to be pathogenic viruses. Antiviral therapeutics are integral in instances where vaccines are not effective (e.g. HIV or Herpes infections). Despite the recent SARS-CoV2 pandemic and other viral outbreaks, antivirals have been clinically approved to treat only 10 out of the greater than 200 known pathogenic...