Abstract: The present invention relates to novel fluorescent dyes, novel fluorogenic and fluorescent reporter molecules and new enzyme assay processes that can be used to detect the activity of caspases and other enzymes involved in apoptosis in whole cells, cell lines and tissue samples derived from any living organism or organ. The reporter molecules and assay processes can be used in drug screening procedures to identify compounds which act as inhibitors or inducers of the caspase cascade in whole cells or tissues. The reagents and assays described herein are also useful for determining the chemosensitivity of human cancer cells to treatment with chemotherapeutic drugs. The present invention also relates to novel fluorogenic and fluorescent reporter molecules and new enzyme assay processes that can be used to detect the activity of type 2 methionine aminopeptidase, dipeptidyl peptidase IV, calpain, aminopeptidase, HIV protease, adenovirus protease, HSV-1 protease, HCMV protease and HCV protease.

Abstract: A novel method is disclosed wherein polymerized crystalline colloidal array (PCCA) chemical sensing materials are used to detect the presence of certain chemical species in high ionic strength solutions, such as bodily fluids. The PCCA sensors consist of a mesoscopically periodic array of colloidal particles polymerized into a hydrogel. The array of colloidal particles diffracts light in the visible spectral region due to the periodic spacing of the particles. The PCCA materials also contain molecular recognition components that bind to the chemical species being detected. The binding or the chelation of the chemical species of interest results in a Donnan potential that swells the hydrogel and in turn red shifts the diffracted light proportionately to the concentration of the chemical species. However, no significant red shift response may occur for PCCA chemical sensors in high ionic strength solutions containing chemical species of interest.

Abstract: The invention relates to a novel homogeneous method of detecting and/or determining the phosphorylating activity of a biological material towards a substrate containing tyrosine and/or serine and/or threonine, and to a kit for carrying out this method.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to novel polypeptides, termed fluorettes, that bind with high avidity to fluorophore dyes. The peptides find use in a variety of methods and approaches involving fluorophore dyes.

Abstract: Methods are disclosed for conjugating one moiety to another moiety. In the method the moieties are reacted with one another in a protic solvent. Reaction between the moieties and the protic solvent during the conjugating is negligible or reversible. A stable bond is formed between the moieties to produce a product that is not subject to &bgr;-elimination at elevated pH. Usually, one of the moieties comprises an unsaturation between two carbon atoms. One of the carbon atoms is or becomes an electrophile during the conjugating. The other of the moieties comprises a functionality reactive with the electrophile carbon atom to form a product that comprises the unsaturation. Compounds comprising both of the moieties as well as precursor molecules are also disclosed. Methods are also disclosed for determining an analyte in a sample employing compounds as described above.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method of detecting a biological agent including contacting a sample with a sensor including a polymer system capable of having an alterable measurable property from the group of luminescence, anisotropy, redox potential and uv/vis absorption, the polymer system including an ionic conjugated polymer and an electronically inert polyelectrolyte having a biological agent recognition element bound thereto, the electronically inert polyelectrolyte adapted for undergoing a conformational structural change upon exposure to a biological agent having affinity for binding to the recognition element bound to the electronically inert polyelectrolyte, and, detecting the detectable change in the alterable measurable property. A chemical moiety being the reaction product of (i) a polyelectrolyte monomer and (ii) a biological agent recognition element-substituted polyelectrolyte monomer is also provided.

Abstract: A class of asymmetric monobenzoxanthene compounds useful as fluorescent dyes are disclosed having structure (I) wherein Y1 and Y2 are individually hydroxyl, amino, imminium, or oxygen, R1-R8 are hydrogen, fluorine, chlorine, alkyl, alkene, alkyne, sulfonate, amino, amido, nitrile, alkoxy, linking group, and combinatios thereof, and R9 is acetylene, alkane, alkene, cyano, substituted phenyl, and combinations thereof. The invention further includes novel intermediate compounds useful for the synthesis of asymmetric benzoxanthene compounds having general structure (II) where substituents R3-R7 correspond to like-referenced substituents in the structure of described above, and Y2 is hydroxyl or amine. In another aspect, the invention includes methods for synthesizing the above dye compounds and intermediates. In yet another aspect, the present invention includes reagents labeled with the asymmetric benzoxanthene dye compounds, including deoxynucleotides, dideoxynucleotides, phosphoramidites, and polynucleotides.

Abstract: The invention relates to new compounds with the general formula I for use as a tool to introduce macromolecules into cells. The invention further relates to compositions for introducing macromolecules into cells, comprising vesicles formed by at least one compound in a solvent. The macromolecule can be incorporated in the vesicles and/or bound to the vesicles or another aggregate of the new compounds.

Abstract: A novel chemiluminescent compound is provided. In one embodiment, the novel compound is employed in an assay to detect analytes. The assay to detect analytes includes the steps of binding the novel compound to the analyte and detecting the novel compound.

Abstract: A method for assaying an analyte in a sample. The method comprising the steps of a) contacting the sample with material comprising a receptor which is present in a liposome and which liposome comprises a detectable functionality, said contact occurring under conditions resulting in binding of the receptor to analyte if present before or concomitant with step b, wherein step b) consists of contacting the sample with an immobilised ligand for the receptor said contact occurring under conditions resulting in binding of the receptor to the ligand, with steps a and b being followed by c) separating the resulting immobilised ligand-receptor fraction and the receptor fraction present in solution and d) assaying the detectable functionality of the receptor in a fraction from step c) in a manner known per se for its detection.

Abstract: A novel cartilage-specific compound and methods of diagnosis in medical and veterinary contexts using the compound. Screening methods for therapeutic substances and methods of treatment are also provided.

Abstract: Compositions are disclosed comprising (a) a metal chelate wherein the metal is selected from the group consisting of europium, terbium, dysprosium, samarium osmium and ruthenium in at least a hexacoordinated state and (b) a compound having a double bond substituted with two aryl groups, an oxygen atom and an atom selected from the group consisting of oxygen, sulfur and nitrogen wherein one of the aryl groups is electron donating with respect to the other. Such composition is preferably incorporated in a latex particulate material. Methods and kits are also disclosed for determining an analyte in a medium suspected of containing the analyte. The methods and kits employ as one component a composition as described above.

Abstract: In this disclosure, novel caanabinol-based tracers suitable for use in immunoassays that detect cannabinoids in a biological sample are disclosed. These cannabinol-based tracers are particularly useful in a continuous flow displacement immunoassay. The disclosure also describes the processes for synthesizing the novel tracers, and the application of these tracers in fluorescence immunoassays for detecting and quantifying cannabinoids in biological samples.

Abstract: The present invention provides biologically active linear polypeptides that possess a plurality of biologically active groups, methods employing such peptides to target molecules to cells, and methods employing such peptides for inhibiting the binding of cells to each other.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a method for the measurement of hydride using a chemiluminescent compound. The preferred chemiluminescent molecule is an acridinium compound. The source of hydride for the reduction of acridinium compound may be of chemical or biochemical origin, or the result of enzymatic catalysis. The chemical source of hydride, for example, might be metal hydrides, such as NaBH4. A biochemical source of hydride might be that derived from NADH, or NADPH, while an enzymatic source would be the class of oxidoreductases termed dehydrogenases which convert NADH or NADPH from NAD or NADP. There are numerous potential applications for acridinium compounds as chemiluminescent indicators of hydride. Any applied tests or diagnostic assays, in which hydride is either present at the onset of or generated through the course of a reaction, would benefit from the present invention.

Abstract: A method is provided for covalently linking carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acids, and other biomolecules under neutral conditions, using a Diels-Alder cycloaddition reaction. In an example, activated carbon-carbon double bonds were attached to free amino sites of a carrier protein, and a conjugated diene was attached to a carbohydrate hapten. Spontaneous coupling of the carbohydrate and the protein components under very mild conditions provided glycoconjugates containing up to 37 carbohydrate hapten units per carrier protein molecule. The method is also applicable to the immobilization of biomolecules on gel or solid supports. The conjugated products are useful as immunogens and as analytical and diagnostic reagents.

Abstract: The invention includes synthetic immunochemical haptens for the generation of antibodies, the antibodies, and the medical treatment applications for using the antibodies. The antibodies are designed to recognize the common molecular features of d-methamphetamine-like abused stimulants, and will have insignificant cross-reactivity with endogenous substrates (e.g. dopamine) or over-the-counter medications (e.g. 1-methamphetamine, pseudoephedrine, phenylpropanolamine and ephedrine). These monoclonal antibodies and their antigen binding fragments are useful in treatment plans for recovering addicts, in emergency room settings for rapidly reversing a drug overdose, in protection of fetuses or fetus from drug-abusing pregnant mothers or in a psychiatric setting to reduce the exacerbation of psychotic disorders caused by stimulant drugs.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a composition and method for regulating the adhesion of cells and biomolecules to hydrophobic surfaces and hydrophobic coated surfaces. The composition is a biomolecule conjugated end-group activated polymer (EGAP). The biomolecule conjugated EGAP can be put to numerous uses including cell adhesion, cell growth, cell sorting, and other biological assays.

Abstract: This invention relates to a method of assaying pyrrole-containing biological compounds and chemical compositions that can be used in the method. The method involves contacting a biological compound with one of: a) a bound or bindable derivatizing agent which forms a reaction product with the biological compound, followed by exposure to a detectable molecule which forms a complex with the reaction product; or b) a derivatizing agent which forms a reaction product with the biological compound, followed by exposure to a bound binding agent specific to the biological compound in the reaction product; or c) a binding agent specific to the biological compound, followed by exposure to a derivatizing agent which forms a reaction product with the biological compound, and determining the amount of bound biological compound. There is also provided a method of preparing an antigen.

Abstract: A device for the detection of electromagnetic radiation, wherein the device has (i) a photoactive layer of a semiconductor having a band gap of greater than 2.5 eV, (ii) a dye applied to the semiconductor, and (iii) a charge transport layer comprising a hole conductor material, where the hole conductor material is preferably solid and amorphous.