Abstract: The present invention relates to a method allowing a particularly efficient ligand exchange of a detergent bilayer on the surface of metal nanoparticles for molecular functionalization and assembly, and corresponding functionalized nanoparticles and nanoparticle assemblies that can be prepared using this method, as illustrated in FIG. 16, as well as their use, e.g., for plasmonic applications such as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). In particular, the invention provides corresponding methods for preparing a dimeric nanoparticle assembly, a core-satellite nanoparticle assembly, and a functionalized nanoparticle, respectively.

Abstract: In one embodiment, an encryption device may retrieve authentic genetic information from a genetic information database, generate false genetic information based on the authentic genetic information, encrypt the false genetic information to produce encrypted genetic information, assign identifiers to respective segments of the encrypted genetic information, transmit the encrypted genetic information to be genetically analyzed to a gene analyzer, receive, from the gene analyzer, an analysis of the encrypted genetic information, and decrypt the analysis of the encrypted genetic information to parse the analysis of the authentic genetic information.

Abstract: Methods and systems for the detection of genetic mutations from a tissue sample (e.g., a preserved tissue sample) are provided. The method includes the steps of a) extracting a nucleic acid from a tissue or biological sample; b) preparing a targeted nucleic acid amplicon library from the extracted nucleic acid; c) sequencing the targeted nucleic acid amplicon library to produce tissue sample target nucleic acid sequence data; and d) analyzing the sample target nucleic acid sequence data to determine whether it contains a mutation (e.g., a mutation associated with a risk for a particular disease). The methods described herein advantageously can be performed in less than 36 hours.