Compass Systems (United States)

Rapid and portable antigen detection is essential for managing infectious diseases and responding to toxic exposures, yet current methods face significant limitations. Highly sensitive platforms like the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) are time- and cost-prohibitive for point-of-need detection, while portable options like lateral flow assays (LFAs) require systemic overhauls for new targets. Furthermore, the complex infrastructure, high production costs, and extended timelines for assay development constrain the manufacturing of traditional diagnostic platforms in low-resource settings. To address these challenges, we describe the Rapid and Modular Nanobody Assay (RAMONA), a versatile antigen detection platform that leverages nanobody-coiled coil fusion proteins for modular integration with downstream readout methods. RAMONA merges the portability of LFAs with the benefits of nanobodies such as their smaller size, improved solubility, and compatibility with cell-free protein synthesis systems, enabling on-demand biomanufacturing and rapid adaptation for diverse targets. We demonstrate assay generalizability through the detection of three distinct protein targets, robustness across various temperatures and incubation periods, and compatibility with saliva samples and cell-free synthesis. Detection occurs in under 30 minutes, with results strongly and positively correlating to ELISA data while requiring minimal resources. Moreover, RAMONA supports multiplexed detection of three antigens simultaneously by using orthogonal capture probes. By overcoming several limitations of traditional immunoassays, RAMONA represents a significant advancement in rapid, adaptable, and field-deployable antigen detection technologies.

Copper-based antimicrobial paints are frequently used to inhibit the biofouling of marine vessels. However, some bacterial species can overcome this copper challenge and colonize the surfaces. The early adherent bacterial population of marine vessels plays an important role because of its ability to produce extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs), forming a thin layer of organic matter that traps nutrients from the water and protects other colonizers by blocking the toxic antifouling (AF) coatings. It is of interest to study the factors that drive the initial colonization of copper surfaces. We used a metagenomic sequencing approach to analyze the microbial diversity and potential functional abilities of early biofilm communities on copper surfaces and discovered enriched copper-specific functional traits in early colonizers compared to the bacterial community of the surrounding seawater. The functional analysis of early biofilm colonizers on copper surfaces in marine coastal environments provides insights into molecular mechanisms that support biofilm formation on copper surfaces. The taxa associated with copper resistance traits were found to dominate initial microbial communities on copper surfaces, allowing these organisms to survive on copper surfaces despite copper toxicity. Our analysis reveals the dominance of the genera Allomuricauda and Ruegeria, carrying several copper resistance genes, as the early colonizers of copper surfaces.

We describe how a variety of neural network models might be useful in organizing the scientific data that is accumulating on the neurobehavioral effects of cocaine misuse. Implementation involving backpropagation, adaptive resonance theory, and autoassociative memory models are discussed. These techniques appear to have considerable heuristic value in terms of ordering the neurobehavioral effects of cocaine. They promise to provide a better understanding of how this drug affects such basic cognitive abilities such as executive function, attention, memory, decision making, and impulse control. Such knowledge is essential for designing treatment programs that can capitalize on the individual's current cognitive and behavioral assets at each stage of recovery, thereby facilitating the recovery process.