DNA Methylation Based Non-invasive Blood Diagnostic Assay for Precision Cancer Detection and Classification

This technology includes a panel of 46 genomic loci of DNA methylation (represented by CpG dinucleotides on different chromosomes) with application in blood-based cancer screening. The markers robustly distinguish tumor from normal samples using 8 loci and classify 13 different tumor types. Using 39 loci, inventors were able to discriminate between individual tumor types or peripheral blood. In 4052 tumor samples from 13 tumor types, the true positive rate of classification was 91.4%.

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Derived from Patients with CEP290-associated Ciliopathies and Unaffected Family Members

Approximately one-third of non-syndromic retinal dystrophies involve a defect in a ciliary protein. Non-syndromic retinal ciliopathies include retinitis pigmentosa, cone dystrophy, cone-rod dystrophy, macular dystrophy, and Leber-congenital amaurosis (LCA). Many CEP290-LCA patients also exhibit auditory and olfactory defects. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) cells were derived from patients with LCA and unaffected relatives. 
The National Eye Institute (NEI) seeks research collaborations and/or licensees for the use of these iPS cells.

Treatment of Oculocutaneous/Ocular Albinism and for Increasing Pigmentation

Albinism (also called achromia, achromasia, or achromatosis) is a congenital disorder characterized by the complete or partial absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes due to absence or defect in any one of a number of proteins involved in the production of melanin.  Certain forms of albinism are known to be due to mutations in tyrosine metabolism.  In oculocutaneous albinism (OCA), pigment is lacking in the eyes, skin and hair.  In ocular albinism, only the eyes lack pigment.  Patients with albinism experience varying degrees of vision loss associated with foveal h