Modified Defensins and Their Use

The ubiquitous use of antibiotics has resulted in the selection of bacteria that are relatively resistant to these drugs. Furthermore, few drugs are effective against viral and fungal microorganisms. There is therefore a continuing need to identify novel agents that reduce or inhibit the growth of such microorganisms, or to identify ways of modifying existing agents in order to give them superior antimicrobial activities, or to identify agents that may recruit inflammatory cells.

Tryptophan as a Functional Replacement for ADP-ribose-arginine in Recombinant Proteins

Bacterial toxins such as cholera toxin and diphtheria toxin catalyze the ADP-ribosylation of important cellular target proteins in their human hosts, thereby, as in the case of cholera toxin, irreversibly activating adenylyl cyclase. In this reaction, the toxin transfers the ADP-ribose moiety of Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide (NAD) to an acceptor amino acid in a protein or peptide. ADP-ribosylation leads to a peptide/protein with altered biochemical or pharmacological properties. Mammalians proteins catalyze reactions similar to the bacterial toxins.

Rapid Motion Perception MRI Navigator Method

Available for licensing and commercial development is a non-breathhold flow sensitive navigator technique for reducing respiratory motion artifacts in magnetic resonance (MR) images. The method, called Rapid Motion Perception (RaMP), tracks bulk translational motion of the heart in real-time. The position of the blood volume is a direct representation of the heart position. RaMP tracks fast-moving blood volume during systole as a marker for the heart position, while suppressing stationary or slow moving spins.

Detection of Mutational Frequency in Human Bone Marrow

To date there have been no adequate methods to determine the frequency of mutations in humans. This invention discloses a method of measuring the mutational frequency of a mitochondrial DNA sequence by sequencing mitochondrial DNA from clonally expanded single cells such as CD34+ human stem cells. Sequencing for mitochondrial DNA polymorphisms and mutations may also be useful as a general method to detect minimal residual disease in leukemia. The mitochondrial genome is particularly susceptible to mutations and these may be used to measure genomic mutagenesis by virtue of comparison.

Peptides for Treatment of Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha Mediated Inflammatory Disease

Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is a multifunctional cytokine that mediates inflammation, immune regulation, and cellular proliferation. This cytokine is converted to its active form by TNF-alpha converting enzyme (TACE). Pathological increases in TNF-alpha activity have been associated with a wide variety of inflammatory diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and cancer. Inhibiting the conversion of TNF-alpha to its active form by inhibiting TACE represents a potential treatment for these diseases.

Cannula for Pressure Mediated Drug Delivery

Available for licensing are methods and devices for selectively delivering therapeutic substances to specific histological or microanatomical areas of organs (e.g., introduction of the therapeutic substance into a hollow organ space such as the hepatobiliary duct or the gallbladder lumen) at a controlled pressure, volume and/or rate which allows the substance to reach a predetermined cellular layer.

Novel Method of Fat Suppression in Steady State Free Precession (SSFP) Based Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

Available for licensing is a technique for improving magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that employs steady state free precession (SSFP). One such technique, fast imaging with steady-state free precession (FISP), is a well established and is a fast MR imaging method commonly used to evaluate cardiovascular anatomy and function. FISP provides high signal to noise ratio (SNR) images with excellent contrast between blood and the myocardium. However, these images are often contaminated with high signal from fatty tissue resulting in image artifacts.

Derivation of a >25 million-year-old Adeno-associated Virus Coat Protein Sequence for Gene Transfer Studies

This technology includes a novel capsid protein for recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated gene transfer evaluation. We have identified a "fossilized" endogenous AAV sequence element (referred to as mAAV-EVE) within the germline of an ancient lineage of Australian marsupials and have cloned and sequenced mAAV-EVE orthologs from at least fifteen lineage-specific taxa.

High Density Lipoprotein Targeting Protease Inhibitor Peptide for the Treatment of Alpha-1-antitrypsin (A1AT) Deficiency

This technology includes a novel concept and design for a lipoprotein targeting protease inhibitor for the treatment of Alpha-1-antitrypsin (A1AT) deficiency. A1AT deficiency occurs in about 1 in 2500 individuals in the United States and Europe, and people with this condition develop severe liver disease and emphysema/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Current treatment involves intravenous infusion of purified human A1AT protein, which is very expensive and only modestly effective.

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