Bacterial infections not only cause disease by their presence but also upon the release of toxins. The common enteric bacteria, E. coli O157:H7 releases such toxins (Stx-1) upon treatment with antibiotics. These toxins, when released into the lumen of the intestinal tract, will cause cellular damage thus increasing the severity of the infection.
Spatial proteomics and transcriptomics are fast-emerging fields with the potential to revolutionize various branches of biology. In the last five years, various multiplex immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry imaging methods have been developed to stain 5-60 different protein markers in a given tissue. Nonetheless, most of these techniques are iterative and can image a maximum of 3-8 markers in a single cycle, resulting in processing time of several hours to days.
Disorders of adult beta-globin synthesis, which include sickle cell disease (SCD) and beta-thalassemia, are the most common monogenic disorders in the world. While the curative potential of bone marrow transplantation has been demonstrated, this approach is limited to a small fraction of affected patients due to the requirement for an HLA-matched donor, the highly specialized approach that requires critical infrastructure, and the high cost.
This technology includes a number of dimeric RGD peptides which been developed and labeled with various PET isotopes (1BF, 68Ga, and 64Cu) for imaging integrin expression in cancer, inflammation, rheumatoid arthritis, myocardial infarct, stroke and traumatic injury. A number of these peptides have been translated into clinic for diagnosis and therapy response monitoring.
This technology includes the creation and use of A3 adenosine receptor (A3AR)-selective agonists for treating chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, chronic neuropathic pain, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and other conditions. A3 receptors for adenosine are found in most cells and endogenous activation of the A3 receptors can result in apoptosis, thereby relieving the inflammation or targeting a tumor. A3AR agonists have been a promising strategy for the treatment of various diseases.
This technology includes mouse models that express versions of mouse cryopyrin protein containing mutations associated with human CAPS disease. We engineered mutations associated with three specific CAPS phenotypes (familial cold autoinflammatory syndrome (FCAS); Muckle-Wells syndrome (MWS); and neonatal onset multisystem inflammatory disease (NOMID)) into the mouse cryopyrin gene (called Nlrp3) to examine the roles of IL-1 β and related cytokines, and better characterize inflammasome functions.