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Aortic stenosis and aortic regurgitation are the most common types of aortic valvular diseases. Such diseased aortic valves in the body are traditionally replaced with valve prosthesis by an open surgical implantation. Available for licensing and commercial development is intellectual property covering stents for use with valve prostheses. As illustrated below, one possible embodiment of the invention includes a self-expandable stent with an elastic tubular latticework having radial and longitudinal direction.

This invention is directed to use of certain peptide analogs comprising multiple amphipathic helical domains that are able to promote cellular lipid efflux and stimulate lipoprotein lipase activity. As a result, administration of invention peptides lead to reduced incidences of hypertriglyceridemia without inducing toxicity. Existing peptides that stimulate efflux of lipids from cells exhibit unacceptably high toxicity. Invention peptides are superior to existing peptides and can also be used to treat or prevent a vast range of vascular diseases, and their dyslipidemic precursors.

Available for licensing and commercial development is a multilayered radio-frequency (RF) coil system for improving the transmit B1 field homogeneity for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at high field strengths. The current invention aims at manipulating the inhomogeneous profile of the transmit B1 field, which causes MR images to become less uniform as the magnetic field strength is increased, by utilizing an inner array of RF elements (e.g. surface coils) within and coupled to an outer transmit unit (e.g. a birdcage coil or other volume coil).

The retinoid-related orphan receptor gamma (RORgamma) is a member of the nuclear receptor superfamily. NIH investigators used homologous recombination in embryonic stem cells to generate mice in which the RORgamma gene was disrupted. RORgamma deficient mice lack peripheral and mesenteric lymph nodes and Peyer's patches indicating that ROR expression is indispensable for lymph node organogenesis. In addition, RORgamma is required for the generation of Th17 cells which play a critical role in autoimmune disease.

The invention offered for licensing is in the field of use of vaccines for malaria. The invention provides gene sequences encoding an erythrocyte binding protein of a malaria pathogen for the expression of the erythrocyte binding protein. The codon composition of the synthetic gene sequences approximates the mammalian codon composition. The synthetic gene sequences are useful for incorporation into DNA vaccine vectors, for the incorporation into various expression vectors for production of malaria proteins, or both.

The technology offered for licensing and for further development concerns a novel device for intervallic collection of expired gas from subjects and subsequent measurement of the isotopic content of such expired gases. The device is specifically designed for medical research and clinical applications, and in particular in the area of metabolic disorders. The device may facilitate the development and testing of new therapies for such disorders and may be used for medical screening and diagnostics of metabolic diseases.

Cryopreservation using liquid nitrogen frozen polyvinyl bags allows for storing cellular materials for extended periods while maintaining their activity and viability. Such bags are commonly used in the clinic to store blood products including blood cells, plasma, hematopoietic stem cells, umbilical cord blood for future uses including transplantation. These materials, typically obtained in limited quantities, may be of great therapeutic value, as is the case of stem cells or cord blood derived cells which can be used to potentially treat a number of diseases.

The compounds described in this technology may be useful in the development of nucleic acid detection kits for various pathogens.

Investigators at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute have developed modified defensins that are resistant to degradation, have improved characteristics compared to unmodified defensins, and are promising candidates for pulmonary disease therapeutics.

SMAD7 conditional knockout mice are available for licensing. SMAD7 can be knocked out by breeding with CRE-recombinase transgenic mice with a variety of promoters to yield tissue or cell type-specific deletions of SMAD7. SMAD7 has been shown to play a role in bone morphogenesis, cardiovascular tissue generation, immune regulation and fibrosis. Therefore, these mice provide a unique model to examine the role of the SMAD7 gene in disease processes that involve immunological, fibrotic, or cardiovascular components.