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CDC researchers have developed specific Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) immunogens for use in the development of RSV-directed vaccines and therapeutics. RSV is the most common cause of serious respiratory disease in infants and young children and an important cause of disease in the elderly. To date, efforts to make a mutually safe and effective vaccine have been largely unsuccessful.

Research scientists at CDC have developed compositions and methods that can be used to develop attenuated vaccines having well-defined levels of replicative fitness and enhanced genetic stabilities. Infections by intracellular pathogens, such as viruses, bacteria, and parasites, are cleared in most cases after activation of specific T-cell immune responses that recognize foreign antigens and eliminate infected cells. Vaccines against those infectious organisms traditionally have been developed by administration of whole live attenuated or inactivated microorganisms.

The transmission of malaria begins with injection of sporozoites into a human from the bite of a female anopheles mosquito, which initiates the malarial life cycle in humans. When a mosquito bites an infected human, the ingested male and female malaria gametocytes fuse to form a zygote that eventually becomes an oocyst. Each oocyst produces thousands of sporozoites which migrate to the mosquito salivary glands, ready to infect a new human host.

CDC researchers have developed a Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) reporter cell line that is exceptionally permissive for influenza virus replication and provides a highly specific, sensitive approach for the simultaneous detection and isolation of influenza viruses. Simplified antibody neutralization assays and high-throughput antiviral drug screening can also be easily and efficiently implemented using this reporter system.

This invention concerns "knockout" animals, including mice, which have a deficit of functional steroid hormone receptors, DNA constructs containing the mutations, and methods for producing the animals. The mutation is introduced into the animal or its ancestors at an embryonic stage. These knockout animals provide a model system for studying the biological role of hormones, including steroid hormones and sex steroids, in growth, development, morphological differentiation, and sexual and reproductive behavior and cycles, etc.

The vast majority of people infected with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) will have chronic infection. Over decades, this can lead to liver disease and liver cancer. In fact, HCV infection is the leading cause of liver transplants in the U.S. Several new drugs have recently come into the market that have changed the HCV treatment paradigm. However, the effectiveness of these new drugs can vary depending on the HCV genotype. Furthermore, all oral, interferon free therapeutic regimens for HCV infection will need combinations of drugs that target different aspects of the HCV life cycle.

There is evidence that the metabolic effects of endocannabinoids are mediated by CB1 receptors in peripheral tissues. While prior attempts at generating CB1 receptor blockers have had serious neuropsychiatric side effects, inventors at NIH have discovered compounds that block CB1 receptors with reduced brain penetrance. In addition, some of these compounds also have a direct inhibitory effect on inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), whereas another group of the compounds directly activates AMP kinas.

Use of Leucine Rich Repeat Kinase 2 (LRRK2) inhibitors for the treatment of Intestinal Bowel Disorders (IBD) is disclosed. IBD is a broad term that describes conditions with chronic or recurring immune response and inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, two common forms of idiopathic IBD, are chronic, relapsing inflammatory disorders of the gastrointestinal tract.

This technology is a highly sensitive tethered-bead immune sandwich assay. Analyte molecules are captured between two antibodies, a capture antibody and a detection antibody. The capture antibody on a micron-size bead binds analyte from a sample fluid. The bead-captured analyte is then exposed to a “detection” antibody that binds to the bead-captured analyte, forming a “sandwich”. The sandwiched analyte-bead complex then connects to a flexible polymer (such as DNA) anchored on a solid surface to form tethered particles.

Methods of enhancing engraftment of donor hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) by reducing expression or activity of CXCR4 in HSCs is described. HSC are the only cells in the bone marrow that are both pluripotent and long lived. Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) using HSC is an increasingly common medical therapy for severe hematologic cancers and primary hematologic immunodeficiencies. However, for significant HSC engraftment to occur there must usually be pre-transplant conditioning with either irradiation or chemotherapy or both.