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Aldehyde dehydrogenase enzymes (ALDHs) have a broad spectrum of biological activities through the oxidation of both endogenous and exogenous aldehydes. Unbalanced expression levels of ALDHs have been associated with a variety of disease states such as alcoholic liver disease, Parkinson’s disease, obesity, and multiple types of cancers. ALDH1A1 also plays a major role in preserving the tumor microenvironment via differentiation, self-protection, and proliferation of cancer stem cells.

The invention includes compounds and compositions for inhibiting phosphoglycerate mutase (PGM) activity. In some examples, the compounds selectively inhibit cofactor-independent PGM (iPGM). In particular embodiments, the compounds include one or more cyclic peptides.

In the last decade, prescription opioid abuse and misuse has been a major contributor to mortality in the United States, resulting in a serious national public health crisis. Nearly 12 million Americans used prescription opioids nonmedically in 2018, with >67,000 people dying from an opioid overdose.

When a coronavirus was identified as the causative agent of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers at the Vaccine Research Center of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), together with their collaborators at the University of Texas at Austin and Dartmouth College, responded quickly to engineer the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein for use in vaccines against SARS-CoV-2.

The invention provides identification methods for agents which inhibit the Jak-STAT signaling transduction pathway. Drugs identified by these methods are candidates for the treatment of proliferative disorders dependent on the Jak-STAT pathway, including those caused by HTLV-1. In addition, such agents may be potent immunosuppressive drugs with potential applications not only for organ transplantation but also for treatment of autoimmune diseases.

Although flaviviruses cause a great deal of human suffering and economic loss, there is a shortage of effective vaccines. The present invention is directed toward vector stage replication-defective flaviviruses that are replication-defective in mosquito vectors that transmit them to humans. The replication-defective flaviviruses of the present invention demonstrate a limited ability to replicate in the vector organisms that transmit flaviviruses from one host to another.

Nestin is an intermediate filament protein first described in early embryonic neuroepithelial stem cells. Although not found in most cells of the mature CNS, nestin is the predominant marker used to detect the small population of undifferentiated cells. The presence of nestin identifies stem, progenitor and some tumor cells in the CNS, and also labels areas of reactive gliosis in the CNS. Available methods to detect nestin use antibodies generated against rat nestin protein.

The current invention provides a nucleic acid sequence comprising the genome of infectious hepatitis C viruses (HCV) of genotype 2a. The encoded polyprotein differs from those of the infectious clones of genotypes 1a and 1b (U.S. Patent 6,153,421) by approximately thirty (30) percent. It covers the use of this sequence and polypeptides encoded by all or part of the sequence, in the development of vaccines and diagnostic assays for HCV and the development of screening assays for the identification of antiviral agents for HCV. Additional information can be found in Yanagi et al.

The invention makes possible "live" volume renderings from a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner. Previously, volume renderings from MRI data could only be generated off-line, some time after the image data was collected. In one embodiment of the invention, the time between data collection and volume rendering update (the latency) is approximately one third of a second at a frame rate of approximately 10 updates per second. User interaction with the rendering, such as rotation and cut planes, is allowed during imaging.

The current invention provides nucleic acid sequences comprising the genomes of infectious GB virus B, the most closely related member of the Flaviviridae to hepatitis C virus (HCV). It also covers chimeric GBVB-HCV sequences and polypeptides for use in the development of vaccines and diagnostic assays for HCV and the development of screening assays for the identification of antiviral agents for HCV. Additional information can be found in Bukh et al. (1999), Virology 262, 470-478.