AIDS, the disease caused by the virus HIV, represents a devastating global pandemic. According to a United Nations report in 2010, HIV has killed nearly 30 million people worldwide, with over 2.5 million additional infections each year. Detecting HIV particles is critical not only to patient diagnosis, but also for basic and clinical research, the source of future therapies. Unfortunately, current methods are severely lacking. Phenotypic testing can take over a month to complete and only reports a single time point. Another system widely used for research employs cell lines that express CD4 and co-receptors at abnormally high levels, rendering results of questionable physiological relevance. Patients, physicians, and researchers alike would benefit greatly from a new method of detecting and characterizing HIV; one that is rapid, sensitive, adaptable, and most importantly, physiologically accurate.      (more...)

DNA mutation events (gene rearrangements, base-pair substitutions) cause genomic instability, and can lead to cell death or cancer. These events also potentially lead to gene dysfunction and genetic disorders. DNA mutation events have many possible causes, such as inherited mutations in genes involved in genomic integrity, or exposure to environmental toxins. Human stem cell technology, in which stem cells can be differentiated into any cell type in the body, has the great potential to advance the discovery of therapeutics for unmet medical needs. However, recent reports indicate increased DNA mutation frequency in stem cells, which limits their potential use for discovery or therapeutic purposes. Therefore, technologies that enable the detection of the different types of DNA mutations would advance the characterization and selection of human stem cell lines for discovery or therapeutic purposes, and help characterize the mutagenic potential of environmental toxins. (more...)

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a plasmid that expresses recombinant GST-RILP protein. RILP is a Rab7 effector protein and therefore selectively binds the GTP-bound form of Rab7. (more...)

Recombinant antibodies have a wide variety of uses as research tools, therapeutics and diagnostics. Vectors utilized for the cloning and expression of antibody variable (V) regions make the expression of whole recombinant antibodies possible. In addition, expression of recombinant antibodies in a variety of cell types would provide greater utility to recombinant antibody technology. (more...)

Targeted gene delivery to somatic tissues has importance in both genetic research and therapeutics. One of the most effective gene delivery vectors known is the recombinant human adenoviruses, which possess high infectivity with respect to a broad range of tissue types. The low selectivity (as to tissue type) is a disadvantage of these vectors limiting their usefulness as an in vivo therapeutic. Vectors which combine high infectivity with tissue- specific expression are needed. (more...)

In Drosophila and human cells, the TATA binding protein (TBP) of the transcription factor IID (TFIID) complex is tightly associated with multiple subunits termed TBP-associated factors (TAFs) that are essential for mediating regulation of RNA polymerase II transcription. This diclosure makes available various cDNA expression clones encoding dTAFs 250, 150, 110, 80,60,40,30, and 30B (in vitro translation vectors) from Drosophila. References; C.P. Verrijzer, et al., Drosophila TAFII150: similarity to Yeast Gene TSM-1 and Specific Binding to Core Promoter DNA. 1994. Science 264:933-41 T. Hoey, et al., Molecular Cloning and Functional Analysis of Drosophila TAF110 Reveal Properties Expected of Coactivators. 1993. Cell 72; 247-60 (more...)

Radio antennas must maintain their paraboloid shape and directional positioning in order to work properly. However wind can load the antenna dish and cause it to lose its shape and position. To address this situation, researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a support system that strengthens antenna dishes and provides several structural enhancements. The support system consists of reinforcements that enable firm radial and torsional support as well as an optimal amount of axial flexibility and support. This design allows for a large open area so that azimuth and elevation-bearing systems can be positioned near to the reflector vertex. This positioning enables lower loads and less structural requirements for the pedestal and drives. (more...)

The performance of radio antennas can be degraded from interference caused by thermal radiation as well as signals traveling along the ground and reflected by the ground. To minimize these sources of interference, researchers at UC Berkeley have developed design enhancements for radio antennas. These refinements minimize thermal background noise as well as low radio frequency interference, and they don?t intercept radiation along the symmetry axis of the antenna, or any rays that reach the feed (detector). (more...)

The image processing of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) can be used to capture extremely high-resolution images. Corner turners are the signal-processing devices used to perform these data-intensive operations. Current corner turners require huge amounts of memory and consequently are expensive. An alternative corner turner based on custom, programmable chips has been proposed, but it is also expensive. To address this issue, researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a novel design for a corner turner that doesn?t rely on memory to perform the voluminous transpose operations. In comparison to the alternative approaches, this highly efficient Berkeley corner turn is less expensive. (more...)

Scientists at the University of California Berkeley have designed FRET sensor of a complex of Ran-GTP-importin b that is a fluorescent protein construct consisting of Importin b-domain (IBB) of importin a flanked by fluorescent proteins (donor and acceptor) capable of FRET. The sensor functions as an indirect sensor of Ran-GTP through its Ran-GTP sensitive specific interaction with importin b. See: P. Kalab, Weis, K., and Heald, R. (2002), Visualization of a Ran-GTP Gradient in Interphase and Mitotic Xenopus Egg Extracts. Science, March 29, 2002, Vol. 295, 2452-2456. The small guanosine triphosphate Ran is loaded with guanosine tripohosphate (GTP) by the chromatin bound guanine nucleotide exchange factor RCC1 and releases import cargoes in the nucleus during interphase. In mitosis, Ran-GTP promotes spindle assembly around the chromosomes by locally discharging cargoes that regulate microtubule dynamics and organization. We used fluorescence energy transfer-based biosensors to visualize gradients of Ran-GTP and liberated cargoes around chromosomes in mitotic Xenopus egg extacts. Both gradients were required to assemble and maintain spindle structure. During interphase, Ran-GTP was highly enriched in the nucleoplasm, and a steep concentration difference between nuclear and cytoplasmic Ran-GTP was established, providing evidence for a Ran-GTP gradient surrounding chromosomes throughout the cell cycle. (more...)

This invention makes available plasmids designed to express derivatives of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Ste5 protein tagged with an N-terminal in-frame (His)6 tract and a c-Myc epitope recognized by the monoclonal antibody, 9E10, and /or fused in-frame at either its N- or C-terminus to the Aequoria victoria Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP), or mutant derivatives of Ste5 in these contexts. References: Hasson et al. 1994. Mol. Cell Biol. 14:1054-65 Inouye et al. 1997. Science 278:103-6 Inouye et al. 1997. Genetics 147:479-92 Sette et al. 2000. Mol Biol. Cell 11:4033-49 Bardwell et al. 2001. J. Biol. Chem. 276:10374-86 Kunzler et al. 2001. Genetics 157:1089-105 (more...)

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a ubiquitous herpesvirus infecting more than 75% of the U.S population. It is a leading cause of birth defects in newborns, a major cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised individuals, such as transplant recipients and patients with AIDS, and even in healthy adults, this virus causes a life-long subclinical infection that may be associated with the development of atherosclerosis. Study of murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) serves as a model for understanding of HCMV- associated diseases. The reagents covered in this invention include (1) MCMV mutant (RvM78) that contained a mutation at viral open reading frame M78, (2) an expression plasmid construct (pM78-FLAG) that contains M78 coding sequence driven by an eukaryotic expression cassette, and (3) a mouse 3T3 cell line that contains pM78-Flag and expresses M78 protein. References: Zhan et al. 2000 Virology 266:264-74. Zhan et al. 2000 J. Virology 74:7411-21 (more...)

To assay transcription from promoters under the control of Filamentous Response Elements (FREs) which comprise binding sites for the transcription factors Ste7 and Tec1, investigators at UCB constructed a plasmid (YEpU-FTyZ) in which expression of the E. coli lacZ gene is driven by the FRE of the transposon Ty1. Reference; Cook et al. 1997 Nature 390:85-8. (more...)

Apoptosis is a phenomenon observed during development of many cell types in many organisms. It is an internal, programmed cell death characterized by DNA fragmentation into nucleosome-size pieces. Anti-CD3-induced apoptosis in T-cell hybridomas and immature thymocytes requires new gene transcription and may be related to negative selection during T-cell development. Using subtractive hybridization, we isolated a complementary DNA clone encoding the orphan steroid receptor Nur77 (refs 7-9). It shows different patterns of messenger RNA induction between apoptotic and stimulated T cells. We report here the use of gel shift analysis to demonstrate that the Nur77 protein is present at high levels in apoptotic T-cell hybridomas and apoptotic thymocytes, but not in growing T cells or stimulated splenocytes. A Nur77 dominant negative protected T-cell hybridomas from activation-induced apoptosis. Hence Nur77 is necessary for induced apoptosis in T-cell hybridomas. Reference: Woronicz, J, et al., 1994 Nature 367:277-81 (more...)