| Tech ID |
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| 23063 |
Antibody-based Agents for Imaging in vivo CD8 Expression
Together, the specificity of engineered antibodies and the diagnostic power of in vivo imaging provide a tremendous opportunity for exploring disease pathogenesis. CD8 is expressed on a subtype of T cells, known as cytotoxic T cells as well as a subset of dendritic cells. CD8+ T cells are the subject of intense research efforts, including those for developing cellular immunotherapies and for understanding tumor oncology. The present invention describes a functional CD8-imaging agent based on engineered antibodies. The agents have clear use in a variety of preclinical disease and immuno-therapeutic models. The ability to monitor the migration, expansion, and longevity of therapeutically transferred cells using molecular imaging technologies is of critical importance for developing immunomodulating therapies.
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| 22955 |
MicroRNA Therapeutics for Augmenting Blood Vessel Growth
This invention provides microRNA therapeutics that augment blood vessel growth, which may have application for indications where it is desired to reduce or stimulate angiogenesis. Reducing or inhibiting angiogenesis may be useful for indications such as degenerative eye diseases and cancer. Stimulating blood vessel growth may be useful for treating indications such as cardiovascular, thrombotic or ischemic diseases. Cells lining blood vessels are usually among the least proliferative cell types, but this desired quiescence may be interrupted in response to growth factors during pathological neovascularization manifested in disease states such as macular degeneration and cancer. MicroRNAs are known to be key regulators of angiogenesis and specific miRNAs have been found to be effective toward these indications.
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| 22953 |
Device to Characterize Gas Transport Properties Of Cell-Free Oxygen Carriers And Red Blood Cells
Treating blood loss with cell free oxygen carrier (artificial blood) is essential to maintain oxygen supply to the patient as well as prevent the collapse of capillaries. Effective substitution by artificial blood hinges on oxygen delivery, blood-gas and pH balance, and carbon dioxide removal. Therefore it is important to monitor the efficacy of the artificial blood or compare the efficacy of different types of them.
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| 22407 |
Novel Imaging Technique Combines Optical and MR Imaging Systems To Obtain High Resolution Optical Images
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a novel high resolution imaging technique, referred to as Photo-Magnetic Imaging (PMI), that combines the abilities of optical and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging systems. Images are created with PMI by heating tissue with a light (e.g. laser) and measuring the resulting temperature change with MR Thermometry. This change in temperature can then be related to a tissue’s absorption, scattering, and metabolic properties. PMI addresses the limitations of current optical imaging techniques by providing a repeatable, non-contact, high resolution optical image with increased quantitative accuracy. This technique can be used for a wide-range of applications including but not limited to imaging of small animals for research purposes. This technique may also be used in imaging the tissue and organs of a patient.
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| 22347 |
VEGFR-3/VLA-1 Graft Survival Treatment
Among all solid organ or tissue transplantations, corneal transplantation is the most successful, with a 2-year survival rate of 90% in patients with inflamed and avascular (low-risk) graft beds. Unfortunately, the rejection rate reaches as high as 50-90% when the grafting is performed on inflamed and highly vascularized (high-risk) corneas. Many patients who are blind as a result of corneal diseases fall in this category after traumatic, inflammatory, infectious, or chemical damage. Such patients are not considered as good candidates for transplantation surgery and have to give up their hope for vision restoration. To address these challenges, investigators at University of California at Berkeley have developed a technical strategy using a combined blockade of VEGFR-3 and VLA-1 that markedly improves high-risk corneal transplant transparency and survival. This strategy suppresses lymphatic vessels in grafted corneas. It provides a new and powerful strategy to combat high-risk corneal transplant rejection. The strategy may also be used to treat low-risk transplant rejection and other immune-or lymphatic-related diseases. It can be locally or systemically administered.
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| 22098 |
Method For Combined Conditioning And Chemoselection In A Single Cycle Of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a mainstay of treatment for many hereditary disorders and lymphatic and blood cancers. However, HSCT regimens are maligned with poor transplantation efficiency and patient complications. For instance, the toxic side effects associated with chemotherapy or radiation-mediated pre-conditioning can compromise patient survival. In addition, the poor rate of transplanted cell engraftment and insufficient supplies of donor cells has limited the use and efficacy of HSCT. Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve the efficiency of engraftment and lower the toxicity of preconditioning regimens. Advancing these phases of HSCT will improve patient outcomes by reducing risks from preconditioning, overall durations of treatment, and costs from extended hospitalization and multiple transplantations.
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| 21887 |
Live imaging of corneal lymphatic vessels
Lymphatic dysfunction has been found in many disorders from transplant rejection to cancer metastasis, but there is little effective treatment for lymphatic diseases. The cornea is an ideal site for lymphatic research due to its accessible location, transparent nature, and lymphatic-free but –inducible features. Because there are no pre-existing vessels to consider at this site, it is exceptionally straightforward and accurate to evaluate new lymphatic events in the cornea. Since lymphatic vessels are not easily visible, previous studies using the cornea have relied on traditional immunohistochemistry assays with dead tissues. Currently, there is no means of direct and harmless visualization of lymphatic vessels within live cornea. Investigators at University of California at Berkeley have addressed this challenge by developing the first live imaging of corneal lymphatic vessels. Lymphatic specific dye is injected into the subconjunctival space to visualize lymphatic vessels at various stages in the cornea under a fluorescence stereo-, confocal, or two-photon microscope. Lymphatic vessels can be labeled in different colors to produce two-, three-, and four-dimensional images or live videos at a molecular level. The investigators have demonstrated a proof of principle in live mouse cornea. The technique allows time course tracking of dynamic lymphatic processes within the same tissue or subject over a short or long period of time. Live imaging of corneal lymphatic vessels allows visualization of lymphatic vessels in their natural morphology, state, and interactions with the local environment. Live imaging of corneal lymphatic vessels is readily applicable to patient examination as the lymphatic dye of dextran is bio-degradable and harmless to human health.
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| 21757 |
Highly Potent HIV Entry Inhibitors
A potentially valuable therapeutic strategy for preventing HIV infection or preventing the spread of the virus within an infected individual is to inhibit viral entry into human cells. Since HIV entry requires interactions between human cell surface proteins (notably CD4, CCR5, and CXCR4) and HIV envelope proteins (gp120 and gp41), compounds that bind to one or more of these proteins are being explored as candidates for blocking HIV entry. However, many of the compounds tested so far are active only against particular HIV strains, can be expensive and difficult to produce, or require exceedingly high concentrations to be efficacious in practical microbiocidal formulations. Thus, there is a pressing need to find new HIV entry inhibitors that can overcome these problems.
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| 21394 |
Real Time Adaptive External Immune System
A system using nanotechnology to synthetically replicate the body's immune function for uses in body fluid filtration, stimulation of immune system, therapeutics and diagnostics.
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| 21078 |
Microfluidic Platforms For Malaria Detection
Diagnostic device for detecting malaria infection by blood sample testing.
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| 21077 |
A High-Throughput Platform To Investigate Angiogenesis In Perfused Human Capillaries
A new platform to mimic the in-vivo formation of angiogenesis.
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| 20496 |
Soluble And Cell-associated Hemojuvelins As A Therapy And Diagnostic For Iron Metabolism Diseases
Various diseases of iron metabolism are caused by abnormal hepcidin production, either too much or too little. In the case of anemia of inflammation, the production of hepcidin is stimulated by various cytokines including IL-6. Increased hepcidin levels cause the loss of ferroportin from the surfaces of macrophages engaged in the recycling of iron from senescent red cells. As a result, iron is trapped in macrophages and blood iron concentration decreases, restricting the flow of iron to the bone marrow, and thus slowing the production of hemoglobin and consequently decreasing the production of erythrocytes. In another iron metabolism disease, juvenile hemochromatosis (JH), the decreased expression of hepcidin, is the result of the mutations in the HJV gene. The decreased expression of hepcidin results in severe iron overload.
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| 20473 |
EPO Knockout, EPOR Knockout and EPOR Conditional Knockdown Mice
Erythropoietin (EPO) is a cytokine that binds to its receptor (EPOR) and plays critical roles in hematopoiesis. Both Epo and EpoR are expressed in the nervous system during development and their expression levels are upregulated upon hypoxic injury. Exogenous EPO is neuroprotective and neurotrophic in CNS injury models. However, the endogenous role of EPO and the role of EPOR in neuroprotection and neurogenesis after stoke have not been identified.Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability due to the brains limited ability to repair after injury. Research tools to study the recovery of the brain after a stroke will aid in the development of future treatment options for stoke patients.
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| 20290 |
Maleimide Tumor Antigen-carrier Protein Conjugates for Cancer
Virtually all B cell malignancies express a tumor-specific immunoglobulin, whose unique variable region sequences contain antigenic determinants known as the idiotype (Id). The Id protein can be produced from individual patients tumor cells by hybridoma or recombinant DNA techniques, thus yielding a patient-specific protein that can be formulated into a vaccine. To render the Id protein more recognizable by the immune system, the Id protein is usually chemically-linked to an immunogenic foreign carrier protein. The protein most often used for this purpose is keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH), the oxygen-carrying protein from a Pacific mollusk. The traditional method for linking tumor Id proteins to KLH involves glutaraldehyde. However, not all subjects immunized with glutaraldehyde Id-KLH vaccines demonstrate immune responses to the Id proteins.
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| 19704 |
A Modulated Dielectrophoretic System for Ex-Vivo Diagnostics, Drug Monitoring, and Disease Management
Researchers at UC San Diego 's BioEngineering Department have recently developed a novel new dielectrophoretic (DEP) system for cell separation that will possess great advantages over state-of-the-art systems. Existing DEP technologies rely upon the difference in crossover AC frequencies between various cell populations to separate them into distinct groups. The technique becomes less effective as the cell types become more similar and the surrounding fluid becomes more complex (higher ionic strength), as in whole blood. This problem is overcome by the present invention, which will allow cell separation to be carried out under high ionic strength conditions.
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| 19491 |
New Treatment for Sepsis
Septic shock occurs from an overwhelming bacterial infection and is characterized by severe hypotension with low blood flow. It is the 13th leading cause of death in the United States with a mortality rate of 30%-50% due to the lack of effective treatments. In addition to the devastating effects of this syndrome on individuals, it incurs billions of dollars annually in healthcare costs.
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| 19476 |
A New Anticoagulant
Studies have shown that a compound under investigation causes inhibition of blood clotting in mice. The compound, when administered by intravenous tail injection, destroys circulating coagulation factors and therefore acts as a potent anti-coagulant. The in vivo experiments, in combination with in vitro tests on isolated blood clotting factors, support the theory that the compound causes its effects by proteolysis.
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| 19471 |
Treatment of Disorders with Shortened Red-Blood Cell Survival
Binding of autoantibody to the senescent cell membrane is a major physiologic pathway for removal of senescent red-blood cells (RBCs) from the circulation. Autoantibody to senescent RBCs is present in the plasma of all individuals and functions to limit RBC survival. In disorders characterized by shortened RBC survival, such as autoimmune hemolytic anemia, thalassemia, sickle cell anemia, and the anemia of chronic disease, this autoantibody may further exacerbate the anemia. Removal of autoantibody to senescent RBCs may provide a means to prolong RBC survival and reduce the need for transfusions.
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| 19367 |
Chromophore Concentrations, Absorption and Scattering Properties of Human Skin In-vivo
The invention is a method and probe design for obtaining quantitative optical properties and chromophore concentrations of tissue components in-vivo at superficial depths and "short" source-detector separations.
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| 18963 |
A Diffusive Probe For Quantification Of Optical Properties Of Superficial Layers
Researchers at the University of California have developed a fiber-based spectroscopic technique that can be used to quantify optical properties in superficial layers of tissue.
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