Researchers at UCSF and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub have developed methods to detect SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Researchers at UCSF and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub have developed a serological detection assay for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. 

Researchers at UCSF and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub have developed a set of ACE2 variants which potently block SAR-CoV-2 infection in cells. 

UCSF PIs developed a novel software platform for COVID-19 contact tracing and hotspotting called COVIDseeker. Covidseeker looks back in time and may be able to recreate people’s movements when infection rates were rising and falling in the spring and summer of 2020, giving epidemiologists an invaluable source of data as they try to predict what is going to happen in the fall and winter.This digital health invention has applications broader than COVID-19. The software can potentially be leveraged for other infectious diseases, treating obesity, and controlling smoking or alcohol addiction by showing where and when people are when they smoke, what are the triggers and how their location contributes to the risk of developing a particular disease.

This diagnostic technology uses a panel of 20 biomarkers to diagnose Lyme disease with much higher sensitivity and accuracy than other currently existing methods. Lyme disease can be detected in peripheral blood samples from patients even at early hard-to-diagnose stages. These aspects of the invention make it indispensable for speeding up recovery and prevention of complications associated with this debilitating illness such as carditis, arthritis, neurological illness and even death.

This invention identifies a novel class of HIV inhibitors targeting RNA-protein interactions.

This invention identifies a novel class of natural protein-based inhibitors of CRISPR-Cas9, which could eliminate off-target effects of Cas9-mediated gene editing. It also presents an attractive antibiotic strategy and a potential biodefense agent against CRISPR bioterror threat.

UCSF researchers have invented a novel method to generate covalent macromolecular inhibitors. This strategy allows a peptide inhibitor to bind to its target protein specifically and irreversibly through proximity-enabled bioreactivity.

UCSF researchers have invented novel radiotracers that allow imaging of both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria infections using positron emission tomography (PET) to detect spread of infection and to distinguish that from other mimics.

UCSF researchers have generated and validated a K14-HPV16 transgenic mouse model, in which transgene expression produces neoplastic progression that fully resembles the gynecological and other epithelial dysplastic lesions induced by high risk HPVs. This model offers an invaluable tool for studying HPV infection and developing new drugs for HPV treatment.

Blocking human T cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain-containing molecule 3 (TIM-3) signaling can restore functionality to defective T cells in HIV-1 infected patients. Additionally, measuring TIM-3 provides clinicians with a novel way of evaluating, staging, and monitoring the progression of HIV infections.

This invention identifies a novel host gene expression panel to screen for the Ebola virus in pre-symptomatic patients.

Inhibitors of host Heat Shock Protein-70 (HSP70) as antiviral agents

The market for new therapeutic products that will combat resistant strains of infectious pathogens commands $26 billion annually.  The U.S. market share for new generation antibiotics alone is expected to reach $10 billion this year.  To overcome the growing problem of microbial resistance, drug development companies have adopted a number of strategies based on the production of beta-lactamases, including developing new beta-lactamase inhibitors that can be co-administered with beta-lactam antibiotics.  This particular strategy has yielded three beta-lactamase inhibitors are all active against most class A enzymes, such as TEM-1, but not against class C enzymes, like AmpC.  Also, these inhibitors afford no protection to cephalsoporins clinically and have never been combined, for example, with the 3rd generation cephalosporins, leaving these widely used drugs susceptible to the evolution of the extended spectrun beta-lactamases (ESBLs).  Thus there is pressing need for new inhibitors that can be combined with a primary beta-lactam, especially a cephalosporin, rescuing these first-line antibiotics for continued clinical utility.

UCSF investigators have identified a novel endogenous agent that activates the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor.

UCSF researchers have identified novel biomarkers of CMV replication that permit early detection of virus transmission before the onset of symptomatic disease. Quantification of these biomarkers is a more sensitive and reliable method than detection of viral DNA and therefore could result in novel tests for diagnosis of congenital infection in early gestation. Additionally, these biomarkers could be used to measure efficacy of treatment in pregnancies at high risk for congenital CMV disease and to serve as endpoints for successful antiviral therapy.

Researchers at UCSF have developed new C. albicans strains that use different auxotrophic markers that do not affect the virulence of C. albicans in a mouse model. Furthermore, these researchers have cloned complementing markers to be used in selection of knockout mutants from Candida strains other than C. albicans, thereby greatly reducing misintegration of DNA gene disruption fragments into the Candida auxotrophic marker site instead of the knockout target site. Combining these strains and markers with a fusion PCR technique allows for quick and efficient disruption of both alleles of the target gene in C. albicans. Generating homozygous knockouts is improved from 2% to 70% efficiency for knocking out the more difficult second allele.