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A revolutionary drug modality for the selective modification and degradation of intracellular proteins in lysosomes.

Glioblastoma is a malignant primary brain tumor that is highly invasive and infiltrative. Surgical resection and radiation therapy are not able to remove all tumor cells. Consequently, residual tumor is found in the majority of patients after surgery, causing early recurrence and decreased survival. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is routinely used in the diagnosis, treatment planning and monitoring of glioblastoma. The contrast-enhancing region identified with MRI is generally used to guide surgery and to provide a reference for radiotherapy planning. While edema and non-enhancing regions surrounding the tumor arepotential sites of tumor infiltration, usually they are not included in surgical resection as routine MRI cannot differentiate tumorous tissues in those regions. UC Berkeley researchers have developed a novel MRI technique that can identify, non-invasively and in-vivo, areas of altered iron metabolism associated with tumor activities in the edema tissue surrounding glioblastoma. The technique uniquely delineates a hyperintense area within the edema. The method can be used to guide surgery and radiotherapy and to monitor treatment response.

The targeted intracellular delivery of protein cargos is critical for therapeutic applications such as enzyme inhibition, transcriptional modulation, and genome editing. For most tissues, the delivery of these molecules must occur in-vivo. This has historically been achieved using viral vectors or lipid nanoparticles. While significant progress has been made in engineering the tropisms of these particles towards different tissues, delivery specificity and packaging limits remain challenging. UC Berkeley researchers have developed engineered immune cells that produce and intercellularly transfer a protein and/or RNA cargo in response to contact with a predetermined antigen. Proof of concept experiments demonstrated that production of EDVs can be induced in a T cell line through either the presence of a small molecule or recognition by the T cells of a specific antigen on co-cultured cells. The researchers showed that delivery can be achieved using multiple strategies and that the system is compatible with multiple cargo proteins of interest, including Cre recombinase and S.pyogenes Cas9. 

A method and apparatus of determining the condition of a bulk tissue sample, by: positioning a bulk tissue sample between a pair of induction coils (or antennae); passing a spectrum of alternating current (or voltage) through a first of the induction coils (or antennae); measuring spectrum of alternating current (or voltage) produced in the second of the induction coils (or antennae); and comparing the phase shift between the spectrum of alternating currents (or voltages) in the first and second induction coils (or antennae), thereby determining the condition of the bulk tissue sample.

Freeze-dried, non-hydrated scaffolds that are porous and contain bioactive components are advantageous for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine purposes.  UCB researchers have  developed a process to transform certain hydrogels into dehydrated scaffolds by cryogelation. These scaffolds provide greater ease of long-term storage and surgical insertion, while maintaining the polymeric structure required for cellular infiltration, growth, and tissue formation.  Other biologics such as drugs or exosomes can survive this processing and be retained in the scaffold. This invention serves to generate a powerful device for tissue engineering research, as well as for regenerative medicine to treat patients with significant loss of tissue injuries    

Obesity is a complex disorder as illustrated by the heterogenous manifestations as well as serving as a major risk factor for a plethora of related conditions including, but not limited to, hyperglycemia, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, hyperlipidemia, arthritis, gallbladder disease, sleep apnea, chronic back pain, and respiratory dysfunction. There are currently no FDA-approved therapies to address multiple conditions associated with obesity other the long term as well as no approved therapies to address specific manifestations of severe metabolic disease such as metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) and steatohepatitis (MASH). Combination therapies utilizing multi- targeting agents with favorable benefit-risk profiles are in need for optimal disease modification. UCB researchers have discovered methods for treating severe metabolic diseases by simultaneously or sequentially administering to an individual an effective amount of a therapeutic compound and at least one metabolism modifier having dual agonism or tri-agonism activity. 

      Miniaturization and performance of power electronics is fundamentally limited by magnetic components, whose power densities inherently reduce at small scales. Piezoelectric resonators (PRs), which store energy in the mechanical compliance and inertia of a piezoelectric material, offer various advantages for power conversion including high quality factors, planar form factors, opportunity for batch fabrication, and potential for integration. Contrary to magnetic components, PRs have increased power handling densities at small scales. Noteworthy advancements have been made in magnetic-less, PR-based power converter designs, demonstrating significant achievements in both power density (up to 5.7 kW/cm3) and efficiency (up to >99%). However, while PRs are promising alternative passive components, they cannot be used as drag-and-drop replacements for magnetics; achieving high performance in a PR-based converter requires complicated control of multi-stage switching sequences. A need exists for more practical ways to leverage piezoelectrics in power conversion without such added complexity.      To address this challenge, UC Berkeley researchers have developed a piezoelectric component that may be leveraged to directly emulate the dynamics of a magnetic component. The “active inductor” can serve as a drag-and-drop replacement for bulky magnetic inductors in power converters. Power density and efficiency of underlying piezoelectrics are preserved while the design complexity associated with piezoelectric-based power converters is simplified. Detailed models and control strategies for the piezoelectric-based active inductors have been developed and usage demonstrated in a classic buck converter. The active inductor is further validated with closed-loop simulation results and open-loop experimental results, confirming its inductor-like behavior.