Neuronal injury is the major pathology caused by CNS injuries like stroke or spinal cord injury. However, currently available biomarkers for CNS injuries are either not expressed in neurons at all, or are expressed constitutively in all neurons, regardless of whether the neurons are injured or not. ATF3 as a CNS injury biomarker is revolutionary because its baseline expression in CNS is very low, and it is rapidly induced only in CNS neurons shortly after CNS injuries like stroke or spinal cord injury.  Of note, human serum ATF3 level can be easily measured by a commercially available ELISA kit.

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This invention describes newly generated kinase inhibitors that demonstrate enhanced and attenuated action over their parent kinase inhibitors. These molecules can be used alone but, when combined with novel blocking molecules, the action of these chimeric kinases can be targeted for action in the central nervous system (CNS).

UCSF scientists have developed a novel biophysical-biochemical screening platform to identify small molecules that prevent the oligomerization of alpha-synuclein: the rate-limiting step in the formation of toxic fibrils in the pathologies of Parkinson’s disease, Lewy Body Dementia, and other neurodegenerative diseases. With this technology, novel families of small molecules have been found with the capacity to reverse multiple pathogenic markers of disease progression in cells.

This invention is a novel technology developed to treat a patient’s neurological and/or psychiatric conditions. It consists of a system of implantable devices and computational algorithms that not only has autonomous control in sensing and stimulation of electrical signals in the patient’s brain, but also enables interactions with the external environment, thereby enhancing training and learning.

This invention has provided methods for detecting dyskinesia in Parkinson’s disease patients and provided a way to titrate current treatment to maximize benefits while minimizing side effects.

This invention comprises compositions and methods for treatment of neuromyelitis optica (NMO) spectrum disorders using anti-aquaporin-4 (AQP4) antibody lacking effector function.

An adjustable step cannula to minimize therapeutic agent leakage and maximize on-target drug delivery. This new cannula design improves brain drug delivery over current fixed-length step cannulas.

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.

This invention describes an orientation-independent device that can create bright and highly localized signal enhancement during magnetic resonance imaging.

This invention describes a new way to predict response to antidepressants in patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and the likelihood of developing the disease by measuring telomere length and telomerase activity.

This novel brain stimulation device enhances motor function after stroke by modulating the neural network to be more excitable in a task-dependent manner.

This invention can accurately and rapidly map patient bone structure and classify all tissue types such as fatty soft tissue, water soft tissue, lung tissue, bone, and air within a single scan using novel MRI acquisition and reconstruction techniques.

This technology is a novel algorithm that can significantly remove stimulation artifacts (SA) from electrophysiological recording devices used for neuroscience research and/or clinical therapeutics.

A revolutionary blood-based diagnostic test measures three kinase signaling pathway activities to determine the likelihood of the patient having ASD at an early stage.

This invention provides an automated, high-throughput, minimally-invasive system to insert electrodes within the brain and other parts of the central nervous system (CNS). The system provides a means for inserting these electrodes within the brain with minimal to no disruption of the blood brain barrier (BBB). This feature is critical, as neural electrode failure is closely associated with inflammation resulting from the disruption of the BBB. Furthermore, this system will allow the implantation of electrodes within the CNS at a much higher density than current standards.

The use of cell transplantation in the brain shows great promise for the treatment of human neurological diseases, such as Parkinson's disease or stroke. Indeed, pre-clinical studies in animal models have shown significantly improved neurological function following cell grafting. However, in human trials the results have been considerably more variable. This has, in part, been attributed to concerns with poor cell distribution within the target area. A further issue that has arisen with the challenge of scaling up from animal models to humans is the increase in the number of transcortical penetrations required to deliver therapeutic agents. For surgical cell transplantation approaches, cell sedimentation and impaired graft viability are also concerns that need to be addressed to optimize the use of this therapeutic avenue.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) and primary dystonia  are common brain disorders that affect movement. Performing daily activities becomes increasing difficult and medication is insufficient for treatment of symptoms as severity increases. The best current technology for treatment of these disorders is deep brain stimulation (DBS) which uses stimulator electrodes inserted in the basal ganglia to alter electrical signaling. Determination of optimal stimulation is based on a “trial & error” approach and there is no accurate way to guide the therapy.  Stimulation is performed as an “open loop”, meaning that there is no brain signal that can be used to monitor the effectiveness of therapy and control the stimulation automatically. Hence, programming of the stimulation requires several time consuming appointments before the optimal setting is determined; thus making it difficult to achieve immediate symptom relief. Identification of a novel method to guide DBS therapy for PD and dystonia is greatly needed.

Novel small molecules that effectively inhibit IRE1, an enzyme critical for the activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR), providing a new method for therapeutic intervention in UPR-dependent diseases, such as cancer, inflammatory disease, autoimmune disease, and neurodegeneration.

UCSF researchers have produced a recombinant chimeric human protein that promotes neurite growth in vitro and that can be used as an alternative to the widely used cell adhesion molecule laminin, for cell attachment, neurite outgrowth studies, as well as other cell biology and immunology applications.

There are many types of neurological diseases that affect infants and children. Although the frequency of individual disorders is not high, together they are a significant group of disorders with a collective frequency of 1 in 18,000 live births. Unfortunately, neurologic disease is seldom curable. Thus, strategies for the treatment of these debilitating and often fatal diseases frequently focus primarily on palliative measures. Attempts at curing neurological disease have also been proposed. These treatments have included enzyme replacement therapy, gene therapy, and allogenic bone marrow transplantation. Sadly, however, these treatments typically do not improve the condition nor alter the ultimate outcome of the disease, leaving a desperate need to develop effective therapies.