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Researchers from the University of California, Riverside have identified novel protease inhibitory mAbs including MMP-12, MMP-14, BACE-1, Alp2, and cathepsin mAbs. Matrix metalloproteinases MMP-12 and MMP-14 are involved in normal physiological processes, such as embryonic development, reproduction, and tissue remodeling, as well as in disease processes, such as arthritis and metastasis. This technology is significant because these proteases precisely control a wide variety of physiological processes and thus are important drug targets for use in therapy for a wide range of diseases. Fig 1: Selection windows for the UCR cdMMP-14 inhibitors. β-lactamase TEM-1 was modified by insertion of the protease specific cleavage peptide sequences (shown in parentheses) between Gly196 and Glu197 of TEM-1.  

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Researchers have developed a split-enzyme system that can detect genetic information in living cells by using luciferase linked to programmable DNA-binding domains.

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As an important tool for electrophysiological recordings, neural electrodes implanted on the brain surface have been instrumental in basic neuroscience research to study large-scale neural dynamics in various cognitive processes, such as sensorimotor processing as well as learning and memory. In clinical settings, neural recordings have been adopted as a standard tool to monitor the brain activity in epilepsy patients before surgery for detection and localization of epileptogenic zones initiating seizures and functional cortical mapping. Neural activity recorded from the brain surface exhibits rich information content about the collective neural activities reflecting the cognitive states and brain functions. For the interpretation of surface potentials in terms of their neural correlates, most research has focused on local neural activities.   From basic neuroscience research to clinical treatments and neural engineering, electrocorticography (ECoG) has been widely used to record surface potentials to evaluate brain function and develop neuroprosthetic devices. However, the requirement of invasive surgeries for implanting ECoG arrays significantly limits the coverage of different cortical regions, preventing simultaneous recordings from spatially distributed cortical networks. However, this rich information content of surface potentials encoded for the large-scale cortical activity remains unexploited and little is known on how local surface potentials are correlated with the spontaneous neural activities of distributed large-scale cortical networks. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}

This invention demonstrates that an engineered cellular reverse transcriptase is a potent motor protein that can processively thread single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) through the MspA biological nanopore in single nucleotide steps while it is synthesizing cDNA. Notably, this represents a first-ever achievement for threading of ssRNA through the engineered Mycobacterium smegmatis porin A (MspA) nanopore in discrete steps, and also for ssRNA sequencing with the MspA nanopore. The inventors constructed the “quadromer map” for ssRNA in the MspA nanopore, which is essentially a table that can convert measured nanopore ion current to RNA sequences, using ssRNAs of known sequences. In addition, the inventors discovered that the single-molecule kinetic rates of the reverse transcriptase are affected by the presence of stable RNA secondary structures. Monitoring this biophysical behavior can be used to determine RNA structures during nanopore sequencing.  Nanopore sequencing is a powerful third generation sequencing technology that offers advantages such as ultra-long read length and direct detection of chemically modified bases. One of the key components of developing a successful nanopore sequencer is identifying potent motor proteins (such as polymerases or helicases) that can thread single-stranded (ss) DNA or ssRNA through the nanopore in discrete steps with high processivity.   

This technology automates the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) process using digital microfluidics for droplet manipulation. The invention also increases PCR speed and efficiency by combining electrowetting and plasmonic heating in a single device.PCR tests have a wide variety of applications, including the diagnosis of infectious organisms such as viruses and bacterias, as well as cloning, mutagenesis, sequencing, gene expression, and more. The test has become a gold standard for detecting SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. In the PCR process, a gene or part of the DNA of the infecting organism is amplified exponentially to the extent that it can be detected using conventional methods like gel electrophoresis. This invention addresses the following challenges in current PCR methods: a long sample to answer time; and manual manipulation by humans, which increases the error rate in the tests.  

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed a deep learning simulation model to predict mutated T-cell receptor affinity and avidity for immunotherapy applications.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed a method to predict if patients diagnosed with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease are at risk for developing liver cancer using a machine learning algorithm that analyzes a variety of easily available phenotypes and risk factors.

The inventors propose a novel framework generating new molecules that potentially inhibit the Mpro protein, the main protease of SARS-COV-2. The technology combines deep reinforcement learning (RL) with real-time molecular docking on the 3d structure of Mpro using AutoDock Vina, an open-source program for doing molecular docking. A second second docking software, Glide, was used to validate the generated molecules. The AutoDock and Glide docking softwares showed consensus on 41 molecules as potential potent Mpro inhibitors that were sufficiently easy to synthesize. The inventors show that this method samples the drug chemical space efficiently, covering a much broader space than molecules submitted to the COVID moonshot project, and the molecules have the correct shape and non-bonded interactions to fit into the binding pocket. Moreover, this approach only relies on the structure of the target protein, which means it can be easily adapted for future development of other inhibitors.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed a programmable machine that shakes and repeatedly inverts large numbers of small containers - such as vials and flasks – in order to mix high-viscosity fluids.

Microelectrodes are the gold standard for measuring the activity of individual neurons at high temporal resolution in any nervous system region and central to defining the role of neural circuits in controlling behavior.Microelectrode technologies such as the Utah or Michigan arrays, have allowed tracking of distributed neural activity with millisecond precision. However, their large footprint and rigidity lead to tissue damage and inflammation that hamper long-term recordings. State of the art Neuropixel and carbon fiber probes have improved on these previous devices by increasing electrode density and reducing probe dimensions and rigidity.Although these probes have advanced the field of recordings, next-generation devices should enable targeted stimulation in addition to colocalized electrical recordings. Optogenetic techniques enable high-speed modulation of cellular activity through targeted expression and activation of light-sensitive opsins. However, given the strong light scattering and high absorption properties of neural tissue optogenetic interfacing with deep neural circuits typically requires the implantation of large-diameter rigid fibers, which can make this approach more invasive than its electrical counterpart.Approaches to integrating optical and electrical modalities have ranged from adding fiber optics to existing Utah arrays to the Optetrode or other integrated electro-optical coaxial structures. These technologies have shown great promise for simultaneous electrical recordings and optical stimulation in vivo. However, the need to reduce the device footprint to minimize immune responses for long-term recordings is still present.

Bioorthogonal ligations encompass coupling chemistries that have considerable utility in living systems. Among the numerous bioorthogonal chemistries described to date, cycloaddition reactions between tetrazines and strained dienophiles are widely used in proteome, lipid, and glycan labeling due to their extremely rapid kinetics. In addition, a variety of functional groups can be released after the cycloaddition reaction, and drug delivery triggered by in vivo tetrazine ligation is in human phase I clinical trials. While applications of tetrazine ligations are growing in academia and industry, it has so far not been possible to control this chemistry to achieve the high degrees of spatial and temporal precision necessary for modifying mammalian cells with single-cell resolution.

The inventors have developed a first-of-its-kind human stem cell-derived metabolically functioning white adipose tissue micro-physiological system (WAT-MPS). The system reconstructs actual physiological circulation and provides a supportive microenvironment that promotes differentiation and maintains long-term cell viability that is superior to traditional tissue culture conditions. Previous studies of stem cell-derived human adipocytes often result in insulin resistant cells due to suboptimal differentiation conditions. The inventors systematically screened key differentiation factors and identified a window of conditions that can create insulin sensitive human adipocytes from mesenchymal and induced pluripotent stem cells without decreasing adipogenesis. To facilitate the rapid and scalable assessment of these human adipocytes, the inventors also optimized an MPS platform that can be used to quantitate insulin responsiveness of adipocytes. This WAT-MPS platform will enable high throughput drug screening for insulin sensitizers, regulators of lipolyisis, and environmental insulin desensitizers, and power personalized medicine approaches to investigate genetic risks of insulin resistance and pharmaco-genetics.   

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Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed a single-use chip for the identification of protein crystals using X-ray based instruments.

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Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have developed an environmentally friendly one-pot multienzyme (OPME) method for synthesizing sialidase reagents, probes, and inhibitors.

The inventors have developed optimized methods for using virus-like particles for the co-delivery of Cas9 ribonucleoprotein complexes and: a lentiviral genome that encodes a large transgene, such as a chimeric angtigen receptor (CAR) transgene a lentiviral genome that does not encode a sgRNA expression cassette a method for nucleofecting VLPs + homology directed repair (HDR) donor template together to enhance HDR in treated cells  

The inventors have discovered three protein inhibitors of the type II-A CRISPR-Cas system that specifically inhibit Cas9 from staphylococcus aureus. This finding is of potential importance to many companies in the CRISPR space. 

resent strategies aimed to target and manipulate RNA in living cells mainly rely on the use of antisense oligonucleotides (ASO) or engineered RNA binding proteins (RBP). Although ASO therapies have been shown great promise in eliminating pathogenic transcripts or modulating RBP binding, they are synthetic in construction and thus cannot be encoded within DNA. This complicates potential gene therapy strategies, which would rely on regular administration of ASOs throughout the lifetime of the patient. Furthermore, they are incapable of modulating the genetic sequence of RNA. Although engineered RBPs such as PUF proteins can be designed to recognize target transcripts and fused to RNA modifying effectors to allow for specific recognition and manipulation, these constructs require extensive protein engineering for each target and may prove to be laborious and costly. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}