Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have developed a novel imaging system that improves the diagnostic accuracy of PET imaging. The system combines machine learning and computed tomography (CT) imaging to reduce noise and enhance resolution. This novel technique can integrate with commercial PET imaging systems, improving diagnostic accuracy and facilitating superior treatment of various diseases.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed advanced compounds targeting neuraminidase activity to combat viral infections and understand cellular mechanisms.

Rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) is a method for quickly determining the most effective antibiotic therapy for patients with bacterial infections. These techniques enable the detection and quantification of antibiotic-resistant and susceptible bacteria metabolites at concentrations near or below ng/mL in complex media. Employing bacterial metabolites as a sensing platform, the system integrates machine learning data analysis processes to differentiate between antibiotic susceptibility and resistance in clinical infections within an hour. With the results, a clinician can prescribe appropriate medicine for the patient's bacterial infection.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed a technology providing the creation of stable analogs of glycosphingosines and gangliosides containing O-acetylated sialic acid for extensive biological and medical applications.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed a technology to expedite COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment using viral spike protein (S-protein) targeted peptides Zika virus envelop protein.

Researchers at UC Irvine have identified and tested a molecular target that regulates T cell function during chronic viral infection and cancer. The molecular target is one of the high mobility group proteins (HMGB2). HMGB2 is a DNA binding protein that regulates transcriptional processes, meaning that its modulation will have profound effects on T cell differentiation and ultimate function by altering the expression of many genes.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis (“UC Davis”) have developed fusion proteins effective in inhibiting the replication of diverse groups of viruses that can be useful in controlling vector-borne virus transmission as well as reducing vector populations.

Presently, antiviral strategies are mostly focused on targeting viral proteins. However, the high mutation rates of RNA viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2, make the development of effective antiviral drugs very challenging. Disrupting viral-host interactions such as by targeting pro-viral, non-essential human genes will more likely prove effective against new variants or future coronavirus outbreaks.

Researchers at UC Irvine have developed an optical detection system for SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens that features improvements in screening time, cost, sensitivity, and practicality. As vaccine availability, economic pressure, and mental health considerations has gradually returned society to pre-pandemic activities that require frequent and close interactions, it is imperative that SARS-CoV-2 detection systems remain effective.

 As currently available antibiotics become ineffective due to the rise in antibiotic resistance among pathogenic bacteria, development of completely new classes of antibiotics is critical. Classic antibiotics target pathogens and commensal bacteria indiscriminately; therefore, their use puts selective pressure on both populations. Because of the abundance of commensals within a mammalian host, antibiotic resistance is thought to arise more frequently in commensal bacteria and is horizontally transferred to pathogens. In contrast to classic antibiotics, virulence blockers are compounds that selectively inhibit the expression or function of a virulence factor in a pathogen or group of pathogens. Advantages of virulence blockers are twofold. For one, selective pressure on a limited number of microbes, i.e., only pathogens expressing the molecular target of the virulence blocker, should limit the evolution of resistance. Second, the decreased commensal killing by virulence blockers has the potential to preserve a healthy microbiota, which is critical for maintaining gut homeostasis and defending against opportunistic pathogens. Type III secretion systems (T3SS) are bacterial appendages required by dozens of pathogens to cause disease, including Salmonella, enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC), Shigella, Pseudomonas, and Yersinia, but they are largely absent in nonpathogenic bacteria. Bacteria use T3SS to inject bacterial effector proteins into target host cells to manipulate host processes for the benefit of the pathogen. Seven T3SS injectisome families have been identified and share a number of homologous membrane-associated components with the flagellar basal body. Agents that target T3SS would be key virulance blockers for a set of pathogens that are very important to human and animal health as are methods of screening for such agents. 

Long read nanopore sequencing can directly sequence RNA molecules, including rRNA, and result in full-length RNA sequences. rRNA sequencing is particularly useful for identifying microbes and full-length rRNA sequencing can identify microbes with post transcriptional modifications that confer antibiotic resistance. Such post transcriptional modifications are invisible to amplification based sequencing or other sequencing techniques that require reverse transcription.Before this technology was developed, there were few if any efficient methods for preparing rRNA libraries for direct RNA sequencing, particularly for microbial identification in either a clinical or an environmental setting.   

Plasma medicine has emerged as a promising approach for treatment of biofilm-related and virus infections, assistance in cancer treatment, and treatment of wounds and skin diseases. However, an important challenge arises with the need to adapt control policies, often only determined after each treatment and using limited observations of therapeutic effects. Control policy adaptation that accounts for the variable characteristics of plasma and of target surfaces across different subjects and treatment scenarios is needed. Personalized, point-of-care plasma medicine can only advance efficaciously with new control policy strategies.To address this opportunity, UC Berkeley researchers have developed a novel control scheme for tailored and personalized plasma treatment of surfaces. The approach draws from concepts in deep learning, Bayesian optimization and embedded control. The approach has been demonstrated in experiments on a cold atmospheric plasma jet, with prototypical applications in plasma medicine.

Existing screening tools for respiratory pathogens, including PCR-based methods and antibody-based methods, are generally time-consuming to perform and analyze, difficult to manufacture at scale, and reliant on a detailed understanding of the targeted pathogen. Additionally, these traditional methods give little insight into the extent to which an individual is capable of spreading the disease. All of these features hamstring early responses to emerging pathogens and early-stage epidemics, as can be seen from the ongoing SARS-COV-2 pandemic. To address these problems, researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a device which ionizes large biomolecules from aerosol droplets and routes them to the inlet of a mass spectrometer or ion mobility spectrometer for identification based on size and/or mass. This can serve as the basis for a screening tool which measures the concentration of pathogenic particles, including common respiratory viruses and bacteria, in the breath. Results from this test could be read out in a matter of seconds, and it does not depend on detailed knowledge of the pathogen in question. Researchers have demonstrated the efficacy of such a device in detecting both large human proteins and virus-sized styrofoam particles.

Viruses have caused substantial health problems in the world. In 2019, the ravage caused by SARS-CoV-2 highlights the global health danger of emergent pathogens again. Rapid diagnostics of viruses is essential for timely, frequently life-saving treatment.  Rapid diagnostics of viruses is essential for timely, and frequently life-saving, treatment. However, most diagnostic testing methods are only capable of detecting single species of virus. In addition, viruses can mutate rapidly, a process which can render single-target diagnostics ineffective. UC Berkeley researchers have developed synthetic DNA arrays as a universal platform to bind viruses with multivalent aptamers which is more tolerant to mutations and capable of detecting multiple species of viruses simultaneously.

Vaccine design is at the forefront of therapeutic development. Candidate proteins for recombinant vaccine design are expressed as soluble proteins lacking the native transmembrane domain. These proteins are often fused with multimerization domains to stabilize the native oligomeric state of the candidate protein. However, these multimerization domains can elicit off-target immune responses, raising concerns regarding risks of unintended immunogenicity. Thus, there is a need to eliminate potential off-target effects of recombinant vaccine candidates that contain multimerization domains such as the foldon domain.

Recently, teixobactin was investigated to treat antibiotic-resistant pathogens, but the drug has yet to reach clinical trial due to its tendency to form gels which prevents accurate dosing. To address this, researchers at the University of California, Irvine have invented a new library of teixobactin related prodrugs which show improved solubility and efficacy versus teixobactin.

Researchers at UCI have developed a family of recombinant protein therapeutics against Clostridium difficile designed to provide broad-spectrum protection and neutralization against all isoforms of its main toxin, TcdB. These antitoxin molecules feature fragments of TcdB’s human receptors (CSPG4 and FZD) which compete for TcdB binding, significantly improving upon existing antibody therapeutics for Clostridium difficile infections.

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. 

This invention provides a pharmaceutical composition comprising a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier and a lower airway probiotic composition comprising a physiological solution and a single candidate probiotic (CP) population.  In certain embodiments, the present invention provides a pharmaceutical composition comprising a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier and a lower airway probiotic composition, wherein the lower airway probiotic composition comprises at least two candidate probiotic (CP) populations.

The rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 and associated declaration of a global pandemic in 2020 underscore the importance of rapid and accurate infectious disease testing. Serological tests,  which facilitate vaccine development and identification of population spread, are commonly used as countermeasures to infection. Existing serological testing methods, like lateral flow immunoassays, are not quantitative and reliably sensitive though. Other immunoassays have better sensitivity and specificity but require long incubation times and are labor-intensive.  

The invention is a 3D-printed, low-cost, open-source multi-axis rotary cell culture system (RCCS).  The RCCS may be used to study Regulatory T cell (Treg) activation within a simulated microgravity (μG) environment.

Human astroviruses cause viral gastroenteritis in children, elderly, and immune-compromised individuals. VA1 clade human astroviruses can cause encephalitis or meningitis in immune-compromised individuals. There are no preventative measures or antiviral therapies for human astrovirus disease.

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a new vaccine which generates a targeted, specific immune response with fewer complications than currently available vaccines.