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The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), Laboratory of Cardiac Energetics, has created a gel with 0.3%-0.5% carbomer 940 which is easily used as an imaging immersion medium for confocal and two photon fluorescence emission microscopy and second harmonic generation imaging. This thick, but transparent, gel can be layered on tissue for microscopic analysis and retain the connection between the objective and tissue at a large working distance without supplementary retention.

Available for licensing and commercial development are methods to optimize sequence-based assays such as microarrays, multiplexed PCR or multiplexed antibody methods. This computational method uses numerical optimization to identify an optimal probe set to be used in an assay for the measurement of a specified set of targets. The method incorporates the sequence information of the target (protein, DNA, RNA or other polymer), the assay characteristics, limits on probe set size and assay probe length in its optimization.

This invention is a novel method and apparatus for greatly improving and sustaining spontaneous breathing in patients with severe respiratory failure. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is widely used in the treatment of patients with mild respiratory failure.

Recently-developed protein tags enable the specific covalent attachment of synthetic ligands, incorporating fluorophores or other substituted groups, to fusion proteins containing these tags. For example, SNAP and CLIP tags bind O⁶-benzylguanine-containing and O²-benzylcytosine containing ligands respectively, which can be derivatized with a wide variety of labels, including fluorescent dyes, affinity probes, and cross-linkers.

This technology is directed to the discovery of specific microRNAs that target and downregulate enzymes within the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway and is currently being tested in vivo.

Classical X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) and radiography are based on X-ray absorption and cannot show soft tissue structures as well as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Detecting the phase delay/advance of X-rays that travel through the body could enhance soft tissue contrast 10 - 100 times. Submicron-period X-ray transmission gratings for medical x-ray energies can substantially enhance the phase detection sensitivity, but fabrication is a great challenge. This invention includes a method to fabricate multilayer transmission gratings of large areas.

Blocking interleukin (IL-21) may be an effective method to treat or prevent various viral infections. In the course of an immune response to a virus, IL-21, produced primarily by CD4+ T cells, can inhibit or stimulate (regulate), immune cell function (B cells, T cells, natural killer cells, dendritic cells). IL-21 regulation may be either protective or pathological; autoimmune disease pathology has been associated with IL-21 promoted inflammation (in: type 1 diabetes, lupus, and multiple sclerosis).

Sirtuin 2 (SIRT2) inhibitors to reduce necrosis and, thereby, as novel therapeutics to treat ischemic stroke and myocardial infarction. Accumulating evidence indicates that programmed necrosis plays a critical role in cell death during ischemia-reperfusion. NIH investigators have shown that the NAD-dependent deacetylase SIRT2 binds constitutively to receptor-interacting protein 3 (RIP3) and that deletion or knockdown of SIRT2 prevents formation of the RIP1-RIP3 complex in mice.

A method of detecting DNase I hypersensitive sites ((DHS) in a single cell or very small number of cells, including cells recovered from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue slides of patient samples. DHS has revealed a large number of potential regulatory elements for transcriptional regulation in various cell types. The application of DNase-Seq techniques to patient samples can elucidate pathophysiological mechanisms of gene function in a variety of diseases as well as provide potentially important diagnostic and prognostic information.

A new and highly advantageous method of purifying polar organic compounds using affinity countercurrent chromatography, has been created. This invention permits separation of very hydrophilic organic compounds using countercurrent chromatography in which a ligand for the desired analytes is used to enhance the partitioning of polar species into the organic layer of an aqueous-organic solvent mixture.