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The invention discloses a vaccine which comprises lipooligosaccharide (LOS) isolated from N. meningitidis and conjugated to a carrier protein. The invention also discloses a method of making the acellular vaccine. The method consists of two main steps. In the first step the lipooligosaccharide (LOS), chosen so it does not contain the lacto-N-neotetraose human antigen (LNnT), is detoxified by a novel procedure which uses hydrazine to remove the O-linked fatty acids. In the second step, the detoxified LOS (dLOS) is covalently conjugated to a carrier protein such as Tetanus Toxoid (TT).

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) chronically infects over 300 million people worldwide. Many of them will die of chronic hepatitis or hepatocellular carcinoma. The present technology relates to the isolation and characterization of a novel neutralizing chimpanzee monoclonal antibody to HBV. The antibody was identified through a combinatorial antibody library constructed from bone marrow cells of a chimpanzee experimentally infected with HBV. The selected monoclonal antibody has been shown to react equally well with wild-type HBV and the most common neutralization escape mutant variants.

This application describes a composition and method for treating inflammatory bowel disease or other autoimmune diseases. The composition utilizes a vector which contains a first promoter which controls the expression of a regulatory transcription factor and a second inducible promoter which controls the expression of the gene of interest. The preferred gene of interest encodes an isoform of TGF-beta such as TGF-beta₁ or TGF-beta₃. The isoform of TGF-beta does not have to be hTGF-beta and can be a latent or active isoform of TGF-beta.

The hybridoma producing a monoclonal antibody against the major flagellin protein (FlaB) is available for licensing. This antibody can be used in diagnostic and research applications related to Lyme disease or other Borrelia-caused conditions. More information about this antibody can be found in Barbour et al., Infection and Immunity, May 1986, volume 52(5), pages 549-554.

Available for licensing and commercial development are novel biotechnological tools, prophylactics, therapeutics, and methods for modulating the activation state of an antigen presenting cell (APC) and thereby modulating the activation of a killer T cell.

Available for licensing and commercial development is a newly discovered bacterium in the Acetobacteraceae family. This bacterium was isolated, characterized and grown from lymph nodes of a patient with chronic granulomatous disease (CGD), a rare genetic disorder that impairs the immune system.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the colorectum and affects approximately 400,000 people in the United States. The cause of UC is not known, although an abnormal immunological response to bacterial antigens in the gut microflora is thought to be involved. Present treatments for UC include anti-inflammatory therapy using aminosalicylates or corticosteroids, as well as immunomodulators and diet.

Available for licensing is the A.E7 T cell clone, a model Th1 clone described in Matis et al., J Immunol. 1983 Apr;130(4):1527-1535 [PubMed abs] and J Immunol. 1983 Sep;131(3):1049-1055 [PubMed abs].

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the cause of Hepatitis E, a liver disease that occurs primarily in developing countries due to fecal contaminated drinking water. Outbreaks of HEV infection have caused epidemics in Africa, Central and Southeast Asia and Mexico and cases of the disease have also been reported sporadically in more developed countries. Hepatitis E is most often overcome by a host’s natural defenses; however the disease is more severe in pregnant women, who exhibit a 20% mortality rate due to HEV infection.

Two chimpanzee mAbs specifically reacted with light chain of the botulinum neurotoxin A and neutralize the toxin in the mouse model. They can be used for emergency prophylaxis and treatment of either naturally acquired or terrorist associated botulism. Since the sequence of chimpanzee immune globulin is virtually identical to that of humans, the MAbs are not expected to have problems in repeated administration as equine antibodies. They can also be used for rapid diagnosis of botulinum neurotoxin A.