Human Monoclonal Antibodies that Broadly Target Coronaviruses

An abstract for this invention was published in the Federal Register on June 10, 2022. The family of coronaviruses cause upper respiratory tract disease in humans and have caused three major disease outbreaks in recent history: the 2003 SARS outbreak, the 2012 MERS outbreak, and the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. There is an urgent need for strategies that broadly target coronaviruses, both to deal with new SARS-CoV-2 variants and future coronavirus outbreaks.

TACSTD2 in HCV Infection and Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Transcriptomics Insights

This technology involves studying the role of the Tumor-Associated Calcium Signal Transducer 2 (TACSTD2) gene in Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection and hepatocellular carcinoma. Researchers perform transcriptomics analysis on liver specimens from HCV-infected patients, identify TACSTD2 as a key gene, and create a stable cell line that overexpresses TACSTD2 to investigate its impact on HCV infection and replication. This technology aims to provide insights into the molecular mechanisms of HCV infection and its association with liver cancer.

 

Human Monoclonal Antibodies That Target Plasmodium Falciparum Sporozoites

Malaria is one of the worlds deadliest infectious diseases, causing an estimated 249 million cases and 608,000 deaths annually, with children in the regions of Africa and South Asia being most vulnerable. Approx 2,000 cases of malaria are reported in the United States each year, by travelers from malaria-risk countries. Malaria is a mosquito-borne parasitic disease transmitted through the bite of infected female mosquitoes, which introduces Plasmodium sporozoites into the bloodstream of the human host.

Novel System for HIV-1 Vaccine Development

The available technologies describe specific immunogenic peptides, peptide modifications and methods for identifying additional immunogens against HIV-1 surface proteins, gp120 and gp41. Additionally, detailed methods for use of the described immunogenic peptides in the development of vaccines and diagnostics for HIV-1 are disclosed. The current technologies further include a comprehensive system for immunogen design, comprising in silico design coupled to feedback from X-ray crystallography, antigenic analysis, and immunization.

Moraxella Catarrhalis Lipooligosaccharide Based Conjugate Vaccines for the Prevention of Otitis Media and Respiratory Infections

Moraxella catarrhalis is one of the three leading causative agents of otitis media in children. This is due in part to the current immunizations of children with Streptococcus pneumoniae polysaccharide and conjugate vaccines to prevent otitis media. The proportion of otitis media caused by pneumococcal strains covered by the vaccines have decreased while those caused by Moraxella catarrhalis and nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae have significantly increased.
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