Main Menu

This invention relates to rotavirus vaccine compositions and methods of vaccination. Rotaviral infection is the most commonly occurring gastrointestinal illness of children world, affecting both developed and developing economies. Additionally, rotavirus infections can affect livestock (especially calves and piglets), and resulting mortality/morbidity cause major economic losses for farmers and nations each year.

CDC researchers have developed specific Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) immunogens for use in the development of RSV-directed vaccines and therapeutics. RSV is the most common cause of serious respiratory disease in infants and young children and an important cause of disease in the elderly. To date, efforts to make a mutually safe and effective vaccine have been largely unsuccessful.

Research scientists at CDC have developed compositions and methods that can be used to develop attenuated vaccines having well-defined levels of replicative fitness and enhanced genetic stabilities. Infections by intracellular pathogens, such as viruses, bacteria, and parasites, are cleared in most cases after activation of specific T-cell immune responses that recognize foreign antigens and eliminate infected cells. Vaccines against those infectious organisms traditionally have been developed by administration of whole live attenuated or inactivated microorganisms.

The transmission of malaria begins with injection of sporozoites into a human from the bite of a female anopheles mosquito, which initiates the malarial life cycle in humans. When a mosquito bites an infected human, the ingested male and female malaria gametocytes fuse to form a zygote that eventually becomes an oocyst. Each oocyst produces thousands of sporozoites which migrate to the mosquito salivary glands, ready to infect a new human host.

CDC researchers have developed a Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) reporter cell line that is exceptionally permissive for influenza virus replication and provides a highly specific, sensitive approach for the simultaneous detection and isolation of influenza viruses. Simplified antibody neutralization assays and high-throughput antiviral drug screening can also be easily and efficiently implemented using this reporter system.

The invention is directed to treatment of chronic kidney disease by administering a synthetic, amphipathic helical peptide known as 5A-37pA, and novel derivatives thereof. Scientists at NIDDK have demonstrated that invention peptides antagonize activity of a particular scavenger receptor known as CD36. Using an in vivo model, NIDDK scientists have shown that invention peptides slowed progression of chronic kidney disease and can potentially be utilized as a therapeutic treatment.

This technology is an ultra-sensitive colorimetric assay, based on an enzyme-catalyzed gold nanoparticle growth process, for detection of disease-associated proteins (biomarkers) and disease diagnosis. Current detection methods, such as ELISA immunoassays, measure concentrations above 0.1 ng/mL in a sample. PCR, although more sensitive than ELISA, requires expensive and specialized equipment and reagents, skilled labor, and complex analysis techniques. This assay detects fg/mL to pg/mL concentrations, allowing detection and diagnosis in the earliest stage of disease or infection.

This technology is a highly sensitive tethered-bead immune sandwich assay. Analyte molecules are captured between two antibodies, a capture antibody and a detection antibody. The capture antibody on a micron-size bead binds analyte from a sample fluid. The bead-captured analyte is then exposed to a “detection” antibody that binds to the bead-captured analyte, forming a “sandwich”. The sandwiched analyte-bead complex then connects to a flexible polymer (such as DNA) anchored on a solid surface to form tethered particles.

Upon intranasal vaccination, live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) viruses may replicate within the nose for several days. Current clinical diagnostic tests cannot distinguish between LAIV viruses and multiple influenza viruses in recently inoculated patients that present with respiratory symptoms. This poses a problem for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with respiratory symptoms, as these symptoms may not be caused by influenza. CDC researchers have developed a real-time RT-PCR assay to detect the presence of LAIV viruses.