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Lead (Pb) exposure can cause serious health concerns including abdominal pain, headaches, loss of appetite, memory loss, weakness, and other symptoms. Lead residues on human skin, especially on the hands of workers can be a significant health risk since such residues may be ingested during normal activities (e.g. eating, drinking, and smoking). A key component to reducing lead exposure is being able to identify areas of lead contamination.

Exposure to lead (Pb) has long posed serious health risks. Ingestion of lead from skin exposure can adversely impact every organ in the body; the kidneys, blood, nervous, and reproductive systems are most affected. Washing skin with soap and water is not sufficient to remove lead residues. To prevent adverse impacts from Pb exposure, exposed individuals need cleaning methods that will effectively remove Pb ions from the skin to less than the limit of identification (i.e., 10 µg or less).

Simian T-cell lymphotropic viruses (STLV) are nonhuman primate retroviruses closely related to the human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV). Types I, II, and III of HTLV have been found in humans and are believed to have originated from cross-species transmission of STLV from infected nonhuman primates. The HTLV viruses are known to cause leukemia, lymphoma, and neurological disorders.

Flaviviruses such as Zika virus, dengue virus, West Nile virus, yellow fever virus, and Japanese encephalitis virus cause widespread illness and death throughout the world. Typically, flaviviruses get transmitted through the bite of infected mosquitoes and ticks.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), rabies causes greater than 59,000 deaths every year in over 150 countries as of 2017. A rapid and reliable diagnostic test for rabies is critical for prophylaxis considerations in humans bitten by animals as well as for basic surveillance and animal rabies control programs. The World Organization of Animal Health (OIE) and WHO Expert Committee on Rabies recently approved the direct rapid immunohistochemical test (DRIT) for rabies diagnostics.

Immunoglobulins play a key role in the immune system. CDC has developed and tested hybridoma cell lines (monoclonal antibody (mAb) clones) for human IgG and other immunoglobulins. The mAbs generated from those hybridomas could be used as a reagent (second Ab) of anti-human immunoglobins in a diagnostic assay for SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), the virus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) and other assays that detect antigen specific antibodies from human sera.

This technology includes a method to facilitate identification of drug targets that can prevent SARS-related viruses from entering human cells with ACE2 receptors on the plasma membrane. Surface binding to cellular ACE2 of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is the first step of infection for the disease COVID-19. The invention allows for visualization of cell binding and entry of a “quantum dot conjugated virus spike protein” (hereafter referred to as either a ‘QD-Spike conjugate’ or a ‘pseudo-virion’) and can be used to screen libraries of drugs that prevent/inhibit this cell entry.

This technology includes device and sensor selection for the detection of blood metabolites which can be used to diagnose and monitor diseases in real-time. Currently the monitoring of metabolite levels is performed with specialized mass spectrometry instrumentation, therefore patient quality-of-life and financial advantages exist to develop devices capable of detecting metabolites in real-time.

This technology includes a codon optimized expression vector for the high expression and production of RLIP-76 which can be used to provide protection from radiation. RLIP-76 is a multifunctional membrane protein that transports glutathione conjugates of electrophilic compounds outside the cell. The sequence was generated with codon bias alterations, reduction of secondary structure, lowering of GC content, and removal of cryptic elements that could affect expression in E.coli.

This technology includes a precise measurement assay of cellular FMRP levels in patients, which can assist in the diagnosis and assess the severity of Fragile X syndrome (FXS). FXS is an X-linked disorder that produces intellectual disability, cognitive impairment, epilepsy, depression and anxiety. FXS is caused by mutations in the Fragile X Mental Retardation-1 (FMR1) gene that result in the absence or a loss of function of its protein product, FMRP.