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Bag6 (BCL2 associated athanogene 6) is a multifunctional chaperone involved in tail anchored protein biogenesis, endoplasmic reticulum-associated protein degradation, and degradation of mislocalized membrane proteins. It is the central component of a stable three chaperone complex that also contains two cofactors-Ubl4A and Trc35. This complex acts in conjunction with the co-chaperone SGTA to channel proteins bearing an exposed hydrophobic segment in the cytosol to avoid protein aggregation.

The Molecular Recognition Section of NIDDK announces the availability of a novel triazole-based probes, structures which act as antagonists at human P2Y₁₄ receptors. Although the physiologic functions of this receptor remain undefined, recently it has been strongly implicated in immune and inflammatory responses. Prior work with a 4,7-disubstituted 2 naphthoic acid derivative (PPTN) established the ability to inhibit chemotaxis of human neutrophils in the lung and kidney.

Impaired functioning of pancreatic beta cells is a key hallmark of type 2 diabetes. Beta cell function is modulated by the actions of different classes of heterotrimeric G proteins. The functional consequences of activating specific beta cell G protein signaling pathways in vivo are not well understood at present, primarily due to the fact that beta cell G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are also expressed by many other tissues.

The invention pertains to methods of increasing the density of carboxylic acids on the surface of a carbon nanoparticle that can be functionalized with biologically relevant molecules, such as antibodies or peptides, for biomedical applications. Advantageously, the method could increase functionalization of a nanoparticle by at least about 1x107 functional groups/g of nanoparticle.

One of four deaths in the United States is due to cancer despite an emphasis on prevention, early detection, and treatment that has lowered cancer death rates by 20% in the past two decades. Further improvements in survival rates are likely to come from improving the limits of detection sensitivity at earlier stages of cancer. New approaches that rely heavily on genomic information, however, may change future testing strategies.

Many members of the Flaviviridae family are emerging and reemerging human pathogens that have caused outbreaks of devastating and often fatal diseases and represent a serious public health problem on a global scale. There is no single attenuation strategy that exists which is sufficient to prepare a safe, efficacious and immunogenic live attenuated virus vaccine that will work universally for Flaviviridae.

An arthropod-borne virus, Zika virus (ZIKV), has recently emerged as a major human pathogen. Associated with complications during perinatal development and Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults, ZIKV raises new challenges for understanding the molecular determinants of flavivirus pathogenesis. This underscores the necessity for the development of a reverse genetic system based on an epidemic ZIKV strain. This technology relates to the generation and characterization in cell cultures of an infectious cDNA clone of ZIKV isolated from the 2015 epidemic in Brazil.

This application claims live attenuated Zika viruses and vaccines, attenuated chimeric Zika viruses and vaccines, and multivalent immunogenic compositions comprising Zika vaccines and vaccines for other flaviviruses. The chimeric Zika viruses claimed include a first nucleotide sequence encoding at least one structural protein from a Zika virus (ZIKV), a second nucleotide sequence encoding at least one nonstructural protein from a first flavivirus, and a third nucleotide sequence of a 3' untranslated region from a second flavivirus.

Noroviruses are now recognized as the major cause of non-bacterial gastroenteritis in all age groups, and efforts are underway to develop an effective vaccine. The lack of a robust cell culture system for human noroviruses has complicated vaccine development. Hence, norovirus virus like particles (VLPs) have played an important role in the understanding of virus structure, immune response, antigenic diversity, and vaccine design.