Conditionally Immortalized Human Podocyte Cell Lines

Podocytes, cells of the visceral epithelium in the kidneys, are a key component of the glomerular filtration barrier. Podocyte damage and loss contribute to the initiation of glomerular diseases. NIH investigators recently established long-term urinary cell cultures from two patients with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis and two healthy volunteers, via transformation with the thermosensitive SV40 large T antigen (U19tsA58) together with human telomerase (hTERT).

Construct for Tetracycline Inducible Podocyte Specific Gene Expression in Mice

The National Institutes of Health announces the generation of a construct by ligating 2.5kb human podocin promoter sequence to gene encoding reverse tetracycline-controlled transcriptional activator which enables tetracycline-inducible podocyte specific gene of interest expression with another construct consisting of tetracycline responsive element, minimal CMV promoter and gene of interest.

A Highly Efficient Differentiation Protocol for Placental Cells Derived from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

This technology includes a robust and highly efficient protocol that differentiates human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into the developmental precursor of placental cells, the trophectoderm (TE), under chemically defined conditions. The in vitro generation of TE cells holds great promise for modeling diseases of the placenta, drug screening, and cell-based therapies.

Truncated Methanocarba Adenosine Derivatives as A3 Adenosine Receptor Antagonists

Novel A3 adenosine antagonists available for licensing. A3 receptors are particularly highly expressed in inflammatory cells, making it a potentially desirable target for inflammatory diseases. This technology relates to highly specific antagonists and partial agonists of A3 adenosine receptors, which are negatively coupled to adenylate cyclase and have been broadly implicated in inflammation, cardiovascular disease, endocrine conditions and cancer. Further, A3 adenosine receptors have been implicated in asthma and glaucoma.

Glucocerebrosidase Activators as a Treatment for Gaucher Disease

This technology is a collection of small molecule activators of a genetically defective version of the enzyme called glucocerebrosidase (GCase), which causes Gaucher disease. Gaucher disease is a rare disease affecting 1 in 40,000 babies born. Ashkenazi Jews of eastern European descent (about 1 in 800 live births) are at particular risk of carrying this genetic defect. It is caused by inherited genetic mutations in the gene that encodes GCase, which result in reduced activity of the enzyme.

New Insect Sf9-ET Cell Line for Determining Baculovirus Titers

The baculovirus-based protein expression system has gained increased prominence as a method for expressing recombinant proteins that are used in a wide range of biomedical applications. An important step in the use of this system is the ability to determine the virus infectious titer, i.e., the number of active baculovirus particles produced during an infection of the insect host cell.

Tni-FNL: An Improved Trichoplusia Ni Cell Line for Protein Expression

Researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have developed an improved insect cell line, Tni-FNL, derived from the cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni.  The Tni-FNL cell line is capable of high level expression of heterologous proteins using baculovirus-based expression systems.  When compared to commercially available cell lines used for the same purpose, the Tni-FNL cell line often outperforms those for protein expression.  These cells have a high growth rate and are capable of growth at a lower temperature.

A New Class of Stable Heptamethine Cyanine Fluorophores and Biomedical Applications Thereof

Heptamethine cyanines are among the most widely used near-IR fluorophores. The near-IR range (between about 650 nm and 900 nm) is very useful for imaging applications due to the absence of background autofluorescence. Despite extensive use, many of these fluorophores suffer from chemical instability. Specifically, most of the current and commonly used fluorophores undergo a phenoxy to thiol exchange reaction in the presence of primary thiols. This exchange reaction is problematic during conjugation reactions of cysteine containing macromolecules.

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