This invention pertains to a system for continuous observation of rodents in home-cage environments with the specific aim to facilitate the quantification of activity levels and behavioral patterns for mice housed in a commercial ventilated cage rack. The home-cage in-rack provides daytime and nighttime monitoring with the stability and consistency of a home cage environment.
Retinal degeneration is a deteriorative condition of the human retina caused by the progressive and eventual death of photoreceptor cells. To date, no effective treatment for genetically inherited or age-associated retinal degeneration, which includes a large patient population worldwide, is available.
Epidermal growth factor receptor variant III (EGFRvIII) is a variant of EGFR that is an excellent target for immunotherapy because of its expression in cancer cells and not in normal cells.
Crouch gait is a common disorder in pediatric cerebral palsy (CP). Effective treatment of crouch during childhood is critical to maintain mobility into adulthood. Current interventions do not alleviate crouch gait long-term for most patients. This technology relates to a powered exoskeleton designed for gait assistance. The powered assistance may provide a physical therapy-type intervention to improve and maintain mobility.
The tumor microenvironment (TME) is a complex mixture of cell types whose interactions affect tumor growth and clinical outcome. Recent studies using fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and single-cell RNA sequencing (RNAseq) to elucidate tissue composition and cell-cell interactions in the TME led to improved biomarkers of patient response and new treatment opportunities. However, the use of FACS is limited to simultaneously measuring the expression of a few protein markers, whereas the use of single-cell RNAseq has been limited due to cost and scarcity of fresh tumor biopsies.
Papillomavirus pseudoviruses that comprise the L1/L2 capsid proteins can package a wide variety of non-viral DNA plasmids and deliver the packaged genetic material to cells. This function makes them attractive candidates as targeted gene delivery vehicles.
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-A (VEGF-A) is an angiogenic agent that drives blood vessel formation in solid tumors and other diseases, such as macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. Several therapies that target the ability of VEGF to stimulate angiogenesis have been approved. These therapies regulate VEGF-A activity by binding VEGF-A, thereby blocking VEGF-A from binding to its receptor on target cells. This technology utilizes a different approach to regulating VEGF-A activity by providing a VEGF-A protein antagonist that is produced by engineering native VEGF-A protein.
T cell immunotherapy is used in the treatment of various pathologies – including cancers and infections. Current therapies employ chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) consisting of the intracellular fragment of CD3-zeta as the signaling domain with varied combinations of co-stimulatory, transmembrane, spacer/hinge, and extracellular targeting domains. While effective in treating hematological malignancies, CAR T cells need to be activated through T cell receptor (TCR) activation.
Mutation of amino acid 61of the neuroblastoma rat sarcoma viral oncogene homologue (NRAS) is a known driver of oncogenesis in melanoma. Glutamine (Q) to lysine (K) mutation at this position of NRAS is prevalent in approximately 10% of all melanoma cases and associated with aggressive tumors and low patient survival. Therefore, Q61K mutated NRAS is an important candidate for targeted therapies, including cellular immunotherapy.
Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a genetic disorder affecting 1 per 3000 individuals on average. Patients develop a variety of developmental benign and malignant pathologies. The most common tumors associated with NF1 are peripheral sheath tumors, including neurofibromas, optical gliomas, and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors.