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This application describes a composition and method for treating inflammatory bowel disease or other autoimmune diseases. The composition utilizes a vector which contains a first promoter which controls the expression of a regulatory transcription factor and a second inducible promoter which controls the expression of the gene of interest. The preferred gene of interest encodes an isoform of TGF-beta such as TGF-beta₁ or TGF-beta₃. The isoform of TGF-beta does not have to be hTGF-beta and can be a latent or active isoform of TGF-beta.

The invention provides a method of diagnosing X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (XSCID) in males or determining whether females are carriers. This method is based upon the presence of either a mutated or truncated IL-2Rgamma gene. The invention also discloses a method of treating XSCID as well as a method for monitoring the therapy.

Available for licensing are new methods of rapidly treating depression. The drugs currently used to treat depression work by increasing the activity at serotonin, norepinephrine and perhaps dopamine receptors in the CNS. However these drugs are effective in only 60-70% of patients, require 3-4 weeks of treatment before clinical improvement and have many side effects. These inventors have shown that in human patients, the administration of anti-muscarinic agents produces a rapid, prolonged alleviation of depressive symptoms.

The complexity of taste discrimination (salty, sour, sweet, umami and bitter) varies between human individuals and populations. Sweet and umami (the taste of glutamate) tastes play a major role in the perception of calorically-rich and essential nutrients and there are well-documented differences in individual perception of sweet and umami flavorings, many of which appear to be genetic in origin.

This invention relates to a novel magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) method that accomplishes uniform contrast enhancement between coronary arteries and the surrounding tissue across the entire imaging volume. The disclosed technique utilizes an adiabatic refocusing transverse relaxation time (T₂)-preparation pulse sequence, in which the magnetization is tipped into the transverse plane with a hard radio-frequency (RF) pulse and refocused using a pair of adiabatic fast-passage RF pulses. The isochromats are subsequently returned to the longitudinal axis using a hard RF pulse.

Transformation-Associated Recombination (TAR) cloning in yeast is a unique method for selective isolation of large chromosomal fragments or entire genes from complex genomes without the time-consuming step of library construction.¹ The technique involves homologous recombination during yeast spheroplast transformation between genomic DNA and a TAR vector that has short (approximately 60bp) 5’ and 3’ gene targeting sequences (hooks).

Cytokines exert their respective biochemical and physiological effects by binding to specific receptor molecules, which then stimulate signal transduction pathways. Interleukin-21 (IL-21) is a type I cytokine whose receptor is expressed on T, B, and NK cells.

The hybridoma producing a monoclonal antibody against the major flagellin protein (FlaB) is available for licensing. This antibody can be used in diagnostic and research applications related to Lyme disease or other Borrelia-caused conditions. More information about this antibody can be found in Barbour et al., Infection and Immunity, May 1986, volume 52(5), pages 549-554.

A primary goal of diabetes therapy is to improve control of blood glucose levels (known as glycemic control) in patients. Prospective studies of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes indicate that careful glycemic control significantly reduces the risk of microvascular, neurological, and cardiovascular complications of diabetes. The current method of monitoring glycemic control involves measuring levels of the intracellular hemoglobin (HbA1C).

Available for licensing and commercial development are novel biotechnological tools, prophylactics, therapeutics, and methods for modulating the activation state of an antigen presenting cell (APC) and thereby modulating the activation of a killer T cell.