SMAD3 Reporter Mouse for Assessing TGF- ß/Activin Pathway Activation
This reporter was greater than ten times more sensitive in vitro than the CAGA12-based reporter, another commonly used construct to detect TGF- ß signaling. Using CRISPR/Cas9 technology, the inventors knocked this reporter construct into the Rosa26 locus, a ubiquitously expressed gene in most cells of the mouse. This strategy allows identification of tissues and cells in which signaling of TGF-βs are endogenously active during normal de velopment, tissue homeostasis, and disease.The mouse model is currently undergoing further validation using genetic and pharmacological approaches. It is available for licensing.Invento...
Source: NIH OTT Licensing Opportunities - December 15, 2021 Category: Research Authors: ott8admin Tags: Research Materials Licensing Desired NCI Source Type: research
CytoSig: A Software Platform for Predicting Cytokine Signaling Activities, Target Discovery, and Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) from Transcriptomic Profiles
Cytokines are a broad category of intercellular signaling proteins that are critical for intercellular communication in human health and disease. However, systematic profiling of cytokine signaling activities has remained challenging due to the short half-lives of cytokines, and the pleiotropic functions and redundancy of cytokine activities within specific cellular contexts. The redundancy and pleiotropy in cytokine activities are not fully captured by most immunological assays such as the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Luminex xMAP, which only measures the cytokine release level that could be transient and...
Source: NIH OTT Licensing Opportunities - November 24, 2021 Category: Research Authors: ott8admin Tags: Research Materials Licensing Desired & Collaboration Desired Collaboration Sought NCI Source Type: research
Synthetic Lethality-mediated Precision Oncology via the Tumor Transcriptome
The use of tumor transcriptomics for precision oncology has made significant advances, mainly by identifying cancer driver genes or actionable mutations for treatment with targeted therapies. However, this strategy misses out on broader genetic interactions that could reveal additional biologically testable biomarkers for therapy response prediction and inform the selection of more effective drugs for targeted treatment.Scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have developed SELECT, a computational, precision-oncology framework that uses the tumor ’s whole transcriptome to identify synthetic lethal and synthe...
Source: NIH OTT Licensing Opportunities - November 24, 2021 Category: Research Authors: ott8admin Tags: Diagnostics Licensing Desired NCI Source Type: research
LZK-Targeting ATP-Competitive Catalytic Inhibitors Suppress LZK Catalytic Activity, Inhibit MYC Expression, Inhibit AKT Activation, and Promote Cancer Cell Death and Tumor Regression
Leucine Zipper-bearing Kinase (LZK) has been identified as a novel therapeutic target in squamous cell carcinomas with 50% of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and lung squamous cell carcinomas (LSCC) patients showing amplifications or gains in LZK expression. Identifying successful therapies for the treatment of HNSCC or LSCC remains a significant unmet medical need.Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have developed novel LZK-targeting ATP-competitive catalytic inhibitors as therapies for treating these two cancer subtypes. They have synthesized LZK-targeting inhibitors that suppresses LZK c...
Source: NIH OTT Licensing Opportunities - November 17, 2021 Category: Research Authors: ott8admin Tags: Therapeutics Licensing Desired & Collaboration Desired Collaboration Sought NCI Source Type: research
Adjuvanted Mucosal Subunit Vaccines for Preventing SARS-CoV-2 Transmission and Infection
The Corona virus disease, 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a worldwide public health crisis with over 153 million confirmed cases and 3.2 million deaths as of April 2021. COVID-19 is caused by a novel coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2. SARS-COV-2 infects hosts via its spike (S) protein, which has two portions, S1 that binds the cell and S2 that is involved in viral entry via fusion with the cell membrane. There are several vaccines available for COVID-19 patients that directly target SARS-CoV-2 by systemic immunization. Investigators at NCI have designed a unique adjuvanted mucosal subunit vaccine to prevent SARS-CoV-2 transmissio...
Source: NIH OTT Licensing Opportunities - November 17, 2021 Category: Research Authors: ott8admin Tags: Therapeutics Licensing Desired & Collaboration Desired Collaboration Sought Source Type: research
CODEFACS and LIRICS: Computation Tools for Identifying Cell-Type Specific Gene Expression Levels in Tumors and Other Types of Samples
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. In contrast, bulk tumor gene expressi...
Source: NIH OTT Licensing Opportunities - November 17, 2021 Category: Research Authors: ott8admin Tags: Research Materials Licensing Desired & Collaboration Desired Collaboration Sought NCI Source Type: research
Methods of Treating Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Based on Particular Genetic Subtype (LymphGen) - A Genetic Classifier to Aid in the Molecular Diagnosis and Treatment of Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma
The development of precision medicine approaches for DLBCL (Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma) is complicated by its genetic, phenotypic and clinical heterogeneity. Current classification methods do not fully explain the observed differences in clinical outcomes to current chemotherapy and targeted therapy. Therefore, better analytical methods to classify and predict DLBCL patients ’ treatment response are needed.Investigators at the NCI have developed LymphGen; a statistical algorithm that classifies a patient ’s DLBCL as belonging to one or more types of genetic subtypes. The algorithm uses a Bayesian model to quantify t...
Source: NIH OTT Licensing Opportunities - November 17, 2021 Category: Research Authors: ott8admin Tags: Diagnostics Licensing Desired & Collaboration Desired Collaboration Sought Source Type: research
Enhanced Cancer Chemotherapy Using the Bioactive Peptide Recifin And Its Analogues
Topoisomerase enzymes play an important role in cancer progression by controlling changes in DNA structure through catalyzing the breaking and rejoining of the phosphodiester backbone of DNA strands during the normal cell cycle. Therefore, topoisomerases are important targets for cancer chemotherapy. Many topoisomerase 1 (TOP1) inhibitors such as camptothecin, rinotecan, and topotecan are widely used anti-cancer agents that work by stabilizing the TOP1-DNA cleavage complex. Stabilization causes irreversible double-strand DNA breaks, eventually leading to the death of replicating cancer cells. Tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase ...
Source: NIH OTT Licensing Opportunities - November 17, 2021 Category: Research Authors: ott8admin Tags: Therapeutics Licensing Desired & Collaboration Desired Collaboration Sought NCI Source Type: research
HIV-1 IN Mutant in a Single Round Vector
Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has changed the prognosis of HIV-1 infection to a chronic illness that, in most cases, can be managed or controlled. Integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs) and reverse transcription inhibitors are essential components of ART drug cocktails. In compliant individuals, ART has been found to block viral replication completely. Additionally, blocking viral replication can prevent the emergence of drug resistance.Researchers at the Retroviral Replication Laboratory of the National Cancer Institute have introduced mutations into the nucleotides encoding the integrase (IN) or reverse transcripta...
Source: NIH OTT Licensing Opportunities - November 17, 2021 Category: Research Authors: ott8admin Tags: Research Materials Licensing Desired NCI Source Type: research
Coumarin Luciferins and Mutant Luciferases for Bioluminescence Imaging
Bioluminescence imaging with luciferin-luciferase pairs is a well-established technique for tracking cells and other biological features in animal models. Bioluminescent is a chemical process, which does not require an external input for excitation. Bioluminescent imaging is often limited to monitoring single processesin vivo due to the lack of distinguishable probes. Additionally, existing probes typically operate with light in the visible range, which is highly scattered and exhibits poor tissue penetration. To address these issues, researchers at UCI and NCI have synthesized a new family of coumarin-based luciferins (C...
Source: NIH OTT Licensing Opportunities - October 13, 2021 Category: Research Authors: ott8admin Tags: Therapeutics Licensing Desired & Collaboration Desired Collaboration Sought Source Type: research
Automated Digital Pathology Device for High-Throughput Demand
Computer and imaging technologies led to the development of digital pathology and the capture and storage of pathological specimens as digitally formatted images. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in digital pathology, such as in three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction, requires analyses of high volumes of data. This resulted in increased demands for processing and acquisition of digital images of pathology samples. Increased usage cannot be met by the time-consuming, manual, and laborious methods currently used. Therefore, there is a need for automation of the techniques used in processing of pathology samples and acq...
Source: NIH OTT Licensing Opportunities - October 13, 2021 Category: Research Authors: ott8admin Tags: Non-Medical Devices Licensing Desired & Collaboration Desired Collaboration Sought NCI Source Type: research
AT-3 Mouse Breast Tumor Cell Line
Tumor cell lines are important tools for the study of cancer. However, most tumor cell lines available today do not mimic physiological tumor development, progression, and host immune responses. Autochthonous tumors include spontaneously occurring tumors and chemical, viral, or physical carcinogen-induced tumors. They are considered to model human tumors more closely than transplanted tumors. Autochthonous tumors can be generated de novo in a model organism of interest and are thought to resemble physiological human tumor conditions. There is therefore a need for development of cell lines from autochthonous tumor models th...
Source: NIH OTT Licensing Opportunities - October 13, 2021 Category: Research Authors: ott8admin Tags: Research Materials Licensing Desired & Collaboration Desired Collaboration Sought NCI Source Type: research
HLA-A*01:01 Restricted Human T Cell Receptor Recognizing the NRAS Q61K Hotspot Mutation
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. National Cancer Institute scientists developed a T-cell receptor (TCR) specific for NRAS Q61K for use in adoptive cell transfer (ACT) T-cell immunotherapy against melanoma. T cells reactive to NRAS...
Source: NIH OTT Licensing Opportunities - October 13, 2021 Category: Research Authors: ott8admin Tags: Therapeutics Licensing Desired & Collaboration Desired Collaboration Sought NCI Source Type: research
On-demand HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis
According to World Health Organization statistics, 1.7 million people became newly infected with HIV in 2019. Daily PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) with the combination of emtricitabine (FTC) and tenofovir (TAF) or tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) is highly effective in preventing HIV infection. However, many people can find it challenging to adhere to a daily pill schedule and thus, may not fully benefit from PrEP.
CDC researchers developed a new method with the potential to prevent HIV infection by administering a clinical drug regimen n only one or two doses prior to anticipated HIV exposure. This method includes co...
Source: NIH OTT Licensing Opportunities - September 14, 2021 Category: Research Authors: ott8admin Tags: Collaboration Sought CDC Source Type: research
Cross Species Single Domain Antibodies Targeting PD-L1 for Treating Solid Tumors
Programed Death-Ligand 1 (PD-L1, also known as B7-H1 or CD274) is a cell surface protein that binds to Programmed Cell Death Protein 1 (PD-1, also known as CD279). An imbalance in PD-1/PD-L1 activity contributes to cancer immune escape. PD-1 is expressed on the surface of antigen-stimulated T cells. The interaction between PD-L1 and PD-1 negatively regulates T cell-mediated immune responses. It has been suggested that disrupting the PD-L1/PD-1 signaling pathway can be used to treat cancers. The aberrant expression of PD-L1 on mu ltiple tumor types supports this suggestion. As a result, PD-L1 represents a strong target f...
Source: NIH OTT Licensing Opportunities - September 10, 2021 Category: Research Authors: ott8admin Tags: Therapeutics Collaboration Sought NCI Source Type: research
