9631 results about "Pathogen" patented technology

The present invention relates to the discovery, identification and characterization of toxic agents which are lethal to pathogens and methods for targeting such toxic agents to a pathogen or pathogen infected cells in order to treat and / or eradicate the infection. In particular, the present invention relates to toxic agents which target bacteria at different stages of the bacterial life cycle, which are delivered alone or in combination to bacteria or bacteria-infected cells. The invention relates to toxic agents which are lethal to diseased cells and methods for targeting such toxic agents to a diseased cell in order to treat and / or eradicate the disease. The present invention relates to promoter elements which are pathogen-specific or tissue-specific and the use of such promoter elements to achieve pathogen-specific or tissue-specific expression of the toxic agent(s) and / or ribozyme(s) of the present invention. Specifically, the invention relates to the delivery of one or more toxic gene products, antisense RNAs, or ribozymes, or combination thereof. The invention provides a novel system by which multiple pathogenic targets may be simultaneously targeted to cause the death of a pathogen, or cell infected with a pathogen. Further, the invention has important implications in the eradication of drug-resistant bacterium and bacterial pathogens. The invention provides a novel system by which multiple targets may be simultaneously targeted to cause the death of a diseased cell. The invention also has important implications in the eradication of drug-resistant pathogens and drug-resistant diseased cells (such as cancer cells).

An method and method for generating an electrical signal for use in biomedical applications, including two timing-interval generators, each optionally driving a multistep sequencer; analog, digital or hybrid means for combining the resulting timed signals into a complex electrical signal; optional filtering means for blocking direct current, removing selected frequency components from the resulting signal, and / or providing voltage step-up if needed; and conductive means for coupling the resulting signal to a human or animal body, food, beverage or other liquid, cell or tissue culture, or pharmaceutical material, in order to relieve pain, stimulate healing or growth, enhance the production of specific biochemicals, or devitalize selected types of organisms.

The present invention concerns methods and compositions for making and using bioactive assemblies of defined compositions, which may have multiple functionalities and / or binding specificities. In particular embodiments, the bioactive assembly is formed using dock-and-lock (DNL) methodology, which takes advantage of the specific binding interaction between dimerization and docking domains (DDD) and anchoring domains (AD) to form the assembly. In various embodiments, one or more effectors may be attached to a DDD or AD sequence. Complementary AD or DDD sequences may be attached to an adaptor module that forms the core of the bioactive assembly, allowing formation of the assembly through the specific DDD / AD binding interactions. Such assemblies may be attached to a wide variety of effector moieties for treatment, detection and / or diagnosis of a disease, pathogen infection or other medical or veterinary condition.

Rationally-designed LAGLIDADG (SEQ ID NO: 37) meganucleases and methods of making such meganucleases are provided. In addition, methods are provided for using the meganucleases to generate recombinant cells and organisms having a desired DNA sequence inserted into a limited number of loci within the genome, as well as methods of gene therapy, for treatment of pathogenic infections, and for in vitro applications in diagnostics and research.

Methods and compositions for detecting and localizing light originating from a mammal are disclosed. Also disclosed are methods for tracking light emission to selected regions, as well as for tracking entities within the mammal. In addition, animal models for disease states are disclosed, as are methods for localizing and tracking the progression of disease or a pathogen within the animal, and for screening putative therapeutic compounds effective to inhibit the disease or pathogen.

Disclosed are methods, devices and systems for biological and chemical sample processing using microfluidic chips. The disclosed microfluidic chips contain at least two detection zones for interacting with pre-selected RNA sequences, DNA sequences, antibodies, or antigens to determine their presence in the sample. Systems are also described comprising a cassette having at least one port and a sample inlet in fluid communication with a detection zone for interacting with pre-selected RNA sequences, DNA sequences, antibodies, or antigens, or mixtures thereof, if present, in a sample. Methods for concurrent testing of at least two of RNA, DNA, antibody, and antigen in a sample are also described, as are methods for testing for pre-selected pathogens and microfluidic methods.

Disclosed are compositions, systems and methods for treating a subject's body, body part, tissue, body fluid cells, pathogens, or other undesirable matter involving the administration of a targeted thermotherapy that comprises a bioprobe (energy susceptive materials that are attached to a target-specific ligand). Such targeted therapy methods can be combined with at least one other therapy technique. Other therapies include hyperthermia, direct antibody therapy, radiation, chemo- or pharmaceutical therapy, photodynamic therapy, surgical or interventional therapy, bone marrow or stem cell transplantation, and medical imaging, such as MRI, PET, SPECT, and bioimpedance. The disclosed therapies may be useful in the treatment of a variety of indications, including but not limited to, cancer of any type, such as bone marrow, lung, vascular, neuro, colon, ovarian, breast and prostate cancer, epitheleoid sarcomas, AIDS, adverse angiogenesis, restenosis, amyloidosis, tuberculosis, cardiovascular plaque, vascular plaque, obesity, malaria, and illnesses due to viruses, such as HIV.

The invention provides systems and methods for the generation of lymphocytes having a unique antigen specificity. In a preferred embodiment, the invention provides methods of virally infecting cells from bone marrow with one or more viral vectors that encode antigen-specific antibodies for the production of, for example B cells and T cells. In some embodiments, the viral vectors include an IRES or 2A element to promote separation of, for example, the α subunit and β subunit of a T cell receptor (TCR) or heavy and light chains of a B-cell antibody. The resulting lymphocytes, express the particular antibody that was introduced in the case of B cells and TCR in the case of T cells. The lymphocytes generated can be used for a variety of therapeutic purposes including the treatment of various cancers and the generation of a desired immune response to viruses and other pathogens. The resulting cells develop normally and respond to antigen both in vitro and in vivo. We also show that it is possible to modify the function of lymphocytes by using stem cells from different genetic backgrounds. Thus our system constitutes a powerful tool to generate desired lymphocyte populations both for research and therapy. Future applications of this technology may include treatments for infectious diseases, such as HIV / AIDS, cancer therapy, allergy, and autoimmune disease.

Disclosed and claimed are methods of non-invasive genetic immunization in an animal and / or methods of inducing a systemic immune or therapeutic response in an animal, products therefrom and uses for the methods and products therefrom. The methods can include contacting skin of the animal with a vector in an amount effective to induce the systemic immune or therapeutic response in the animal. The vector can include and express an exogenous nucleic acid molecule encoding an epitope or gene product of interest. The systemic immune response can be to or from the epitope or gene product. The nucleic acid molecule can encode an epitope of interest and / or an antigen of interest and / or a nucleic acid molecule that stimulates and / or modulates an immunological response and / or stimulates and / or modulates expression, e.g., transcription and / or translation, such as transcription and / or translation of an endogenous and / or exogenous nucleic acid molecule; e.g., one or more of influenza hemagglutinin, influenza nuclear protein, tetanus toxin C-fragment, anthrax protective antigen, HIV gp 120, human carcinoembryonic antigen, and / or a therapeutic, an immunomodulatory gene, such as co-stimulatory gene and / or a cytokine gene. The immune response can be induced by the vector expressing the nucleic acid molecule in the animal's cells. The immune response can be against a pathogen or a neoplasm. A prophylactic vaccine or a therapeutic vaccine or an immunological composition can include the vector.

Methods are disclosed for sterilizing tissue to reduce the level of one or more active biological contaminants or pathogens therein, such as viruses, bacteria, (including inter- and intracellular bacteria, such as mycoplasmas, ureaplasmas, nanobacteria, chlamydia, rickettsias), yeasts, molds, fungi, spores, prions or similar agents responsible, alone or in combination, for TSEs and / or single or multicellular parasites. The methods involve sterilizing one or more tissues with irradiation.

The immunoglobulins of the present invention are useful therapeutic immunoglobulins against mucosal pathogens such as S. mutans. The immunoglobulins contain a protection protein that protects the immunoglobulins in the mucosal environment. The invention also includes the greatly improved method of producing immunoglobulins in plants by producing the protection protein in the same cell as the other components of the immunoglobulins. The components of the immunoglobulin are assembled at a much improved efficiency. The method of the invention allows the assembly and high efficiency production of such complex molecules. The invention also contemplates the production of immunoglobulins containing protection proteins in a variety of cells, including plant cells, that can be selected for useful additional properties. The use of immunoglobulins containing protection proteins as therapeutic antibodies against mucosal and other pathogens is also contemplated.

An indirect calorimeter for measuring the metabolic rate of a subject includes a respiratory connector configured to be supported in contact with the subject so as to pass inhaled and exhaled gases as the subject breathes, a flow pathway, and a hygiene barrier positioned to block a predetermined pathogen from the exhaled gases. The indirect calorimeter also includes a flow pathway having a first end in fluid communication with the respiratory connector and a second end in fluid communication with a source and sink for respiratory gases. The flow pathway includes a flow tube through which the inhaled and exhaled gases pass, an outer housing surrounding the flow tube, and a chamber disposed between the flow tube and the first end. The indirect calorimeter also includes a flow meter configured to generate electrical signals as a function of the instantaneous flow volume of inhaled and exhaled gases passing through the flow pathway, and a component gas concentration sensor operable to generate electrical signals as a function of the instantaneous fraction of a predetermined component gas in the exhaled gases as the gases pass through the flow pathway. The indirect calorimeter further includes a computation unit operable to receive the electrical signals from the flow meter and the concentration sensor and operative to calculate at least one respiratory parameter for the subject as the subject breathes through the calorimeter.

The present invention concerns methods and compositions for making and using bioactive assemblies of defined compositions, which may have multiple functionalities and / or binding specificities. In particular embodiments, the bioactive assembly is formed using dock-and-lock (DNL) methodology, which takes advantage of the specific binding interaction between dimerization and docking domains (DDD) and anchoring domains (AD) to form the assembly. In various embodiments, one or more effectors may be attached to a DDD or AD sequence. Complementary AD or DDD sequences may be attached to an adaptor module that forms the core of the bioactive assembly, allowing formation of the assembly through the specific DDD / AD binding interactions. Such assemblies may be attached to a wide variety of effector moieties for treatment, detection and / or diagnosis of a disease, pathogen infection or other medical or veterinary condition.

Methods and compositions for the reliable detection of pathogens are presented. The invention uses cells as novel pathogen detection agents, exploiting pathogen-specific pathways and apoptosis.

A biosafe apparatus is disclosed for assay and diagnosis of respiratory pathogens comprising a nasal sampling device, a single entry, disposable microfluidic cartridge for target nucleic acid amplification, and an instrument with on-board assay control platform and target detection means.

The methods disclosed herein relate to methods and compositions for amplifying nucleic acid sequences, more specifically, from nucleic acid sequences of pathogens by targeted whole genome amplification.

The present invention encompasses topical oral care compositions comprising the combination of an anti-bacterial agent with an anti-inflammatory agent in an orally acceptable carrier for effective treatment and prevention of bacteria-mediated diseases and conditions in the oral cavity and for modulating host reaction to bacterial pathogens present in the oral cavity and to the toxins, endotoxins, inflammatory cytokines and mediators released by or prompted by these pathogens. The present invention also encompasses methods of use of these compositions comprising topical application to the oral cavity. The benefits of the present compositions and methods extend beyond treating and preventing oral bacterial infections in the oral cavity to promoting whole body or systemic health.

Methods and apparatus for implementing microfluidic analysis devices are provided. A monolithic elastomer membrane associated with an integrated pneumatic manifold allows the placement and actuation of dense arrays of a variety of fluid control structures, such as structures for isolating, routing, merging, splitting, and storing volumes of fluid. The fluid control structures can be used to implement a pathogen detection and analysis system including integrated immunoaffinity capture and analysis, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and capillary electrophoresis (CE) analysis. An analyte solution can be input into the device and pumped through a series of immunoaffinity capture matrices in microfabricated chambers having antibodies targeted to the various classes of microbiological organisms such as bacteria, viruses and bacterial spores. The immunoaffinity chambers can capture, purify, and concentrate the target for further analysis steps.

This invention relates in general to a method for molecular fingerprinting. The method can be used for forensic identification (e.g. DNA fingerprinting, especially by VNTR), bacterial typing, and human / animal pathogen diagnosis. More particularly, molecules such as polynucleotides (e.g. DNA) can be assessed or sorted by size in a microfabricated device that analyzes the polynucleotides according to restriction fragment length polymorphism. In a microfabricated device according to the invention, DNA fragments or other molecules can be rapidly and accurately typed using relatively small samples, by measuring for example the signal of an optically-detectable (e.g., fluorescent) reporter associated with the polynucleotide fragments.

Methods are disclosed for sterilizing biological materials to reduce the level therein of one or more biological contaminants or pathogens, such as prions, responsible for the disease states known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) in mammals. These methods involve sterilizing biological materials with irradiation.

Multivalent, multispecific molecules having at least one specificity for a pathogen and at least one specificity for the HLA class II invariant chain (Ii) are administered to induce clearance of the pathogen. In addition to pathogens, clearance of therapeutic or diagnostic agents, autoantibodies, anti-graft antibodies, and other undesirable compounds may be induced using the multivalent, multispecific molecules.

The invention describes a health product additive and preparation for sots or hepatitis B pathogen carriers By adding medicinal fungus fermentation liquor as additive and using effective components and fine powder extracted from plants and herbal medicines by solvent as adjuvant, the health product can be made into forms of effervescent tablet, buccal tablet, chewable tablet, oral taken tablet, candy, chocolate, chewing gum, oral liquid, particle, soluble granules, capsule, aerosol, liquid beverage and solid beverage. The product can relieve alcohol effect, nourish stomach, protect liver, and help to remit hepatitis B virus and hepatitis liver cancer patient condition, achieves a quite important effect for protecting the health of the sots or hepatitis B pathogen carriers in daily or social occasions. The invention provides a good idea to the utilization of the large amount of active fermentation liquid generated with the thallus pharmacy in the medicinal fungus fermentation industries, and also provides a effective approach for increasing the utilization value of the large amount of wild plant resources such as wild jujube and haw widely distributed in the north areas.

The invention provides compositions comprising, 16alpha-bromo-3beta-hydroxy-5alpha-androstan-17-one hemihydrate and one or more excipients, typically wherein the composition comprises less than about 3% water. The compositions are useful to make improved pharmaceutical formulations. The invention also provides methods of intermittent dosing of steroid compounds such as analogs of 16alpha-bromo-3beta-hydroxy-5alpha-androstan-17-one and compositions useful in such dosing regimens. The invention further provides compositions and methods to inhibit pathogen (viral) replication, ameliorate symptoms associated with immune dysregulation and to modulate immune responses in a subject using certain steroids and steroid analogs. The invention also provides methods to make and use these immunomodulatory compositions and formulations.

Disclosed and claimed are methods of non-invasive genetic immunization in an animal and / or methods of inducing a systemic immune or therapeutic response in an animal, products therefrom and uses for the methods and products therefrom. The methods can include contacting skin of the animal with a vector in an amount effective to induce the systemic immune or therapeutic response in the animal. The vector can include and express an exogenous nucleic acid molecule encoding an epitope or gene product of interest. The systemic immune response can be to or from the epitope or gene product. The nucleic acid molecule can encode an epitope of interest and / or an antigen of interest and / or a nucleic acid molecule that stimulates and / or modulates an immunological response and / or stimulates and / or modulates expression, e.g., transcription and / or translation, such as transcription and / or translation of an endogenous and / or exogenous nucleic acid molecule; e.g., one or more of influenza hemagglutinin, influenza nuclear protein, influenza M2, tetanus toxin C-fragment, anthrax protective antigen, anthrax lethal factor, rabies glycoprotein, HBV surface antigen, HIV gp 120, HIV gp 160, human carcinoembryonic antigen, malaria CSP, malaria SSP, malaria MSP, malaria pfg, and mycobacterium tuberculosis HSP; and / or a therapeutic, an immunomodulatory gene, such as co-stimulatory gene and / or a cytokine gene. The immune response can be induced by the vector expressing the nucleic acid molecule in the animal's cells. The animal's cells can be epidermal cells. The immune response can be against a pathogen or a neoplasm. A prophylactic vaccine or a therapeutic vaccine or an immunological composition can include the vector. The animal can be a vertebrate, e.g., a mammal, such as human, a cow, a horse, a dog, a cat, a goat, a sheep or a pig; or fowl such as turkey, chicken or duck. The vector can be one or more of a viral vector, including viral coat, e.g., with some or all viral genes deleted therefrom, bacterial, protozoan, transposon, retrotransposon, and DNA vector, e.g., a recombinant vector; for instance, an adenovirus, such as an adenovirus defective in its E1 and / or E3 and / or E4 region(s). The method can encompass applying a delivery device including the vector to the skin of the animal, as well as such a method further including disposing the vector in and / or on the delivery device. The vector can have all viral genes deleted therefrom. The vector can induce a therapeutic and / or an anti-tumor effect in the animal, e.g., by expressing an oncogene, a tumor-suppressor gene, or a tumor-associated gene. Immunological products generated by the expression, e.g., antibodies, cells from the methods, and the expression products, are likewise useful in in vitro and ex vivo applications, and such immunological and expression products and cells and applications are disclosed and claimed. Methods for expressing a gene product in vivo and products therefor and therefrom including mucosal and / or intranasal administration of an adenovirus, advantageously an E1 and / or E3 and / or E4 defective or deleted adenovirus, such as a human adenovirus or canine adenovirus, are also disclosed and claimed.

The present invention relates to methods for detecting and concentrating minute amounts of biohazard analytes, including but not limited to bacteria, protozoa, viral pathogens, and toxins, in environmental and other samples. These analytes can be substantially enriched by the methods of the invention, and further, a second analyte can be removed from the sample.

Provided are a system and methods for selectively inducing expansion of a population of T cells in the absence of exogenous growth factors, such as lymphokines, and accessory cells for research purposes. The cell based expansion system and methods permit the long-term growth of CTLs, preferably human CTLs. In addition, T cell proliferation can be induced without the need for antigen, thus providing an expanded T cell population that is polyclonal with respect to antigen reactivity. Further provided are methods for using the system and methods to screen and identify antigens related to specific diseases or conditions, tumors, autoimmune disorders, or an infectious disease or pathogen, and to identify target molecule for research purposes, or for developing a vaccine based thereon.

Methods and systems for a subsurface upflow wetland for wastewater treatment that includes a series of parallel treatment cells, each cell including from bottom to top, a layer of gravel, a layer of sand over the gravel to remove pathogens from a septic effluent, a pollution control medium above the sand layer to remove nutrients, total suspended solid, and biochemical oxygen demand and a growth media mixture layered on top of the pollution control media to grow plants, and a gravity distribution system to distribute effluent to the series of parallel treatment cells. The pollution control medium includes at least one recycled material and at least one naturally occurring material. In an embodiment it includes recycled tire crumb, sand and limestone or recycled tire crumb, compost, sand and limestone.

Sequence-specific nucleic acid hybridization assays are used for the detection of specific genetic sequences as indicators of genetic anomalies, mutations, and disease propensity. In addition, they are used for the detection of various biological agents and infectious pathogens. Because a complementary probe or nucleic acid sequence is required to detect a sequence of interest in a hybridization-based assay, nucleic acid sequencing techniques can rapidly determine the specific probe sequence being used for detection. This allows reverse engineered assays to be produced rapidly. In addition, it enables the circumvention of hybridization-based assays for biological agent or infectious pathogen detection by providing the information necessary to create or alter nucleic acid sequences to produce false positives or false negatives. The present invention provides methods and compositions for inhibiting the identification of specific detection sequences. More specifically, the invention provides masking sequences that mask the identity of specific detection sequences.

A medical device includes a body and an interior surface of the body that communicates with a fluid capable of delivering a pathogen to the interior surface. The medical device may also have an energy source coupled with the vascular access device that provides energy to the interior surface of the body to repress pathogenic activity. A method of repressing pathogenic activity in a vascular access device includes providing a body having an interior surface and energizing the vascular access device to repress pathogenic activity on the interior surface.