A dietary supplement that protects brain cells from the effects of TBI and concussion Problem: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and disability. Mild TBIs (such as concussion) are particularly common for athletes and warfighters and can produce disabilities without immediate brain cell death. This may be due to damage to...

Technology Overview: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a major form of acute leukemia in elder adults. The treatment of AML has changed little in the past decades and the overall 5-year survival rate remains very poor in the AML patients. AML relapsed from chemotherapy is highly aggressive with poor prognosis. While adaptive cell therapy via chimeric...

Technology Overview: Screening platform for identification of potent and specific nanobodies for (i) directing CAR-T cells to cancer cells, (ii) drug conjugation, or (iii) tumor imaging or diagnosis. Identification of antibodies capable of mediating CAR-T killing is challenging due to several reasons. First, the antibody has to have certain affinity...

Two novel monoclonal antibodies were discovered that target pathological conformations of the tau protein. The antibodies were shown in vitro and in vivo to inhibit the spread of pathological tau protein aggregates, which is one of the defining characteristics of AD. Problem: More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease...

Technology Overview: Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) pose serious threats to patients’ well-being as malignant diseases, and most patients with metastatic NETs succumb to the disease. Using Sequential Tumor-related Antibody and antigen Retrieving (STAR) technology Dr. Xianxin Hua, MD, PhD at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and his...

Technology Overview: While antibody therapeutics have proven to be successful in recent years, they are not without drawbacks. The large size of antibodies can prevent their effective use against certain cancers, as well as prevent them from crossing the blood-brain barrier. Additionally, many antibodies require post-translational modifications and...

The fully human CAR targets mesothelin, a surface protein overexpressed in several cancer types. P4, a human antibody fragment that binds human mesothelin with high specificity, is fused to T cell signaling domains such as 28z. The T cells engineered to express this CAR are shown to shrink tumors in a mouse model bearing human ovarian tumors overexpressing...

CXCR6 is a chemokine receptor expressed by leukocytes and other cells, and is believed to play a role in cancer metastasis, gut mucosal integrity, autoimmunity, diabetes and other inflammatory disorders. It is also used by SIV as a co-receptor for target cell entry. Technology Overview: Current commercially available monoclonal antibodies that react...

Technology Overview: Roughly 12 million patients are exposed to heparin annually and up to 1% of these patients will develop heparin-induced thrombocytopenia/thrombosis (HIT), a life-threatening complication where patients make antibodies that bind to the heparin/PF4 complex, resulting in thrombosis and thrombocytopenia. The Greene lab has identified...