Award Data

Argolyn Bioscience Inc. is an early stage biotechnology company that creates novel peptide drugs and diagnostics with greatly improved intrinsic pharmaceutical properties through substitution of non-natural amino acid analogues for arginine (Arg) or lysine (Lys). In proof-of concept studies thus far, application of the Argolyn technology to peptides of therapeutic interest has resulted in dramatic ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The brain peptide neurotensin (NT) and its active derivative NT [8-13] function as endogenous neuroleptics. Stable NT derivatives that cross the blood brain barrier therefore have significant potential for development as a new class of non-dopamineric antipsychotics expected not to display the adverse side effects associated with the dopaminergics. The best lit ...

Prion diseases are 100 percent fatal, there is no treatment available, and cannot be diagnosed prior to the occurrence of symptoms. There is a public health need and an enormous market for a screening test that can help protect the blood supply, screen live animals, and ensure food safety. We propose to develop and validate an innovative, highly sensitive screening method for the detection of the ...

Anthracyclines such as doxorubicin and daunorubicin are valuable anti- cancer drugs but their clinical utility is compromised by cumulative dose-dependent by a cumulative dose dependent cardiotoxicity. Anthracycline cardiotoxicity has been linked to free radical damage via mechanisms that involve disruption of iron regulation and formation of superoxide anion. Although the quinone moiety of anthra ...

Effective methods of preserving cells and tissues are essential for the established and emerging companies using cryopreservation as part of their production processes. Conventional freezing and thawing devices have low heat transfer efficiencies that cause non-uniform thermal processing in biological materials resulting in products with low and inconsistent cell viability. The development of an a ...

A clinically promising prodrug for cancer chemotherapy is irinotecan or 7-ethyl-10-[4-(1-piperidino)-1-piperidino]carbonyloxycamptothecin (CPT-11)which is converted to the active metabolite 7-ethyl-10-hydroxycamptothecin (SN-38) in the presence of carboxylesterases (CE). SN-38 inhibits topoisomerase I, causes DNA damage and induces apoptosis. A limiting factor for the effective use of CPT-11 in pa ...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and inclusion body myositis (IBM) share a number of common pathologies such as deposits of amyloid beta-protein (AB) and paired helical filaments, although such pathologies are mostly restricted to brain for AD and to muscle for IBM. Transgenic mice (Tg 13592) that express the 99-amino acid carboxyl-terminal fragment (C99) of AB precursor in the brain and skeletal muscle d ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In the wake of bio-terrorism, anthrax has become a real concern for public. Anthrax is listed as a category A biological disease by the CDC. Inhalation of anthrax spores can result in death due to rapid fatal hemorrhage. Since anthrax aerosol is odorless, invisible and easily spread, the most effective way to protect people from infection is vaccination. S ...

Today, promising new protein targets for small molecule drugs are being discovered rapid. With increasing frequency, the 3D structures of these proteins are available or can be modeled from known protein structures. Demand is therefor growing for software to support structure-based discovery of protein ligands as candidate drugs. However, existing software leaves enormous room for improvement in a ...

Project Summary Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is recognized as the single most important viral cause of acute respiratory disease in infants and young children worldwide. Elderly populations and immunocompromised individuals are also at significant risk for serious RSV disease. Despite this very substantial disease burden imposed by RSV worldwide, there are no vaccines available. Severa ...