Award Data

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Therapeutic stem cell gene transfer relies on long-term gene expression achieved by integration of new DNA into the cellular genome. Current clinical trials featuring oncoretroviruses have encountered a number of roadblocks that include low levels of gene transfer, poor expression, and a recognized preferential insertion near promoter regions that increases the ...

Project SummaryUltrasonic vocalizations (USVs) are known to reflect emotional processing, brain neurochemistry and brain function - key observations in animal model studies. Collecting and processing USV data is time-intensive, manual, and costly. Most importantly, it limits researchers’ ability to employ fully effective, and nuanced experimental designs, and is a barrier to entry for other rese ...

ABSTRACT SUMMARY In previous studies we identified novel non hematopoietic umbilical cord blood stem cellsnhUCBSCsthat could be expanded to high passages and exhibit restorative properties following ischemic brain injury repairWe found that the high passaged cells were equivalentif not even betterthan the low passaged nh UCBSCsThis finding suggests that these cells can serve as a source of highly ...

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant Complete achromatopsia is an autosomal recessive inherited congenital disorder of retinal cone photoreceptors Patients with complete achromatopsia experience extreme light sensitivity and daytime blindness and best visual acuity under non bright light conditions is usually or worse and generally stable over time In addition to poor acuity hypersensit ...

Executive Summary of Predicate SBIR/STTR Phase I Grant and Team TenGen Biomedical Co. and Howard University received an STTR Phase I grant (5R41AI129119-02) from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in 2017. The overall objective of our predicate STTR Phase I grant is to develop a safe, effective, and affordable Zika vaccine based on the novel concept of the third gene ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Up to 170 million people worldwide are chronically infected with HCV Hepatitis C virus (HCV) putting the infected individuals at significant risk for cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer. End- stage liver diseasecaused by HCV is the leading indication of liver transplantation (LT) in the United States. However, reinfection with HCV occurs universally and ...

Filoviruses, consisting of two major virus families including the ebolaviruses and marburgviruses (MARV and RAVV), cause periodic outbreaks of severe viral hemorrhagic fever with mortality rates as high as 90%. Since it is difficult to predict the species that would dominate future outbreaks, development of broadly protective therapeutics to prevent and manage future filovirus outbreaks is of high ...

Project Summary The Gram positive bacterium Bacillus anthracis is a very strong candidate for potential bioweaponizationand believed to have actually been weaponized by the former Soviet UnionAnthrax spores are readily found in nature or produced in the laboratoryare resistant to harsh conditionsand can survive for a long time in the environmentThe microscopic spores could be formulated in powder ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In the last decade, Acinetobacter baumannii has emerged as one of the most highly antibiotic-resistant pathogens in the United States (US) and throughout the world. These infections are increasingly prevalent and highlylethal, killing 50-60% of those infected. Worse, strains of A. baumannii that no known antibiotic will kill have now emerged, and will continue ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this project is to synthesize, based on genomic sequence information, a human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) strain with demonstrated ability to establish persistent infection in sero-positive individuals. The resulting synthetic product will form the basis for the development of attenuated HCMV vaccines. Innovative synthetic biology methods will overcome ...