Award Data

Abstract The advance of biotechnology is dependent on approaches for rapidly iterating through genetically engineered enzymes and pathways. While computational and gene synthesis techniques have seen considerable innovation in the last few decades, screening variants for desired activities has lagged behind, with few notable advances. Indeed, microwell plates, a nearly 60-year-old technology, rema ...

ABSTRACT Type-1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) affects 1.25 million patients in US with 40,000 new patients annually. Lifespan is shortened 11-13 years, due to kidney and heart disease. Tight glucose control reduces microvascular complications and adverse cardiovascular events. Insulin therapy is essential for such patients, but has shortcomings: a) only 1 in 3 patients achieve targeted glucose control ...

DNATWO, Inc. was founded out of Caltech to develop small molecule drugs targeting a new cancer target, DNA2, to treat triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). We have spent decades unraveling the role of the DNA2 ATP-motor driven nuclease activity in relieving replication stress at the replication fork and carrying out repair at forks collapsed to double strand breaks (DSBs). Our scientific premise i ...

Project Summary/AbstractThe opioid epidemic is a growing public health crisis with dramatic increase in overdose deaths caused by potent opioids like fentanyl. Currently, the standard treatment for opioid-induced respiratory depression is naloxone, a µ-opioid receptor antagonist. However, naloxone is less effective against potent synthetic opioids like fentanyl and induces withdrawal in chronic o ...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has become the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the world, with a 72% mortality rate in the US. The rise in incidence of HCC is due to a steady increase in the major risk factors of liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatitis B/C, with limited efficacy conferred by existing treatments at advanced stages of the disease. Systemic therapy with tyrosine kinas ...

Abstract There is a significant need for new treatments for opioid use disorder (OUD) to manage patients abusing heroin, fentanyl, oxycodone and related drugs. Buprenorphine and methadone are both effective medications for OUD but are agonists with potential for abuse and diversion, and with methadone the risk of respiratory depression and overdose death. Moreover, these compounds are not effectiv ...

Satellite Imagery in Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT), in conjunction with imagery intelligence (IMINT), geospatial information, and other means of gaining intelligence, has greatly improved the potential of the warfighter and decision makers enabling them to gain a more comprehensive perspective, an in-depth understanding, and a cross-functional awareness of the operational environment. The Artif ...

ABSTRACT Current pharmaceutical agents that are used for the treatment of immune-mediated inflammatory conditions including autoimmune diseases generally do not lead to remission and frequently carry toxic side effects. Here we propose a strategy that can harness the capacity of the immune system to induce immunoregulatory response that can suppress immune hyperactivity and chronic inflammation in ...

PROJECT SUMMARY There is an urgent need for the development of new approaches to treat patients suffering from pulmonary injury from viral infections, as demonstrated by the severe impact of COVID-19, which is a global pandemic that, at the time of writing, is estimated have impacted approximately 50 million people in the United States, leading to morbidity, substantial hospital and intensive care ...

This project will establish proof-of-concept for CCR5 immunotoxins as HIV reservoir-depletion agents for use in cure strategies. HIV cure and remission strategies require elimination or reduction of the HIV reservoir. Approaches to reservoir reduction pursued by other groups include gene editing, i.e., direct removal of integrated provirus; latency reversal and an accompanying “kill” strategy; ...