Therapeutics

Displaying 1 - 10 of 22


New Drug for Blood Clot: FXII Inhibitors to Treat Thrombosis

Thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel, which may cause reduced blood flow to a tissue, or even tissue death. Thrombosis, inflammation, and infections are responsible for >70% of all human mortality. Thrombosis is also the major factor for heart disease and stroke. 500,000 die from thrombosis every year in Europe. Inhibitory treatment of these conditions may also improve the outcomes of several non-fatal diseases. Researchers from Vanderbilt University and Oregon Health & Science University have jointly discovered new monoclonal antibodies that potently inhibit the blood coagulation protein factor XII (FXII), a critical player in the pathway, and anticoagulate blood. This invention provides foundation for commercial development of anti-thrombotic drugs based on new molecular entities.


Licensing Contact

Mike Villalobos

615.322.6751
Therapeutics
Antibody
Assays/Screening

New antibiotics against new targets in multi-drug resistant microorganisms

New everninomicin antibiotics including a potent bifunctional antibiotic natural product targeting two different and distant ribosomal sites are under development and can be readily produced using synthetic biology. Developing resistance to this bidentate antibiotic should be very difficult for pathogenic microorganisms.


Licensing Contact

Mike Villalobos

615.322.6751
Therapeutics
Infectious Disease

Prevention of Cytokine Induced Apoptosis In Intestinal Epithelial Cells By A Probiotic Bacterium

The present invention provides therapeutic and prophylactic compositions for use in treating and preventing disorders involved epithelial cell apoptosis, such as gastrointestinal disorders (e.g., inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis) in a subject, such as a human patient.


Licensing Contact

Mike Villalobos

615.322.6751

Inventors

Brent Polk, Fang Yan
Therapeutics
Gastrointestinal
Protein/Peptide

Long-Lasting and Self-Sustaining Cell Therapy System

Researchers at Vanderbilt have created a novel drug delivery system using two distinct T-cell populations that interact to promote engraftment and persistence in pre-clinical models, increasing the efficacy of T-cell therapies. Furthermore, "booster" treatments can be administered months after the first dose to produce an expansion of antigen specific T cells. These advantages result in longer-term therapeutic efficacy and could reduce the number of treatments required. This system also represents a viable self-renewing platform for the delivery of biologic drugs in patients who would otherwise require frequent administration.


Licensing Contact

Cameron Sargent

615.343.2430

Fused in Sarcoma (FUS) Nuclear Translocation Inhibitors for Preventing Fibrosis

The research team has found that one of the key regulators of collagen production in fibrotic diseases is the FUS ribonucleoprotein. This protein is upregulated in fibrotic diseases leading to additional collagen formation and deposition. In order to combat FUS upregulation, a new approach to blocking nuclear translocation has been developed using an FUS targeting peptide approach.


Licensing Contact

Mike Villalobos

615.322.6751
Therapeutics

Vascular Restoration Therapy with Cell-Penetrating CRADD Protein

Vascular inflammation caused by metabolic, autoimmune, and microbial insults mediates cardiovascular diseases that include hypertension and atherosclerosis (heart attacks, strokes), systemic lupus, and giant cell arteritis. An estimated 35 million Americans have hypercholesterolemia, contributing to 500,000 deaths underlying heart attacks and strokes. In these diseases, metabolic, autoimmune, and microbial insults continually challenge blood and vascular cells by triggering signaling to the nucleus mediated by BCL10. Genetic ablation of BCL10 rescues animals from atherosclerosis, aortic aneurysms, and fatty liver and insulin resistance due to overnutrition. Intracellular therapy with CP-CRADD is designed to extinguish BCL10-mediated noxious signals to avert vascular inflammation and its life-threatening complications including ruptured aneurysms in aorta and brain.


Licensing Contact

Mike Villalobos

615.322.6751
Therapeutics

Cell-Permeable Socs Proteins That Inhibit Cytokine-Induced Signaling

Scientists at Vanderbilt have developed a unique polypeptide using cell-penetrating SOCS polypeptides or SOCS sequences designed to inhibits cytokine signaling and thus prevent or treat inflammation or an inflammatory related disease such as diabetes. This strategy has been validated in NOD mice models for either induced or naturally occurring diabetes and have been efficacious.


Licensing Contact

Mike Villalobos

615.322.6751
Therapeutics

Protein that protects probiotics from desiccation, leading to improved gut colonization

Probiotic supplements undergo significant water loss before consumption, killing many of their bacteria and rendering them less effective. Vanderbilt researchers have discovered a protein that protects against damage caused by desiccation and shown that this molecular shield can be added to probiotics to help them survive and colonize the gut. This platform technology can be broadly incorporated into new or existing supplements to make them more efficacious and even improve costs and distribution.


Licensing Contact

Karen Rufus

615.322.4295

Inventors

Eric Skaar, Erin Green
Therapeutics

Targeted photodynamic therapy for S. aureus infections

Vanderbilt researchers have developed a combination photodynamic therapy (PDT) for targeting MRSA infections in skin that is not only effective but also HIGHLY SPECIFIC and LESS SUSCEPTIBLE TO RESISTANCE, adding a much needed therapy to our quickly depleting arsenal against this pathogen.


Licensing Contact

Cameron Sargent

615.343.2430

Inventors

Eric Skaar
Therapeutics

Human antibodies targeting a novel flu epitope for use as a universal flu vaccine and treatment

Scientists at Vanderbilt have discovered a new class of human antibodies specific to a novel target for the detection, prevention, and treatment of influenza A viruses (IAV). Using structural characterization, they have identified a novel antigenic site on the hemagglutin (HA) head domain that may be targeted by multiple antibodies simultaneously in a non-competitive manner. They found that administration of these antibodies against an otherwise lethal challenge with viruses of H1N1, H3N2, H5N1, or H7N9 subtypes confers protection when used as prophylaxis or therapy against major IAV subtypes that are pathogenic to humans. These antibodies may prove effective as a universal influenza treatment or in the design of a universal influenza vaccine.


Licensing Contact

Karen Rufus

615.322.4295

Inventors

James Crowe, Seth Zost