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RAMOT at Tel Aviv University Ltd. posted this:

Our team, including zoologists, statisticians, and computer scientists have developed a new hi-res bioassay for preclinical testing and characterization of CNS agents, extracting key animal-centered parameters of behavior via computerized tracking and measurement of free exploration. The features that distinguish our system and method from other existing systems and methods are: elaborate data preparation for analysis and a methodology that secures replicability of results across laboratories, and exposes active management of kinematic variables. Our measured parameters are carefully designed, animal-centered building blocks of behavior. They are selected on the basis of an in-depth understanding of the mouse’s functional world. These quite unexpected and unusual parameters reflect the animal’s cognitive and emotional state and its information processing capacity; therefore they are most prone to be affected by drugs that act on respective CNS structures that mediate these states. Unlike all other existing systems we expose and quantify the rich and highly organized developmental dynamics of self regulated behavioral growth. The dynamics of this process before and after genetic manipulation and/or pharmacological treatment can now be readily measured by our system, articulating the effects of potential CNS drugs on behavioral growth and decay processes. Project ID : 2-2009-11

RAMOT at Tel Aviv University Ltd. posted this:

Stem cells (SC) are considered crucial building blocks for any regenerative strategy. Adult oral mucosa (OM) is a unique source for generating adult pluripotent stem cell (OPSC) populations. This uniqueness consists in the fact that 95% of the OM whole populations in culture (1st – 8th passages) express markers of embryonic and mesenchymal SC. Thus, in contradistinction to known sources which comprise very low numbers of SC, OPSC generation for clinical use is simple and cost effective and does not require cumbersome cost-consuming purification steps. The general objective is to lay the foundation for the development of a variety of products based on the pluripotency and simple and cost effective generation of billions of OPSC. The major aim of the proposed project is to develop a product for the treatment of ischemic heart failure (IHF). This product which will serve as a proof of concept was selected based on medicals needs, market cap and time to market. The specific aims of the proposal are: 1. To develop a cardiac product aimed at treating ischemic heart failure (IHF). The aim is to test the safety and therapeutic effect of OPSC on experimental IHF in a minipig model. 2. To strengthen the intellectual property by fully characterizing the profile of OPSC. The prevalence of IHF continuously increases (1 million new cases every year in the western world) and currently the market cap is estimated in the range of billions. Project ID : 10-2011-260

RAMOT at Tel Aviv University Ltd. posted this:

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is due to amyloid accumulation in the vessel walls leading to hemorrhagic stroke, and cognitive impairment. There are no available treatments to specifically reduce the risk of CAA. In this research we aim to assess brain tissue damage and cognitive impairment resulting from CAA in animal model and to investigate a novel approach to immune therapy. Methods: We have shown that nasal vaccination with a proteosome adjuvant (Protollin) that is well tolerated in humans, decreases amyloid plaques in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model. It was recently reported that an overexpression of TGF-?1 under the control of an astrocyte promoter GFAP in mice results in CAA. TGF-?1 mice were nasally treated with Protollin on a weekly basis starting at the age of 13 months for three months. Following treatment animals were subjected for MRI and cognition analysis. Results: Here we show that nasal Protollin activates perivascular macrophage and potently decreases vascular amyloid in TGF-?1 mice. Using MRI we found that while PBS treated animals showed a significant enlargement of the lateral ventricles area, Protollin prevents further brain damage and prevents pathological changes in the blood-brain barrier. Vascular risk factors have been found to be associated with vascular dementia. Using an object recognition test and Y-maze, we found significant improvement in cognition with the Protollin treated group. Interpretation :Our study demonstrates that activation of macrophages by Protollin is a novel approach to reduce microhemorrhage, prevent stroke and improve cognition in a model of cerebral amyloid angiopathy. Project ID : 10-2011-259

Centre Technology Transfer CITTRU posted this:

The method of the invention is a solution that allows the simultaneous isolation of microbial DNA from the blood. In this method the isolation is carried out by compilation of enzymatic, mechanical and thermal lysis. This approach enables to obtain DNA from all types of organisms, irrespective of the structure of the cells.The obtained precipitate is subjected to further preparations, using a commercial DNA isolation kit according to the protocol provided by the manufacturer's procedure. The procedure results in obtaining the DNA ready for further stages of the analysis, e.g. performing a PCR reaction to detect fungi. The most important and most difficult problem in the treatment of bloodstream infections, determining the effectiveness of therapy and, consequently, the cost and time of hospitalization, is the effective diagnosis of factors responsible for the systemic inflammatory response in the course of sepsis. Determination of etiologic factors allows for selection of appropriate antibiotic therapy. The material subjected to diagnostic testing is blood taken from the patient showing clinical signs of sepsis. Currently, the "gold standard" diagnostic method is testing for microbial growth after inoculation in culture media specific to selected pathogen groups. This method is relatively simple and inexpensive, but also time-consuming – results can be available as late as in 5 days. Moreover, identification of pathogens with this method often fails due to low sensitivity; microbial growth can be detected in only about 15-20% of the cultures.

Centre Technology Transfer CITTRU posted this:

In the treatment of bloodstream infections the most important and difficult problem of determining the effectiveness of treatment and, consequently, the cost and time of hospitalization is the effective diagnosis of factors causing a systemic inflammatory response in sepsis. The material subjected to diagnostic testing is blood taken from a patient showing clinical signs of sepsis. The greatest difficulty is the very small amount of microorganisms being responsible for the infection in the blood, or they are only periodically seeded into the blood. Currently, the standard diagnostic blood cultures are performed with specialized broth media, preferably in automatic culture systems. A weakness of these methods are time consumption (until a result of the study) and low sensitivity, which causes that in only 15-20% of the culture it is possible to achieve the growth of microorganisms. The situation is further complicated by the fact that patients undergo antibiotic treatment before a blood sample is taken for culture. In this case blood cultures are very difficult due to the fact that they contain antibiotics which inhibit the growth of microorganisms. The molecular biology techniques, such as PCR or hybridization, belong to diagnostic methods that provide reliable, accurate and fast diagnosis of bloodstream infections. The sensitivity of molecular methods is much higher than the sensitivity of the culture method. However, currently available systems enable the detection of several particular species of microorganisms or every possible gene in theory, but on the other hand they require sequencing of PCR product, which in turn increases the cost and time for the result. The proposed new PCR method allows simultaneous DNA detection of the entire panel of bacterial and fungal microorganisms, with the differentiation of Gram-negative bacteria, Gram-positive bacteria, yeasts fungi and molds in a sample of biological material (including patient's spittle or blood). There is the possibility of using the detection method only for bacteria or fungi, or for the simultaneous detection of both fungi and bacteria, which reduces the cost of testing. There is also the opportunity to identify a specific species of microorganism after sequencing of the PCR product.

Centre Technology Transfer CITTRU posted this:

Rapid diagnosis of infections caused by GBS guarantees the immediate implementation of antibiotic therapy. However, there are currently no diagnostic tests that allow confirmation of infections caused by S. agalactiae. Previous diagnostic methods traditionally used in carriage of S. agalactiae are based on method of cultivation (the so-called „gold standard”), which has a low sensitivity and a long time (up to several days) to wait for result. The another approach are metods of molecular biology, including methods for real-time PCR, which allow to obtain a result in a short time. However they are very expensive and they also require the use of special equipment. The proposed new test uses four highly immunoreactive amino acid sequences belonging to proteins of S. agalactiae. It shows a high sensitivity and specificity. The results of this test are obtained in a short time (up to 8 hours). One of the most important features of new test is the lack of special equipment to carry out a new diagnostic test. The proposed test may confirm the Streptococcus agalactiae infections in pregnant women. There is the possibility to extend the application of diagnostic test for detection of infections based on GBS etiology in other patient groups (e.g. infants, outpatients and hospital patients) and using other clinical materials (plasma, cerebrospinal fluid).

Centre Technology Transfer CITTRU posted this:

Staphylococci (Staphylococcus) are one of the most important human bacterial pathogens. Many methods have been developed for the identification and typing of bacterial isolates of the genus Staphylococcus (Staphylococcus aureus) in recent years. These methods can be divided into two groups: phenotypic and genotypic methods. The results obtained using commercial tests, which are based on biochemical and immunological reactions profiles, are affected by mistakes due to variable expression of phenotypic features and the ambiguity from the interpreting the test results. The overall accuracy of conventional tests is low and it is in the range 50-70%. Among genotypic methods, DNA-DNA hybridisation and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis have defined the species in the genus Staphylococcus and they are recommended to confirm the results of the new methods that are introduced into general use. However, there is still no universal method for staphylococcal species identification and typing at the same time, which would be widely used in all laboratories and allow to obtain high reproducibility of the results. The proposed method may determine the species identification and phylogenetic relationships in the genus Staphylococcus. It shows a high sensitivity and specificity. The results of this method can be interpret very easy, even in the case of the intraspecific polymorphisms. There is the possibility to differentiate between even very closely related species such as S. delphini, S. intermedius and S. pseudintermedius.