A Letter from The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research

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OVCR Annual ReportFiscal Year 2011Technology Management & Intellectual Propertytherapeutics. Studies indicate the nanoceutical outperforms standard heparin treatment, byincreasing the time to total occlusion by more than 40%. Primary Investigator: SamuelWickline, Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Division.Non-Steroidal Intra-Uterine ContraceptionInhibitors of the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) have utility in contraception and pregnancyprevention and provide an alternative to current progesterone-based contraception. Ourresearch suggests that local administration, in the form of intrauterine devices (IUD), is the mosteffective method to deliver PPP inhibitors for contraceptive use. Mice treated with the steroidPPP inhibitor dehydroepiandrosterone, DHEA, did not develop uterine deciduomas in responseto a mechanical decidual stimulus applied to the hormone-primed endometrium. Further,studies that implanted slow release pellets of DHEA or 6-aminonicotinamide (6-AN) in theuterine horn of mice showed efficacy in preventing pregnancy. Primary Investigator: KelleMoley, Obstetrics and Gynecology.Novel Catheter for Delivering Anesthetic Nerve BlocksPeripheral nerve blocks are given to patients as a regional or local anesthetic or for chronic painrelief. The current peripheral nerve block is a two-step process that is technically challengingand has other drawbacks, including anesthetic leakage and needle displacement. The currentinvention describes a novel catheter device for delivering anesthetic nerve blocks in a single stepprocess that will avoid anesthetic leakage and enable accurate placement of the catheter. Thedevice incorporates an echogenic feature within an echogenic catheter for accurate positioningand continued monitoring by ultrasound. The echogenic feature is removable without resultingin anesthetic leakage. Primary Investigators: Stephen Hsu, Anesthesiology and Chris Lee,Anesthesiology.Anti-HIV/Contraceptive NanoparticlesResearchers have designed new nanoparticle decoys that survey the vaginal compartment forHIV or sperm. Designed to distinctly fuse with HIV or sperm, these particles kill the targetvirus or cell by releasing melittin, a toxin found in bee venom, after the fusion event. The fusionevent ensures specific targeting of the melittin only to the virus or sperm, leaving other cells inthe vaginal compartment unharmed. In vitro studies demonstrate that melittin delivered fromanti-HIV nanoparticles ablates virus infectivity. Primary Investigator: Samuel Wickline, InternalMedicine, Cardiovascular Division.Inhibition of Morphine-Induced ItchIntractable itch can be a serious and incurable side effect of many opioid drugs prescribed tomitigate pain, including morphine. For the first time, researchers have teased apart the pain anditch pathway showing that morphine’s effects are mediated by different isoforms of the mureceptor. As demonstrated through siRNA knockdown experiments in mice, MOR1 governsthe analgesic response, whereas MOR1D specifically interacts with gastrin-releasing peptidereceptor (GRPR) to mediate morphine-induced itch. The technology further describes a peptidethat in vitro specifically disrupts the interaction between MOR1D and GRPR thereby preventing45
OVCR Annual ReportFiscal Year 2011Technology Management & Intellectual Propertymorphine induced itch. Importantly, the analgesic effects of morphine in mice treated with thepeptide therapy were unaffected. Primary Investigator: Zhou-Feng Chen, Anesthesiology.Breast Cancer Prognostic ScreenMethods for deriving a minimal "intrinsic" gene set for making biological classifications of breastcancer and using "intrinsic" genes in a real-time qRT-PCR assay for breast cancer classification,prognosis and/or treatment. A Start-up company, BioClassifier (formerly known as UniversityGeneomics), has been founded on this technology. A larger corporate partner has sublicensedthis technology and is developing it for prognostic applications. Primary Investigator: MatthewEllis, Oncology/Endocrinology Surgery.Neurturin, a Novel Molecule to Treat Parkinson’s Disease.This is an older technology that has been licensed for gene therapy treatment for Parkinson’sDisease. The licensee took this technology forward to clinical phase 2. The results showed littledifference at 12 months between blinded sham controls and treated patients. However, the 18month unblinded results showed a clear distinction between the two groups. A new successfulphase 1 trial was run using a two-site injection protocol. Currently a phase 2b trial is in progress.Primary investigators: Eugene Johnson, Neurology, and Jeffrey Milbrandt, Genetics.Novel Murine Norovirus (MNV)This technology has continued to gain traction in mouse diagnostics and is currently being usedas a surrogate virus for testing commercial disinfectants. To date, five patents have been issuedfor detection of MNV and a virus culture system. Several licenses have been issued. PrimaryInvestigator: Herbert Virgin, Immunobiology.Limiting CD47 or Blocking Thrombospondin-1 Reverses the Detrimental Effectson Tissue Healing and Blood FlowThis technology has demonstrated that certain monoclonal antibodies and possibly othercompounds allow for more effective wound healing and graft survival in animal models. A newcompany, Vasculox was founded around this technology by the inventor. Primary Investigator:William Frazier, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics.Neimann Pick C Disease MarkerA novel marker to detect Neimann Pick C (NPC), a fatal neurodegenerative disease, has beendiscovered. This discovery demonstrates the first and only plasma biomarker that has beendiscovered for this orphan disease. Certain NPC organizations in Europe haveshown interest in this technology and a series of non-exclusive licenses are in process. Acommercial partner is coordinating the European institutions. Primary Investigator: DanielOry, Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Division.46
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A Letter from The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research

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