Gradalis, Inc.

G-con Manufacturing, Inc.

Strike Bio, Inc.

Phillip B Maples

John J Nemunaitis

Donald Rao

Neil Senzer

David M Shanahan

Troy Arledge

R Barry Holtz

Chris Jay

Biosafety units, methods of making and sealing the same are disclosed herein. The present invention includes a unitary structure able to be validated for pharmaceutical manufacturing comprising: at least one controlled air, sealable, sterilizable cleanroom; a mechanical system room adjacent to and separate from the cleanroom comprising: one or more air handling units that provide conditioned air to the cleanroom; and one or more power busses that provide power to electrical outlets in the cleanroom from two sources, wherein the at least two power supplies are connectable to one or more external electrical power sources; an integrated fire suppression system integral to the cleanroom; and one or more corridor connectors, wherein a corridor can be attached at the corridor connector.

Modular, self-contained, mobile clean room

Compositions and methods for cancer treatment are disclosed herein. More specifically, the present invention describes an autologous cancer vaccine genetically modified for Furin knockdown and GM-CSF expression. The vaccine described herein attenuates the immunosuppressive activity of TGF-&#x3b2; through the use of bi-functional shRNAs to knock down the expression of furin in cancer cells, and to augment tumor antigen expression, presentation, and processing through expression of the GM-CSF transgene.

Furin-knockdown and GM-CSF-augmented (FANG) cancer vaccine

In certain preferred embodiments, the invention provides methods for treating cancer, which comprise (a) obtaining a specimen of cancer tissue from a patient; (b) obtaining a specimen of normal tissue in the proximity of the cancer tissue from such patient; (c) extracting total protein and RNA from the cancer tissue and normal tissue; (d) obtaining a protein expression profile of the cancer tissue and normal tissue using 2D DIGE and mass spectrometry; (e) identifying proteins that are expressed in such cancer tissue at significantly different levels than in the normal tissue; (f) obtaining a gene expression profile of the cancer tissue and normal tissue using microarray technology and comparing the results thereof to the protein expression profile; (g) prioritizing over-expressed proteins by assessing the connectivity thereof to other cancer-related or stimulatory proteins; (h) designing an appropriate RNA interference expression cassette to, directly or indirectly, modulate the expression of genes encoding such prioritized proteins; (i) incorporating said cassette into an appropriate delivery vehicle; and (j) providing the patient with an effective amount of the delivery vehicle to, directly or indirectly, modify the expression (i.e., production) of such proteins.

Individualized cancer therapy

Compositions and methods for cancer treatment are disclosed herein. More specifically, the present invention describes an autologous cancer vaccine genetically modified for Furin knockdown and GM-CSF expression. The vaccine described herein attenuates the immunosuppressive activity of TGF-&#x3b2; through the use of bi-functional shRNAs to knock down the expression of furin in cancer cells, and to segment tumor antigen expression, presentation, and processing through expression of the GM-CSF transgene.

Compositions and methods to attenuate the immunosuppressive activity of TGF-&#x3b2; through the use of bi-functional shRNAs is described herein. The bi-functional shRNAs of the present invention knocks down the expression of furin in cancer cells to augment tumor antigen expression, presentation, and processing through expression of the GM-CSF transgene.

Furin-knockdown bi-functional RNA

In certain embodiments, the invention provides methods for treating cancer, comprising: obtaining a specimen of cancer tissue and normal tissue from a patient; extracting total protein; obtaining a protein expression profile; identifying over-expressed proteins; comparing the protein expression profile to a gene expression profile; identifying at least one prioritized protein target; designing a first RNA interference expression cassette; designing a first RNA interference expression cassette to modulate the expression of at least one gene encoding; incorporating the first cassette into a delivery vehicle; and providing a patient with an effective amount of the first delivery vehicle.

Biosafety units, methods of making, and sealing the same are disclosed herein. The units comprise at least one controlled air, sealable, sterilizable cleanroom; and a mechanical system room adjacent to the cleanroom comprising: at least two air handling units in a support room adjacent the cleanroom that provide redundant air to the cleanroom with at least Class 100,000 air purity, the air handling units connected to a one or more supply ducts to the cleanroom, and an exhaust duct in communication with the cleanroom and the air handling unit exhaust, wherein a pressure gradient is formed between the cleanroom and the exterior of the structure; and at least two power supplies that provide redundant power to electrical outlets in the cleanroom, wherein the at least two power supplies are connectable to one or more external power sources and the structure is pre-validatable or validated for pharmaceutical manufacturing.

According to certain embodiments of the present invention, methods for modulating the production of sialic acid in a system are provided, which comprise providing the system with a wild-type GNE-encoding nucleic acid sequence. According to such embodiments, the system may comprise a cell, muscular tissue, or other desirable targets. Similarly, the present invention encompasses methods for producing wild-type GNE in a system that comprises a mutated endogenous GNE-encoding sequence. In other words, the present invention includes providing, for example, a cell or muscular tissue that harbors a mutated (defective) GNE-encoding sequence with a functional wild-type GNE encoding sequence.

Methods and compositions for modulating sialic acid production and treating hereditary inclusion body myopathy

Compositions and methods to attenuate the immunosuppressive activity of TGF-&#x3b2; through the use of bi-functional shRNAs was substituted therefor described herein. The bi-functional shRNAs of the present invention knocks down the expression of furin in cancer cells to augment tumor antigen expression, presentation, and processing through expression of the GM-CSF transgene.

Compositions and methods for cancer treatment are discloses herein. More specifically the present invention describes an autologous cancer vaccine genetically modified for Furin knockdown and GM-CSF expression. The vaccine described herein attenuates the immunosuppressive activity of TGF-&#x3b2; through the use of bi-functional shRNAs to knock down the expression of furin in cancer cells, and to augment tumor antigen expression, presentation, and processing through expression of the GM-CSF transgene.

In certain embodiments, the invention provides methods for treating cancer, comprising: (a) obtaining a specimen of cancer tissue and normal tissue from a patient; (b) extracting total protein and RNA from the cancer tissue and normal tissue; (c) obtaining a protein expression profile of the cancer tissue and normal tissue; (d) identifying over-expressed proteins in the cancer tissue; (e) comparing the protein expression profile to a gene expression profile; (f) identifying at least one prioritized protein target by assessing connectivity of each said over-expressed protein to other cancer-related or stimulatory proteins; (g) designing a first RNA interference expression cassette to modulate the expression of at least one gene encoding the prioritized target protein; (h): designing a first RNA interference expression cassette to modulate the expression of at least one gene encoding a protein of higher priority in the signaling pathway in which the first protein is a component; (i) incorporating the first cassette into a first delivery vehicle; (j) providing a patient with an effective amount of the first delivery vehicle; (k) extracting total protein and RNA from the treated cancer tissue; (l) identifying over-expressed proteins in the treated cancer tissue; (m) designing a second RNA interference expression cassette to modulate the expression of a second prioritized protein in the treated tissue; (n) incorporating the second cassette into a second delivery vehicle; (o) providing the previously treated patient with an effective amount of the second delivery vehicle; (p) identifying a novel protein signal following prior treatment with protein specific knockdown; (q) identifying a gene mutation provided by gene sequencing/microarray on assessment of other protein signals; and (r) identifying of a novel protein signal as a result of determination of the gene mutation and assessment of other protein signals to, directly or indirectly, modify the expression (i.e., production) of such proteins.

Methods for treating cancer that include (a) obtaining a specimen of cancer issue from a patient; (b) obtaining a specimen of normal tissue in the proximity of the cancer tissue; (c) extracting total protein from the cancer tissue and normal tissue; (d) obtaining a protein expression profile of the cancer tissue and normal tissue; (e) identifying a group of proteins that are expressed in the cancer tissue at significantly different levels than in the normal tissue; (f) identifying one or more prioritized proteins from the group of proteins, which will serve as the target for an RNA interference molecule (RNAi), which, when provided to a patient, will reduce the expression level of the one or more prioritized proteins using both cleavage-dependent and cleavage-independent pathways of the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC).

Growing community of inventors

Pilot Point, TX, United States of America

Phillip B Maples