Brett M Tyler, 69318 SW 7Th St UNIT A, Corvallis, OR 97333

2010009, Apr 15, 2010

May 19, 2009

12/468470

Brett Tyler - Blacksburg VA, US
Daolong Dou - Nanjing, CN
Shiv Kale - Fairfax VA, US
Biao Gu - Yangling, CN

A61K 38/02
A61K 31/661
A61K 31/255

514 2, 514129, 514517, 514506, 514 54

Pathogenic effector proteins which include one or more RxLR, dEER, Pexel or analogous motifs are blocked from entry into plant or animal cells by binding one or more of the motifs with a blocking compound which prevents binding of phosphoinositides or other polar lipids to the motifs which is a prerequisite for translocation of the pathogenic effector proteins into the plant or animal cell. The blocking compounds can take a variety of forms including synthetic peptides or the hydrophilic head-groups of phosphoinositides, phosphatidic acids, phospholipids, or sphingolipids. Suitable blocking compounds can be identified by assays demonstrating binding to RxLR, dEER, Pexel or analogous motifs. In addition, pathogenic effector proteins can be identified by analyzing whether they contain structural RxLR motifs using hidden markov modeling.

2011016, Jul 7, 2011

Jan 6, 2011

12/985617

Brett Tyler - Blacksburg VA, US
Shiv Kate - Fairfax VA, US

C12N 5/10
C12N 9/96
C12N 5/02
C12N 1/00
C07K 14/00
C07K 14/415

435188, 435325, 435375, 435419, 435243, 530350, 530370

Fusion constructs with i) a domain that is specific for binding, on the surface of a cell, a lipid that is characteristic of the cell, and ii) a domain or agent that possesses an activity of interest that impacts the cell, are provided. Binding of the fusion construct to the characteristic lipid results in attachment of the construct to the cell and 1) expression of the activity of interest at the cell surface or, 2) entry of the construct into the cell, so that the activity of interest is expressed inside the cell. The cell may be a pathogen, cancer cell or other pathological cell displaying a characteristic lipid, and the domain or agent may be toxic or inhibitory to the cell. Alternatively, the cell may be non-pathogenic and the activity of interest may elicit a desired response from the cell, e.g. cell division, up regulation of a gene sequence, etc.

2011021, Sep 1, 2011

Nov 11, 2010

12/944345

Brett Tyler - Blacksburg VA, US
Shiv Kale - Fairfax VA, US
Vincenzo Antignani - Blacksburg VA, US

Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc. - Blacksburg VA

G01N 33/53
C12N 5/04
C12N 5/07
C12N 5/071
C12N 5/077
C12N 5/078
C12N 5/079

436501, 435410, 435412, 435414, 435415, 435417, 435416, 435325, 435350, 435351, 435366, 435368, 435369, 435370, 435371, 435372

Pathogenic effector proteins include one or more virulence motifs of amino acid consensus sequence BXZ, where B=RK or H; X=any amino acid or is absent; Z=L, M, I, W, Y or F) which bind to target polar lipids on a host (plant or animal) cell as a prerequisite for translocation of the pathogenic effector proteins into the cell. Translocation is prevented by binding blocking compounds to one or more motifs of the effector protein or to the lipid ligands of the host cell. The blocking compounds include synthetic or naturally occurring polypeptides which bind the polar lipids or the motifs, various polar lipids, the hydrophilic head-groups of polar lipids, etc. Suitable blocking compounds can be identified by assays demonstrating binding to the motifs or to the target polar lipids.

2009001, Jan 8, 2009

Jun 6, 2008

12/134906

Shiv D. Kale - Fairfax VA, US
Brett M. Tyler - Blacksburg VA, US

C12N 15/87
C12M 1/00

435468, 4352853

The present invention provides a device and method for biolistic bombardment of cells. In a preferred embodiment, the device comprises a hollow tube or cylinder that attaches to a standard biolistic transformation apparatus, and focuses the nucleic acids at cells and tissue sections. In a typical configuration, the device has two barrels that deliver equal or substantially equal amounts of nucleic acids to cells of a tissue, such as a plant leaf.