From the Bench to the Pharmacy: Protecting Innovation During Vaccine Development and Commercialization.

Patentable inventions may be made during the development of a vaccine, and patents on such inventions can help to protect the vaccine from competition. This chapter introduces several patent law concepts, including patent eligible subject matter, written description, enablement, novelty, and nonobviousness, by following a hypothetical vaccine development timeline that begins with the discovery of a previously unknown virus and ends with the commercial launch of a vaccine against the virus. Regulatory exclusivity, freedom to operate, and lifecycle management considerations are also discussed.

Determination and application of empirically derived detergent phase boundaries to effectively crystallize membrane proteins.

Elucidating the structures of membrane proteins is essential to our understanding of disease states and a critical component in the rational design of drugs. Structural characterization of a membrane protein begins with its detergent solubilization from the lipid bilayer and its purification within a functionally stable protein-detergent complex (PDC). Crystallization of the PDC typically occurs by changing the solution environment to decrease solubility and promote interactions between exposed hydrophilic surface residues.

His-311 and Arg-559 are key residues involved in fatty acid oxygenation in pathogen-inducible oxygenase.

Pathogen-inducible oxygenase (PIOX) oxygenates fatty acids into 2R-hydroperoxides. PIOX belongs to the fatty acid alpha-dioxygenase family, which exhibits homology to cyclooxygenase enzymes (COX-1 and COX-2). Although these enzymes share common catalytic features, including the use of a tyrosine radical during catalysis, little is known about other residues involved in the dioxygenase reaction of PIOX.

Purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of pathogen-inducible oxygenase (PIOX) from Oryza sativa.

Pathogen-inducible oxygenase (PIOX) is a heme-containing membrane-associated protein found in monocotyledon and dicotyledon plants that utilizes molecular oxygen to convert polyunsaturated fatty acids into their corresponding 2R-hydroperoxides. PIOX is a member of a larger family of fatty-acid alpha-dioxygenases that includes the mammalian cyclooxygenase enzymes cyclooxygenase 1 and 2 (COX-1 and COX-2). Single crystals of PIOX from rice (Oryza sativa) have been grown from MPD using recombinant protein expressed in Escherichia coli and subsequently extracted utilizing decyl maltoside as the solubilizing detergent.