Use of Cryopreserved Hepatocytes as Part of an Integrated Strategy to Characterize In Vivo Clearance for Peptide-Antibody Conjugate Inhibitors of Nav1.7 in Preclinical Species.

The identification of nonopioid alternatives to treat chronic pain has received a great deal of interest in recent years. Recently, the engineering of a series of Nav1.7 inhibitory peptide-antibody conjugates has been reported, and herein, the preclinical efforts to identify novel approaches to characterize the pharmacokinetic properties of the peptide conjugates are described.

Engineering Na1.7 Inhibitory JzTx-V Peptides with a Potency and Basicity Profile Suitable for Antibody Conjugation To Enhance Pharmacokinetics.

Drug discovery research on new pain targets with human genetic validation, including the voltage-gated sodium channel Na1.7, is being pursued to address the unmet medical need with respect to chronic pain and the rising opioid epidemic. As part of early research efforts on this front, we have previously developed Na1.

Pathogenic variation of Phakopsora pachyrhizi infecting soybean in Nigeria.

Soybean rust, caused by Phakopsora pachyrhizi, is an important disease in Nigeria and many other soybean-producing countries worldwide. To determine the geographical distribution of soybean rust in Nigeria, soybean fields were surveyed in the Derived Savanna (DS), Northern Guinea Savanna (NGS), and Southern Guinea Savanna (SGS) agroecological zones in Nigeria between 2004 and 2006. Disease severity in each zone was determined and analyzed using geostatistics.

Evaluation of atoxigenic isolates of Aspergillus flavus as potential biocontrol agents for aflatoxin in maize.

Aflatoxin contamination resulting from maize infection by Aspergillus flavus is both an economic and a public health concern. Therefore, strategies for controlling aflatoxin contamination in maize are being investigated. The abilities of eleven naturally occurring atoxigenic isolates in Nigeria to reduce aflatoxin contamination in maize were evaluated in grain competition experiments and in field studies during the 2005 and 2006 growing seasons.

Evaluation of Soybean Germplasm for Resistance to Soybean Rust (Phakopsora pachyrhizi) in Nigeria.

Soybean rust, caused by Phakopsora pachyrhizi, is one of the most important constraints to soybean production worldwide. The absence of high levels of host resistance to the pathogen has necessitated the continued search and identification of sources of resistance. In one set of experiments, 178 soybean breeding lines from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture were rated for rust severity in the field in 2002 and 2003 at Ile-Ife, Yandev, and Ibadan, Nigeria.