Drug-inducible, tunable, and multiplexable Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats from Prevotella and Francisella 1 (Cpf1)-based activators, and methods of use thereof.

In an embodiment, the invention provides a method and reagents for detection of -herpesvirus circRNA. In another embodiment, the invention provides a method and reagents for detection of EBV circRNA. In still another embodiment, the invention provides a method and reagents for detection of KSHV circRNA. The method can be expanded to other herpesviruses and even non-herpesviruses that generate circRNA upon cellular infection.

This disclosure relates to antigenic EBV polypeptides and their use in eliciting antibodies against EBV. Also disclosed are antigenic polypeptides comprising an EBV polypeptide and a ferritin protein.

Methods, reporter gene constructs, and kits for using prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) as an imaging reporter to image a variety of cells and tissues are provided.

Vaccines are provided that elicit neutralizing antibodies to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Some vaccines comprise nanoparticles that display envelope proteins from EBV on their surface. The nanoparticles comprise fusion proteins comprising a monomeric subunit of a self-assembly protein, such as ferritin, joined to at least a portion of an EBV envelope protein. The fusion proteins self-assemble to form the envelope protein-displaying nanoparticles. Such vaccines can be used to vaccinate an individual against infection by different types of Epstein-Barr viruses as well as Epstein-Barr viruses that are antigenically divergent from the virus from which the EBV envelope protein was obtained. Also provided are fusion proteins and nucleic acid molecules encoding such proteins.

Methods for generating/expanding populations of immune cells comprising immune cells specific for an Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) lytic antigen are disclosed, the methods comprising stimulating immune cells specific for an EBV lytic antigen by contacting peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) with: (i) one or more peptides corresponding to all or part of one or more EBV lytic antigens; or (ii) antigen presenting cells (APCs) presenting one or more peptides corresponding to all or part of one or more EBV lytic antigens. Also disclosed are populations of immune cells comprising immune cells specific for an EBV lytic antigen expanded according to such methods, and uses thereof.

The disclosure relates to EBV ribonucleic acid vaccines as well as methods of using the vaccines and compositions comprising the vaccines.

Disclosed are vaccine compositions comprising a VLP comprising two or more EBV envelope glycoproteins and one or more T cell antigens and methods of preventing or treating EBV infections using the vaccine compositions. Also disclosed is an expression system or a single expression vector for co-expressing two or more EBV envelope glycoproteins simultaneously to generate a VLP vaccine. The expression system may include a single vector inserted with two or more nucleic acid sequences that encode two or more EBV envelope glycoproteins linked by one or more linking sequences such that the EBV envelope glycoproteins are co-expressed simultaneously.

A method for the repair of a unit, by specific diagnosis of the undesired state, and its appropriate repair, using said specific diagnosis as a means to repair in an appropriate way said unit. The diagnosis and repair processes may involve chemical, physical, or mechanical means. The units being diagnosed and repaired include live matter (e.g. human beings, animals, plants) as well as non-live matter (e.g. buildings, electronic equipment, polymer materials).

Viral vectors are provided for use as genetic immunotherapeutic agents, including preventive and therapeutic vaccines as well as compositions to enhance cellular immune responses and innate immune responses. The vectors are particularly useful for treating or preventing cancer and infectious diseases. The vectors include lentiviral vectors that encode one or more antigens, a combination of adjuvants, and optionally may encode one or more soluble and secreted checkpoint inhibitor molecules. The adjuvants include latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) from Epstein Barr virus and a fusion protein including LMP1 with in which the intracytoplasmic domain has been replaced by human IPS1 or a variant thereof capable of activating the STING pathway. The vector-encoded sequences are codon optimized for human expression.