The present disclosure provides, inter alia, nanobodies targeting a Ca.sub.Vβ auxiliary subunit and compositions thereof. Methods for blocking a High-Voltage Activated Calcium Channel (HVACC) using such compositions, methods for selectively targeting a population of cells in a subject, and methods for treating or ameliorating the effects of a disease in a subject are also provided.

The present invention provides a method for detection of an inflammatory reaction, which comprises using a transformant or transgenic non-human animal transfected with a vector comprising a promoter for a gene encoding an inflammatory cytokine, a gene encoding a reporter protein, a gene encoding the inflammatory cytokine, and a gene encoding a proteolytic signal sequence to thereby detect an inflammatory reaction induced upon inflammatory stimulation in the transformant or in the transgenic non-human animal.

The present invention relates to a polypeptide or protein for use in a method of diagnosis or treatment of an autoimmune disease in a subject, characterized in that said polypeptide or protein comprises one or more epitopes derived from the protein DPPX. Further, the invention relates to a nucleic acid or vector encoding such polypeptide, to a cell comprising such a vector, to an in vitro diagnostic method and test kit involving such polypeptide, to a pharmaceutical composition comprising such polypeptide, to a medical device coated with such polypeptide or pharmaceutical composition and to methods for treating an autoimmune disease in a subject.

A biosensor comprises first and second molecular components and is capable of displaying protease activity in response to a binding event mediated by first and second binding partners of the biosensor. The first and second binding partners may bind each other directly or may both bind a target molecule. At least the first molecular component comprises an autoinhibited protease, whereby the binding event switches the protease frora an autoinhibited inactive state to a protease active state. The second molecular component may activate the protease of the first molecular component by binding a cross-binder which releases the autoinhibitor or by cleaving a linker which releases the autoinhibitor. The first and second molecular components may both have autoinhibited proteases which reciprocally activate each other.

Targeted therapeutics that localize to a specific subcellular compartment such as the lysosome are provided. The targeted therapeutics include a therapeutic agent and a targeting moiety that binds a receptor on an exterior surface of the cell, permitting proper subcellular localization of the targeted therapeutic upon internalization of the receptor. Nucleic acids, cells, and methods relating to the practice of the invention are also provided.

The present disclosure provides an anti-biotin antibody, and provides an amino acid sequence encoding the CDRs of the antibody. Studies have shown that the antibody only reacts with a biotin conjugate or derivative, and does not react with free biotin. The present disclosure further provides applications of the antibody in, including but not limited to, ELISA, cell capture, sorting and enrichment, western blotting, flow cytometry, immunocytofluorescent staining, and immunohistochemistry. The anti-biotin antibody conjugated immunomagnetic beads can specifically and directly recognize a biotin labeled antigen, and do not bind to free biotin which is often presented in clinical samples and culture media. In addition, the anti-biotin antibody-conjugated magnetic beads or anti-biotin antibody-fluorescein provide an ideal solution for the isolation of specific cells, and can even enrich and separate target cells from samples rich in debris or other rare biological materials.

Provided herein are substantially non-luminescent peptide/polypeptide tags that are inserted internally within a protein of interest or between N-terminal and C-terminal peptides/polypeptides. Interaction of the internally-inserted tag with a complement polypeptide/peptide that is also substantially non-luminescent results in the formation a bioluminescent reporter complex.

An animal model for motor neuron dysfunction in disease, e.g., amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), comprising a genetically modified non-human animal that comprises a genetically modified DR6 allele and exhibits normal phenotypes at birth and for a few weeks or months after birth. However, as the non-human animal ages, it develops motor neuron dysfunction that presents as one or more ALS-like symptoms, which may progress rapidly after onset. Methods of identifying candidate agents that may be used to prevent, delay or treat ALS are also provided.

The present disclosure relates to chimeric polypeptide having TGF-beta activity, nucleic acids encoding the polypeptides, and host cells for producing the polypeptides with improved or novel biological and therapeutic properties.

Disclosed is a method for producing an alkaline phosphatase fusion antibody, comprising: culturing a cell comprising an expression vector comprising a gene encoding alkaline phosphatase derived from bovine small intestine or Shewanella bacterium and a gene encoding an antibody in a medium comprising a zinc ion, and acquiring an alkaline phosphatase fusion antibody expressed by the cell.