The present disclosure provides materials and methods related to engineered bacteria for use in vaccines. In particular, the present disclosure provides novel compositions and methods for generating vaccine compositions comprising bacteria (e.g., Lactobacillus) engineered to express immunogenic polypeptides and immunogenicity-enhancing adjuvant polypeptides to treat and/or prevent infection from a pathogenic organism (e.g., coronavirus).

The present invention provides a method for producing a fermentation product by culturing recombinant exosporium-producing Bacillus cells that express a fusion protein of interest on the exosporium in a medium containing sources of carbon and nitrogen in a total concentration of at least 20 g/L, resulting in a fermentation broth containing a high titer of the recombinant Bacillus spores.

Described herein are compositions and techniques related to generation and therapeutic application of artificial synapses. Artificial synapses are engineered extracellular vesicles, including exosomes, which incorporate sticky binders on their surface to anchor signaling domains against biological targets, such as receptors. These engineered additives can be organized in genetic vector constructs, expressed in mammalian cells, wherein the sticky binders attach to extracellular vesicles such as exosomes, thereby presenting their joined signaling domains which are rapidly taken up by recipient cells. Artificial synapses adopt the hallmark biophysical and biochemical features of extracellular vesicles, allowing for rapid deployment and scale-up. Importantly, this strategy can allow for kinetically favorable signal generation and signal propagation. This includes, for example, increasing density of agonist presentation to support receptor clustering—an onerous barrier for traditional receptor targeting strategies.

The present invention relates to a recombinant nucleic acid construct encoding a kallikrein-2 fusion protein. The kallikrein-2 fusion protein includes a first nucleotide sequence encoding kallikrein-2 (KLK2), and a second nucleotide sequence encoding a glycosylphophatidylinositol (GPI) attachment sequence, where the GPI attachment sequence encoding nucleotide sequence is positioned 3′ to the KLK2 encoding nucleotide sequence. Also disclosed are vectors, preparations of cells, and methods of use thereof

Provided herein are extracellular vesicle (EV) (a.k.a. exosome) compositions for specifically targeting the delivery of a therapeutic agent to particular cells and/or tissues in a subject, as well as methods of making and methods of using said compositions. The compositions and methods disclosed herein are useful for targeted drug delivery in the treatment of diseases in which a cell surface receptor is overexpressed, such as, for example, cancer.

A nucleic acid molecule comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding an inhibitory chimeric antigen receptor (iCAR) capable of preventing or attenuating undesired activation of an effector immune cell, wherein the iCAR comprises an extracellular domain that specifically binds to a single allelic variant of a polymorphic cell surface epitope absent from mammalian tumor cells due to loss of heterozygosity (LOH) but present at least on all cells of related mammalian normal tissue; and an intracellular domain comprising at least one signal transduction element that inhibits an effector immune cell is provided. Vectors and transduced effector immune cells comprising the nucleic acid molecule and methods for treatment of cancer comprising administering the transduced effector immune cells are further provided.

The present invention relates to nucleic acid molecules comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a membrane-bound biotin mimetic peptide (BMP) or biotin acceptor peptide (BAP). The invention also relates to a method for selection of high producer cells secreting a protein of interest.

The present invention relates to T cell receptors (TCRs) that bind the HLA-A*02 restricted peptide GVYDGREHTV (SEQ ID NO: 1) derived from the germline cancer antigen MAGE A4. Said TCRs may comprise non-natural mutations within the alpha and/or beta variable domains relative to a native MAGE A4 TCR. The TCRs of the invention are particularly suitable for use as novel immunotherapeutic reagents for the treatment of malignant disease.

The present invention relates to human IgG Fc domain variants with improved effector function and uses thereof.

Fusion compounds and methods of using same are provided which bind and neutralize human receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand and are agonistic to parathyroid hormone receptor 1 signaling, said compounds are useful as agents for bone healing or treating conditions associated with bone mass loss or degeneration including treating osteoporosis.