The present invention relates to compositions comprising a polymeric matrix or a gel containing functional enzymes capable of re-creating under culture conditions the cell microenvironment existing in vivo. The present invention also relates to devices for cell cultures comprising such compositions, in particular hydrogel and the use thereof to control the chemical microenvironment of a cell culture or mimic physiological or pathological conditions of the in vivo cells. The compositions and the devices described herein could be also used in vitro for evaluating the therapeutic effect of a compound on a determined cell line or on primary cells.

Described herein are methods and compositions for treating nicotine addiction, promoting smoking cessation, reducing the risk of relapse of nicotine consumption, and/or treating nicotine poisoning in a subject in need thereof, using a nicotine-degrading enzyme or an expression vector capable of expressing a nicotine-degrading enzyme in vivo.

The present invention relates to a method for constructing a recombinant bacterium with high production of ?-elemene and germacrene A. Firstly, ?-elemene and germacrene A are synthesized from scratch through the screening of germacrene A synthase and the overexpression of the mevalonate pathway; then, the availability of acetyl-CoA, pyruvate, and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate in the farnesyl diphosphate pathway is ensured by deleting competing pathways in the central carbon metabolism; next, the present invention uses lycopene color as a high-throughput screening method and obtains an optimized NSY305N through error-prone PCR. Finally, in shake flasks, strain ?-EL-4 constructed through key pathway enzymes, efflux engineering, and translation engineering produced 1161.09 mg/L of ?-elemene and 852.36 mg/L of germacrene A, which is the highest reported yield at shake flask level. In 4-L fed-batch fermentation, the production of ?-elemene and germacrene A reached 3.52 g/L and 2.13 g/L, respectively.

The present invention relates to a recombinant microbial host cell producing a tetraketide or derivatives thereof from one or more substrates selected from cinnamoyl-CoA, p-Coumaroyl-CoA, Caffeoyl-CoA, Feruloyl-CoA, malonyl-CoA, sinapoyl-CoA and dihydro derivatives thereof, comprising an operative biosynthetic metabolic pathway for the tetraketide or derivatives thereof comprising a chalcone isomerase-like (CHIL) polypeptide heterologous to the host cell and a Type 3 polyketide synthase (PKS).

The present invention relates to a polynucleotide encoding an omega 3 (?-3) desaturase from Pythium irregulare with specificity to long chain polyunsaturated omega 6 (?-6) fatty acids as well as a vector containing the polynucleotide, and a host cell containing the vector or the polynucleotide. Moreover, the present invention pertains to a polypeptide encoded by the polynucleotide, antibodies against the polypeptide as well as a method for the manufacture of the polypeptide. Further, encompassed by the present invention are transgenic non-human organisms. Finally, the present invention relates to methods for the manufacture of compounds and oil-fatty acid-, or lipid-containing compositions.

Methods of inducing a CD8+ T cell response to a heterologous antigen in which at least 10% of the CD8+ T cells are MHC-E restricted are disclosed. The method involves immunizing with a CMV vector that does not express UL128 and UL130 proteins. Also disclosed are recombinant CMV vectors comprising nucleic acids encoding a heterologous protein antigen, a UL40 protein, and a US28 protein but that do not express an active UL128 and UL130 protein. Also disclosed are recombinant CMV vectors comprising nucleic acids encoding a heterologous protein antigen, but that do not express an active UL40 protein, UL128 protein, UL130 protein, and optionally a US28 protein. Also disclosed are recombinant CMV vectors comprising nucleic acids encoding a heterologous protein antigen, but that do not express an active US28 protein, UL128 protein, UL130 protein, and optionally a UL40 protein.

The present invention relates to an L-lysine-producing microorganism of the genus Corynebacterium and a method for producing L-lysine using the same.

In various aspects and embodiments, the invention relates to bacterial strains and methods for making terpene and terpenoid products. The invention provides bacterial strains with improved carbon flux through the MEP pathway, to thereby increase terpene and/or terpenoid product yield by fermentation with carbon sources such as glucose.

A naturally occurring or recombinant protein, especially a mutein of porcine urate oxidase (uricase), that is essentially free of large aggregates can be rendered substantially non-immunogenic by conjugation with a sufficiently small number of strands of polymer such that the bioactivity of the protein is essentially retained in the conjugate. Such conjugates are unusually well suited for treatment of chronic conditions because they are less likely to induce the formation of antibodies and/or accelerated clearance than are similar conjugates prepared from protein preparations containing traces of large aggregates.

The invention relates to methods and bacterial strains for making terpene and terpenoid products, the bacterial strains having improved carbon pull through the MEP pathway and to a downstream recombinant synthesis pathway.