The present disclosure provides compositions and methods for making and using engineered killer phagocytic cells for immunotherapy in cancer or infection by expressing a chimeric antigen receptor having an enhanced phagocytic activity, the chimeric receptor is encoded by a recombinant nucleic acid.

The present disclosure provides methods and compositions for enhancing the immune response toward cancers and pathogens. It relates to chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) comprising a mutated CD28 intracellular motif, and cells comprising such CARs. The presently disclosed subject matter further relates to the use of said cells for treating diseases, e.g., for treating cancers.

The present disclosure provides methods and compositions for enhancing the immune response toward cancers and pathogens. The presently disclosed subject matter provides methods and compositions for enhancing the immune response toward cancers and pathogens. It relates to cells comprising a c-Kit mutant, e.g., a c-Kit mutant comprising an activating mutation. The cells can further comprise an antigen-recognizing receptor (e.g., a chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) or a T cell receptors (TCR)). The presently disclosed subject matter relates to the use of cells for treatment, e.g., treating cancers.

Compositions and methods relating to regulatable chimeric antigen receptors (RCARs), where the intracellular signaling or proliferation of the RCAR can be controlled to optimize the use of an RCAR-expressing cell to provide an immune response, are provided. For example, a RCAR can comprise a dimerization switch that, upon the presence of a dimerization molecule, can couple an intracellular signaling domain to an extracellular recognition element, e.g., an antigen binding domain, an inhibitory counter ligand binding domain, or costimulatory ECD domain. An RCAR can be engineered to include an appropriate antigen binding domain that is specific to a desired antigen target and used in the treatment of a disease.

The present disclosure provides recombinant microorganisms and methods for the anaerobic production of 2,4-furandimethanol from one or more carbon sources. The microorganisms and methods provide redox-balanced and ATP positive pathways for co-producing 2,4-furandimethanol with ethanol and for co-producing 2,4-furandimethanol with ethanol and acetone and/or isopropanol. The method provides recombinant microorganisms that express endogenous and/or exogenous nucleic acid molecules encoding polypeptides that catalyze the conversion of a carbon source into 2,4-furandimethanol and that couple the 2,4-furandimethanol pathway with an additional metabolic pathway. The present disclosure further provides enzymatic production of 2,4-furandicarboxylic acid.

The disclosure discloses recombinant Bacillus subtilis for synthesizing guanosine diphosphate fucose and a construction method and application thereof. The recombinant Bacillus subtilis is obtained by intensively expressing guanylate kinase and nucleotide diphosphokinase genes and expressing exogenous fucokinase and phosphate guanylyltransferase genes in a genome of Bacillus subtilis 168. According to the disclosure, a bacterial strain for synthesizing the guanosine diphosphate fucose is obtained by reconstructing the Bacillus subtilis 168, with a volume of intracellular accumulation up to 196.15 g/L. According to the disclosure, by intensively expressing the guanylate kinase and nucleotide diphosphokinase genes, and enhancing the supply of intracellular GDP-L-fucose composition cofactors, the synthesis of the guanosine diphosphate fucose is promoted. The construction method for the recombinant Bacillus subtilis of the disclosure is simple and convenient to use, thus having good application prospects.

The invention relates to a viral expression construct and related viral vector and composition and to their use wherein said construct and vector comprise elements a) and b): a) a nucleotide sequence encoding an insulin operably linked to a first promoter, b) a nucleotide sequence encoding a glucokinase operably linked to a second promoter and said viral expression construct and related viral vector comprise at least one of elements c), d) and e): c) the first and the second promoters are positioned in reverse orientation within the expression construct, d) the first and the second promoters are positioned in reverse orientation within the expression construct and are located adjacent to each other and e) the first promoter is a CMV promoter, preferably a mini CMV promoter.

The present invention provides assays utilizing SPR to detect protein-ligand interactions as well as compositions utilized is such assays.

The present invention relates generally to a population of cells genetically modified to produce insulin in a glucose responsive manner and uses thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a population of cells genetically modified to produce insulin in response to physiologically relevant levels of glucose and uses thereof. The cells of the present invention are useful in a wide variety of applications, in particular in the context of therapeutic and prophylactic regimes directed to the treatment of diabetes and/or the amelioration of symptoms associated with diabetes, based on the transplantation of the cells of the present invention into mammals requiring treatment. Also facilitated is the design of in vitro based screening systems for testing the therapeutic effectiveness and/or toxicity of potential adjunctive treatment regimes.

The present invention generally relates to the microbiological industry, and specifically to the production of L-serine or L-serine derivatives using genetically modified bacteria. The present invention provides genetically modified microorganisms, such as bacteria, wherein the expression of genes encoding for enzymes involved in the degradation of L-serine is attenuated, such as by inactivation, which makes them particularly suitable for the production of L-serine at higher yield. The present invention also provides means by which the microorganism, and more particularly a bacterium, can be made tolerant towards higher concentrations of serine. The present invention also provides methods for the production of L-serine or L-serine derivative using such genetically modified microorganisms.