Patent applications filed by the University of Cincinnati
Technology overview
Dr Daniel W. Nebert at the Department of Environmental Health,
University of Cincinnati conducts research on biological aspects of of
metabolism-gene, receptor-gene and transporter-gene superfamilies, one direction
of which includes heavy metal toxicity. Dr Nebert filed a US patent application
disclosing a method to measure water contaminants using transgenic zebrafish.
Three scientific articles were published by the research team in relation to
this technology:[add a comment]
- Carvan III et al. (2000). Transgenic zebrafish as sentinels for
aquatic pollution.
Ann
N Y Acad Sci. 919:133-47.
- Carvan III et al. (2000). Activation of transcription factors in
zebrafish cell cultures by environmental pollutants.
Arch
Biochem Biophys 376: 320.
- Nebert et al. (2002). Use of reporter genes and vertebrate DNA
motifs in transgenic zebrafish as sentinels for assessing aquatic pollution.
Environ
Health Perspect. 110(1):A15. (Correspondence article in responce to
Mattingly et al. 2001; Environ. Health Perspect. 109:845-849)
Details of the patent document
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Patent or Publication no.
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Title, Independent Claims and Summary
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Assignee and licensing information
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US
2004/147030
- Earliest priority - 22 May 2000
- Filed - 22 May 2001
- Abandoned - 2 August 2006
- Expected expiry - not applicable
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Title - Transgenic animals for monitoring water quality
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Claim 1
A method of measuring contaminants in water comprising:
a. introducing into a transgenic zebrafish organism a DNA construct having
the sequence of at least one regulatory response element gene
operatively linked to a DNA molecule encoding at least one
reporter gene such that the at least one regulatory element of the gene controls
the expression of the at least one reporter gene;
b. exposing the transgenic zebrafish to a water sample to be tested for a time
sufficient to allow contaminants become bioconcentrated within the zebrafish;
c. exposing the transgenic zebrafish to conditions permitting expression of the
at least one reporter gene; and
d. detecting the expression of the at least one reporter gene; and
e. correlating the detected expression to known standards and thereby
determining the quantity of contaminants in the water sample.
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Claim 2
A method of measuring contaminants in water comprising:
a. introducing into a transgenic zebrafish organism a DNA construct having
the sequence of two or more regulatory response element
genes operatively linked to a DNA molecule encoding at least
one reporter gene such that a regulatory elements of the gene
controls expression of the reporter gene;
b. exposing the transgenic zebrafish to a water sample to be tested for a time
sufficient to allow contaminants become bioconcentrated within the zebrafish
c. exposing the transgenic zebrafish to conditions permitting expression of the
reporter genes; and
d. detecting the expression of the reporter genes; and
e. correlating the detected expression to known standards and thereby
determining the quantity of contaminants in the water sample.
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The claims are generally drawn towards:
- a method of measuring contaminants in water comprising transgenic zebrafish
with at least one (or more) regulatory response element gene(s) operatively
linked to a DNA molecule encoding at least one reporter gene (claim 1, 2)
Definitions extracted from the description are:
- Operatively linked - a juxtaposition wherein the components so described are
in a relationship permitting them to function in their intended manner
- Regulatory response element gene - those sequences normally within 100 kb of
the coding region of a locus
- Reporter gene - The present invention utilizes the firefly luciferase
(luc) or green fluorescent protein (GFP)... (there is no defined
statement that limits the reporter genes to luc or GFP)
Comment:
Since this is a published application and not a granted patent, currently
there are no enforceable rights.
The description provides a table (Table 1) that introduces six
pollution-inducible response elements and their respective consensus sequences,
and an example of responses of transgenic zebrafish cell lines to substances
with the following nine different pollutant-inducible promoters linked to the
firefly luc gene (Figure 2):
1. Aromatic hydrocarbon response element (AHRE) to dioxin (10nM TCDD)
- mouse Cyp1a1
- mouse AhRDtk
- rainbow trout CYP1A3
- human CYP1A1
2. Electrophile response element (EPRE) to tBHQ (10µM)
- mouse EPREmt1
- mouse NQO1
- human NQO1
3. Metal response element (MRE) to cadmium (30µM)
- mouse MREd5mt1
- rainbow trout MT-B
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University of Cincinnati
P.O. BOX 670829
3323 EDEN AVENUE
CINCINNATI, OHIO 45267
University of Cincinnati Intellectual Property Office (UCIPO) website:
http://www.ipo.uc.edu/
'Contact Us' on the UCIPO website provides an Email-based form for licensing
interests.
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US
2006/143718
- Earliest priority - 22 May 2000
- Filed - 23 November 2005
- Application pending
- Expected expiry - not applicable
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Title - Transgenic animals for monitoring water quality
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Claim 1
A method of measuring contaminants in water comprising:
a. introducing into a transgenic zebrafish organism a DNA construct having
the sequence of at least one regulatory response element gene operatively linked
to a DNA molecule encoding at least one reporter gene such that the at least one
regulatory element of the gene controls the expression of the at least one
reporter gene;
b. exposing the transgenic zebrafish to a water sample to be tested for a time
sufficient to allow contaminants become bioconcentrated within the zebrafish;
c. exposing the transgenic zebrafish to conditions permitting expression of the
at least one reporter gene; and
d. detecting the expression of the at least one reporter gene; and
e. correlating the detected expression to known standards and thereby
determining the quantity of contaminants in the water sample.
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Claim 2
A method of measuring contaminants in water comprising:
a. introducing into a transgenic zebrafish organism a DNA construct having
the sequence of two or more regulatory response element genes operatively linked
to a DNA molecule encoding at least one reporter gene such that a regulatory
elements of the gene controls expression of the reporter gene;
b. exposing the transgenic zebrafish to a water sample to be tested for a time
sufficient to allow contaminants become bioconcentrated within the zebrafish
c. exposing the transgenic zebrafish to conditions permitting expression of the
reporter genes; and
d. detecting the expression of the reporter genes; and
e. correlating the detected expression to known standards and thereby
determining the quantity of contaminants in the water sample.
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The claims are generally drawn towards:
- a method of measuring contaminants in water comprising transgenic zebrafish
with at least one (or more) regulatory response element gene(s) operatively
linked to a DNA molecule encoding at least one reporter gene (claim 1, 2)
Definitions extracted from the description are provided in US 2004/147030
(see above).
Comments:
This application is a continuation of now abandoned US 2004/147030.
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Search strategy
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Search details
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Date of search
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13 Sept 2006
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Database searched
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Patent Lens
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Type of search
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Simple, stemming on
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Collections searched
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AU-B, US-A, US-B, EP-B, WO
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Search terms
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biomonitor and zebrafish
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Results
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2
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Comments
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There are no comments.