US Patent Issued to Northwestern University on Dec. 30 for "Bio-activated reporters to visualize, in real time, specific gene therapy products" (Illinois Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 31 -- United States Patent no. 12,508,328, issued on Dec. 30, was assigned to Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.).

"Bio-activated reporters to visualize, in real time, specific gene therapy products" was invented by Thomas J. Meade (Wilmette, Ill.) and Sarah G. Kamper (Highland Park, Ill.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Provided herein are MRI contrast agents that are conditionally activated by an enzyme from a reporter gene coupled to a gene of interest. In some embodiments, provided herein is a platform where a substrate (blocking access of water to a Gd(III) ion) is removed by an enzyme that can be changed to accommodate a number of gene therapy targets."

The pat...