UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Patent applications |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20160002457 | TUNABLE AND RESPONSIVE PHOTONIC HYDROGELS COMPRISING NANOCRYSTALLINE CELLULOSE - Composite hydrogels with a chiral organization with tunable responsive photonic properties are conceived. A polymerizable hydrophilic monomer such as acrylamide is reacted in the presence of nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) to give a composite hydrogel with cellulose nanocrystals embedded in a chiral nematic organization. Through control of the reaction conditions, the hydrogel can exhibit photonic colour that can be varied throughout the visible and near-infrared regions. The colour shifts substantially and reversibly upon swelling and shrinking of the hydrogel through solvation in aqueous and nonaqueous media. The responsive properties can be tailored both through choice of monomer and/or through chemical modification of the NCC surface. Examples of possible applications of the materials are: tunable reflective filters, chemical sensors, stationary phases for electrophoresis of chiral or achiral substances, and as a template to generate new materials with chiral nematic structures. | 01-07-2016 |
20150266935 | PEPTIDE DIRECTED PROTEIN KNOCKDOWN - In one aspect, the invention provides a peptide comprising a chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA)-targeting signal domain; a protein-binding domain that selectively binds to a target cytosolic protein; and a cell membrane penetrating domain (CMPD). In another aspect, the invention provides methods for reducing the intracellular expression level of an endogenous target protein in vitro and in an animal, wherein the method involves administration of the peptide. Methods are also provided for treating a pathological condition in an animal, the methods comprising administering the peptide to the animal. In one embodiment, the pathological condition is a neurodegenerative disease. In another embodiment of the invention, the target cytosolic protein is death associated protein kinase 1 and the CMPD is protein transduction domain of the HIV-1 Tat protein. | 09-24-2015 |
20150087975 | ELASTOGRAPHY-BASED ASSESSMENT OF CRYOABLATION - A method of monitoring the cryoablation of a target volume of tissue with ultrasound elastography, the method comprising acquiring a first elastography image encompassing said target volume of tissue, performing at least one cycle of freezing and thawing of tissue encompassed in said target volume, acquiring a second elastography image encompassing said target volume, and comparing said first and said second elastography images over said target volume. The elastography provides either relative or quantitative measurements of tissue elasticity. The elastography maps of tissue elasticity, before and after cryoablation of one region, can guide the cryoablation of another region. The use of elastography provided feedback to the operator to achieve effective treatment with cryoblation over a planned target. | 03-26-2015 |
20150038651 | Dinuclear Indium Catalysts and Their Use for (Co)Polymerization of Cyclic Esters - Provided are novel dinuclear indium catalysts of formula (A) that are capable of living and immortal ring opening polymerization and copolymerization of cyclic ester monomers for the preparation of biodegradable polymers and copolymers, in particular polyesters. Also disclosed are polymerization methods and polymer products. These dinuclear indium catalysts allow less costly, highly reactive living polymerization of cyclic ester monomers with possible high turn over rates and/or substantial stereo chemical and microstructure control. | 02-05-2015 |
20150010469 | BISPHENOL ETHER COMPOUNDS WITH NOVEL BRIDGING GROUPS AND METHODS FOR THEIR USE - Compounds having a structure of Formula I: | 01-08-2015 |
20140194737 | Ultrasound Based Method and Apparatus to Determine the Size of Kidney Stone Fragments Before Removal Via Ureteroscopy - A transducer is used to send an ultrasound pulse toward a stone and to receive ultrasound reflections from the stone. The recorded time between a pulse that is reflected from the proximal surface and a pulse that is reflected either from the distal surface of the stone or from a surface supporting the stone is used to calculate the stone size. The size of the stone is a function of the time between the two pulses and the speed of sound through the stone (or through the surrounding fluid if the second pulse was reflected by the surface supporting the stone). This technique is equally applicable to measure the size of other in vivo objects, including soft tissue masses, cysts, uterine fibroids, tumors, and polyps. | 07-10-2014 |
20140188807 | DE-DUPLICATED VIRTUAL MACHINE IMAGE TRANSFER - Technologies are generally described for a system and method effective to copy virtual machine images from a source to a destination memory. A processor may copy a first block corresponding to a first virtual machine image from an interim memory to the destination memory. The interim memory may include de-duplicated data present in the first and the second virtual machine images. The processor may identify a second block in the interim memory that corresponds to the second virtual machine image and store the second block in a buffer. The processor may identify a third block in the interim memory that corresponds to the first virtual machine image and copy the third block from the interim memory to the destination memory. | 07-03-2014 |
20140146937 | METHOD FOR GENERATING A 3D REPRESENTATION OF AN OBJECT - There is described a method for generating a 3D representation of an object, the method comprising retrieving a 3D structure representative of the object and comprising a plurality of voxels each having a respective position therein, each one of the voxels being shaped to mimic a shape of at least a portion of a potential internal feature for the respective position; receiving a densitometry measurement comprising densitometry data of the object; assigning a density value to each one of the voxels using the received densitometry data, thereby generating a 3D model of the object; and outputting the 3D model. | 05-29-2014 |
20140127312 | POLYMERS FOR REVERSING HEPARIN-BASED ANTICOAGULATION - Embodiments presented herein relate to various polymers. Some of the polymer embodiments are heparin binding polymers. Some embodiments of the heparin binding polymers can be employed to bind to heparin for methods such as separating, purifying, removing, and/or isolating heparin and heparin like molecules. | 05-08-2014 |
20130303981 | SHAPE MEMORY MATERIALS BY SURFACE MODIFICATION - Devices including a flexible substrate and a grafted polymer brush coating on at least one surface of the flexible substrate and methods for making and using such devices are provided herein. The grafted polymer brush included on the devices allow for controlled bending of the device during use. | 11-14-2013 |
20130253318 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING VISCOELASTIC PARAMETERS IN TISSUE - Described herein are a method and apparatus for determining viscoelastic parameters of a tissue. A vibration signal is applied to the tissue and displacements at a plurality of locations within the tissue are measured at a plurality of times. The viscoelastic parameters of the tissue, including elasticity and viscosity, can then be determined by fitting a finite element model of the tissue to the vibration signal and the measured displacements and by solving for the viscoelastic parameters of the model. A value for density of each element of the model is selected and the absolute values for the viscoelastic parameters of each of the elements in the model is determined. Alternatively, the difference in relaxation-times between two locations within the tissue can be determined from the difference in phases of the strains at the two locations. | 09-26-2013 |
20130196929 | SECRETED PROTEIN ACIDIC AND RICH IN CYSTEINE (SPARC) AS CHEMOTHERAPEUTIC SENSITIZERS - The present invention relates to compositions and methods of use thereof for cancer therapy sensitization. Such compositions comprise functional fragments of the nucleotide and/or polypeptide sequences of a Secreted Protein Acidic and Rich in Cysteine (SPARC). The compositions can be used in combination with existing chemotherapeutic agents for treatment of cancers. | 08-01-2013 |
20130089492 | CHIRAL NEMATIC NANOCRYSTALLINE METAL OXIDES - A mesoporous metal oxide materials with a chiral organization; and a method for producing it, in the method a polymerizable metal oxide precursor is condensed inside the pores of chiral nematic mesoporous silica by the so-called “hard templating” method. As a specific example, mesoporous titanium dioxide is formed inside of a chiral nematic silica film templated by nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC). After removing the silica template such as by dissolving the silica in concentrated aqueous base, the resulting product is a mesoporous titania with a high surface area. These mesoporous metal oxide materials with high surface area and chiral nematic structures that lead to photonic properties may be useful for photonic applications as well as enantioselective catalysis, photocatalysis, photovoltaics, UV filters, batteries, and sensors. | 04-11-2013 |
20130035257 | MICROFLUIDIC ARRAYS AND METHODS FOR THEIR PREPARATION AND USE - Methods of isolating at least one cell of interest, methods of making fixed arrays, arrays comprising a glass substrate bonded to a patterned siloxane structure having inlets, outlets and microchannels, array kits, and methods of making microfluidic apparati are provided in the present application. | 02-07-2013 |
20130022647 | POLYMERS FOR REVERSING HEPARIN-BASED ANTICOAGULATION - Embodiments presented herein relate to various polymers. Some of the polymer embodiments are heparin binding polymers. Some embodiments of the heparin binding polymers can be employed to bind to heparin for methods such as separating, purifying, removing, and/or isolating heparin and heparin like molecules. | 01-24-2013 |
20120310151 | WIRELESS MICROACTUATORS AND CONTROL METHODS - Embodiments of the present technology include a micromachined implantable drug delivery devices, grippers, and syringes that are wirelessly powered and controlled by frequency tuning of external radiofrequency (RF) magnetic fields. An illustrative device can be designed and constructed with passive circuitry and microvalves that operate without batteries, e.g., through thermal actuation of hydrogel microvalves and/or shape-memory alloy members. The frequency selectivity in the device control provides not only a path to achieving reliable and safe operation of drug delivery but also potential applications for selective delivery of multiple drugs. | 12-06-2012 |
20120308546 | POLYMERS FOR REVERSING HEPARIN-BASED ANTICOAGULATION - Embodiments presented herein relate to various polymers. Some of the polymer embodiments are heparin binding polymers. Some embodiments of the heparin binding polymers can be employed to bind to heparin for methods such as separating, purifying, removing, and/or isolating heparin and heparin like molecules. | 12-06-2012 |
20120270822 | STABILIZED FORMULATION FOR ORAL ADMINISTRATION OF THERAPEUTIC AGENTS AND RELATED METHODS - Stable formulations for the oral administration of therapeutic agents, methods for administering therapeutic agents using the formulations, and methods for treating conditions and diseases using the formulations. | 10-25-2012 |
20120071757 | Ultrasound Registration - The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for registering three-dimensional ultrasound images to an external coordinate system, such as the coordinate system attached to a camera-based imaging system or the coordinate system used to define the movements of a surgical robot. The apparatus generally comprises a tool with markers that can be accurately and repeatably located in both the ultrasound and external coordinate systems. In the case of the surgical robot frame, this tool may be a component of the surgical robot itself, such as a portion of a surgical manipulator. The method generally comprises positioning the toot upon the surface of a portion of patient tissue, imaging the tool using the ultrasound, simultaneously imaging the tool using the camera system or monitoring the current mechanical configuration of the surgical robot, localizing corresponding tool elements in both frames, and finally using the corresponding elements as registration fiducials to solve the geometric transformation that relates the two frames. | 03-22-2012 |
20110272282 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ENHANCED SCODA - Methods and apparatus for concentrating particles may be applied, for example, to concentrating DNA, RNA, proteins and the like. Proteins may be pre-treated to facilitate concentration by scodaphoresis. The pre-treatment may comprise, for example, heating or chemical treatment to denature and/or apply a net charge to the protein, binding handle particles to the protein and combinations thereof. High-conductivity samples may be subjected to a conductivity-reduction step to facilitate electrical injection of target particles into scodaphoresis media. The conductivity-reduction step may comprise a buffer exchange process or a salt extraction process, for example. Methods and apparatus can allow two or more different types of target particles to be extracted from the same sample and separately concentrated. These various aspects may be applied individually or in any combination. | 11-10-2011 |
20110248214 | INORGANIC MESOPOROUS MATERIALS WITH CHIRAL NEMATIC STRUCTURES AND PREPARATION METHOD THEREOF - The present invention describes a composition and a method for producing mesoporous silica materials with a chiral organization. In the method, a polymerizable inorganic monomer is reacted in the presence of nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) to give a material of inorganic solid with cellulose nanocrystallites embedded in a chiral nematic organization. The NCC can be removed to give a stable porous structure that retains the chiral organization of the NCC template. The new materials may be obtained as iridescent free-standing films with high surface area. Through control of the reaction conditions, the colour of the films can be varied across the entire visible spectrum. These are the first materials to combine mesoporosity with long-range chiral ordering that leads to photonic properties. Examples of possible applications of the materials are: lightweight reinforcement materials, low k dielectric materials, tunable reflective filters, adsorbents, stationary phases for chromatography of chiral or achiral substances, supports for catalysts (e.g., for asymmetric synthetic transformations), and as a template to generate other new porous materials (e.g., porous carbon or porous metals), preferably with chiral nematic structures. | 10-13-2011 |
20110062394 | RARE EARTH-DOPED SAPPHIRE FILMS AND RELATED METHODS - The present invention relates to the growth of single phase rare earth-doped sapphire (α-Al | 03-17-2011 |
20110020825 | PROTEIN C POLYMORPHISMS USEFUL AS AN INDICATOR OF PATIENT OUTCOME - The invention provides methods and kits for obtaining a prognosis for a patient having or at risk of developing an inflammatory condition. The method generally comprises determining a protein C promoter genotype of a patient for a polymorphism in the protein C promoter region of the patient, comparing the determined genotype with known genotypes for the polymorphism that correspond with the ability of the patient to recover from the inflammatory condition and identifying patients based on their prognosis. The invention also provides for methods of identifying other polymorphisms that correspond with the ability of the patient to recover from the inflammatory condition. | 01-27-2011 |
20100303894 | POX VIRIDAE TREATMENT - A vaccine composition for combating | 12-02-2010 |
20100160778 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING VISCOELASTIC PARAMETERS IN TISSUE - Described herein are a method and apparatus for determining viscoelastic parameters of a tissue. A vibration signal is applied to the tissue and displacements at a plurality of locations within the tissue are measured at a plurality of times. The viscoelastic parameters of the tissue, including elasticity and viscosity, can then be determined by fitting a finite element model of the tissue to the vibration signal and the measured displacements and by solving for the viscoelastic parameters of the model. A value for density of each element of the model is selected and the absolute values for the viscoelastic parameters of each of the elements in the model is determined. Alternatively, the difference in relaxation-times between two locations within the tissue can be determined from the difference in phases of the strains at the two locations. | 06-24-2010 |