Prenatal testing is used to detect birth defects, chromosome abnormalities, genetic diseases, or other conditions or diseases in a fetus or embryo. It can also be used to determine the sex of the fetus before birth. Such screening is useful to (1) enable timely medical or surgical treatment of a condition before or after birth, (2) give the parents the chance to abort a fetus with the diagnosed condition, and (3) give the parents the chance to psychologically, socially, financially, and medically prepare for a baby with a health problem or disability, or for the likelihood of a stillbirth.

Nearly one quarter of men worldwide are homozygous for a mutation in a gene that encodes a key sperm surface protein that is critical for normal sperm functioning in the female reproductive tract. Methods of detection of the genetic mutation, or the deficit of the protein on sperm, are predictive of reduced male fertility. Supplementation of sperm with the purified protein restores sperm function.

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that attacks a person’s own joints and surrounding tissue. The UIC inventors have identified ligands and receptors that are elevated in RA as targets for pharmacological treatments and clinical diagnostic assays.

There are 1.4 million patient visits per year in the U.S.

Aß is found in high levels in pathological conditions such as dementia, vascular diseases, and traumatic brain injury. Currently, there is no antibody that is specific for Aß that does not bind to its precursor protein APP. The most widely used antibody today is 6E10. This antibody is priced at $905 for a half milliliter. The UIC inventors have developed an antibody that only binds to Aß and is pan specific in which it detects all forms of Aß (unaggregated, oligomeric and fibrillar forms).

In stroke research, the hippocampal acute brain slice preparation is a model for studying how neuronal tissue responds to a hypoxic insult.  Additionally, in diabetes research, pancreatic islets preparation and dynamic loading of oxygen and glucose is critical to understand how hypoxia alters the glucose-insulin response of the pancreas.  However, standard techniques using commercial perfusion chambers cannot accurately provide oxygen delivery and control to model hypoxic conditions.

A cancer diagnosis is conventionally confirmed through histological examination of cell or tissue samples removed from a patient. Clinical pathologists need to be able to accurately determine whether such samples are benign or malignant and to classify the aggressiveness of tumor samples deemed to be malignant, because these determinations often form the basis for selecting a suitable course of patient treatment.

Membrane lipids control diverse cellular processes, including cell proliferation, metabolism and apoptosis.  Perturbation of the complex signaling networks formed by lipids and their targets can contribute to diseases, like cancer, diabetes and inflammation.  Determination of lipid spatiotemporal fluctuation and dynamics is a key step towards greater understanding of lipid-mediated processes.  Unfortunately, current methods are neither quantitative nor highly specific.