Transplantation of islet or beta cells is seen as the cure for type 1 diabetes since it allows physiological regulation of blood glucose levels without requiring any compliance from the patients. In order to circumvent the use of immunosuppressive drugs (and their side effects), semipermeable membranes have been developed to encapsulate and immunoprotect transplanted cells. This review presents...

Using the predictive algorithm of Rothbard and Taylor (1988. EMBO J. 7:93) and the primary structure of gp63 (Button, L., and M.R. McMaster. 1988. J. Exp. Med. 167:724; Miller, R.A., S.G. Reed, and M. Parsons. 1990. Mol. Biochem. Parasitol. 39:267) we have been able to delineate the structures of a number of gp63 T-cell epitopes which stimulate the proliferation of CD4+ cells. One of these synt...

Infectious bronchitis (IB) is a major threat to the global poultry industry. Despite availability of commercial vaccines, IB epidemic has not been effectively controlled. The exploration novel IBV vaccines may provide new way prevent and control IB. In this study, BLP-S1, bacterium-like particle displaying S1 subunit infectious virus (IBV), was constructed using GEM-PA surface display system. i...

Cell encapsulation has been broadly investigated as a technology to provide immunoprotection for transplanted endocrine cells. Here we develop a new fabrication method that allows for rapid, homogenous microencapsulation of insulin-secreting cells with varying microscale geometries and asymmetrically modified surfaces. Micromolding systems were developed using polypropylene mesh, and the materi...