The Nutritional Immunology Group at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute is actively involved in economic development. We offer a diverse portfolio of patents and intellectual property and seek to establish key strategic alliances with nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and functional food manufacturers, which will help us to take our new scientific discoveries from the laboratory bench to the global market.
Spin off Companies
The mission of our companies is to improve human health and well-being through the discovery and development of novel orally active, naturally occurring compounds. We focus on those compounds with proven scientific efficacy and clinical research substantiating the health claims of nutraceuticals. The time-to-market for nutritional compounds is short and estimated to be 3-5 years. Our product pipeline includes compounds with health benefits ranging from inflammation and gut health to diabetes, obesity and hypertension.
[ VTIP: 08-094 ]
Method of Using Nutraceuticals for Ameliorating Hypertension and Vascular Inflammation
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 30% of the U.S. Population is obese and 65% overweight. Estimates in 2004 report that 20.8 million Americans had diabetes and over 40% of middle-aged adults have pre-diabetes, with healthcare costs exceeding $132 billion.
Diabetes and cardiovascular disease are complications resulting from obesity. Medical costs for this amount to over $500 billion annually in the U.S. alone.
According to the most recent World Health Organization estimates, 1.6 billion adults are overweight and 300 million are obese. Projections are that by 2050 about 300 million people will be afflicted by diabetes worldwide. New products targeting these conditions are going to take a significant market share.
Our research in nutraceutical has produced a compound that cuts obesity related complications such as hypertension by 10% and vascular inflammations by 30%. This product has proven effectiveness in diabetes and hypertension that separates it from other products. As a nutritional supplement, there will be a short time to market. Compared to top-selling drugs like Avandia, under scrutiny by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for increasing the chances of heart attack, this nutritional supplement shows no side effects in mouse studies.
[ VTIP: 07-048 & U.S. Provisional Patent Application No: 60/942,016 ]
Method of Using Probiotic Bacteria to Treat or Prevent Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes
The technology we have developed is a novel method for preventing or treating obesity via colonization of the gastric mucosa with a probiotic bacterium. The treatment improves glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity while decreasing adipose tissue accumulation and obesity.
The bacterial strains of the present invention, isolated from stomachs of indigenous Amerindian populations in South America, contain highly diverse genomes and lack pathogenic factors, allowing them to be used for colonization of a human stomach without causing unwelcome effects.
[ VTIP: 05-066; U.S. Patent Application No: 60/821,720 & PCT Application No: 11/672,223 ]
Method of Using Abscisic Acid to Treat and Prevent Diabetes and Inflammation.
Abscisic acid (ABA) cuts obesity related complications such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and inflammations by 20%. ABA has proven effectiveness that separates it from other products. As a nutritional supplement, there will be a short time to market. Compared to top-selling pharmaceuticals like Avandia, under scrutiny by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for increasing the chances of heart attack, this nutritional supplement shows no side effects in mouse studies.
Claims for this product are validated by scientific evidence including, mouse studies, inventor- authored peer reviewed papers in Clinical Nutrition and Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, as well as a track record of publication in the Journal of Nutrition, American Journal of Nutrition, Journal of Immunology and Gastroenterology.
Recognition of the inventor's work includes numerous research excellence awards from The American Society for Nutrition, and The American Association of Immunologists, Iowa State University and Virginia Tech. A $1.2 million investment in this product was made by the National Institutes of Health. In addition, the inventor has a record of achievement in developing similar products that are currently available in the market. These are top-selling brand names of Clarinol or Tonalin.
- Guri, A. J., R. Hontecillas, G. Ferrer, O. Casagran, U. Wankhade, A.M. Noble, D. Eizirik, F. Ortis, M Cnop, D. Liu, H. Si and J. Bassaganya-Riera (2008) Loss of PPAR gamma in immune cells impairs the ability of abscisic acid to improve insulin sensitivity by suppressing monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 expression and macrophage infiltration into white adipose tissue. Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry 19 (4) 216-228. [ PubMED ]
- Guri, A. J., R. Hontecillas, H. Si, D. Liu, and J. Bassaganya-Riera (2007) Dietary abscisic acid ameliorates glucose tolerance and obesity-related inflammation in db/db mice fed high-fat diets. Clinical Nutrition. 26: 107-116. [ PubMED ]
