Patents Assigned to Governors of the University of Alberta
  • Patent number: 8039468
    Abstract: The invention is directed to a method for alleviating respiratory depression in a subject as a result of disease of pharmacological agents such as opiates, opioids or barbiturates. The invention also discloses pharmaceutical compositions for use with the method, the composition containing in combination, an analgesic, anaesthetic, or a sedative and a positive allosteric AMPA receptor modulator in an amount sufficient to reduce or inhibit respiratory depression caused by the analgesic, anaesthetic, or sedative.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2011
    Assignee: The Governors of the University of Alberta
    Inventor: John Greer
  • Patent number: 8039167
    Abstract: The present invention provides a fuel cell in which electricity is generated and a paraffin is converted to an olefin. Between the anode and cathode compartment of the fuel cell is a ceramic membrane of the formula BaCe0.85-eLfY0.05-0.25O(3-?) wherein L is a lanthanide and f is from 0 to 0.25 and ? is the oxygen deficiency in the ceramic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2011
    Assignee: Governors of The University of Alberta
    Inventors: Jingli Luo, Karl Chuang, Alan Rodney Sanger
  • Patent number: 8034628
    Abstract: An on-chip packed reactor bed design is disclosed that allows for an effective exchange of packing materials such as beads at a miniaturized level. Also disclosed is a method of treating a sample within a microfluidic analysis system, comprising; providing a main channel having a trapping zone; providing a slurry of a reagent treated packing material; inducing a flow of said packing material into said trapping zone through a flow channel connected to said trapping zone to load said trapping zone and form a packed bed of said packing material; and flowing a sample containing analytes through said packed bed, said reagent treating the sample. The present invention extends the function of microfluidic analysis systems to new applications including on-chip solid phase extraction (SPE) and on-chip capillary electrochromatography (CEC). The design can be further extended to include integrated packed bed immuno- or enzyme reactors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2011
    Assignee: The Governors of the University of Alberta
    Inventors: D. Jed Harrison, Richard Oleschuk, Loranelle Shultz-Lockyear, Cameron Skinner, Paul Li
  • Publication number: 20110243980
    Abstract: Described herein are methods and systems for O-glycosylating proteins in vivo or in vitro in any prokaryotic organism. In these methods and systems, DNA comprising a gene that produces a PglL-like oligosaccharyltransferase and DNA comprising a gene that produces a protein to be O-glycosylated are used. The PglL-like oligosaccharyltransferase facilitates the covalent attachment of the glycan to the protein to produce the O-glycosylated protein. The methods and systems described herein provide an approach for the design and production of new vaccines and therapeutic agents for the treatment of various diseases.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 13, 2007
    Publication date: October 6, 2011
    Applicant: THE GOVERNORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
    Inventors: Mario Feldman, Amirreza Faridmoayer
  • Patent number: 8017825
    Abstract: An as prepared Na-ETS-10 zeolite was modified by ion exchange with a mono-, di-, or tri-valent cation and mixtures thereof. Several of the modified ETS-10 zeolites showed improved pressure swing capacity during the selective adsorption of ethylene from an ethylene/ethane mixture, relative to Na-ETS-10, although the selectivity of adsorption decreased. Modification with Ba2+ and Ba2+/H+ provided modified ETS-10 zeolite adsorbents having a good balance of selectivity and pressure swing capacity for the separation of ethylene/ethane mixtures, making them useful adsorbents for PSA processes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2011
    Assignee: The Governors of the University of Alberta
    Inventors: Steven M. Kuznicki, Alejandro Anson, Tetyana Segin, Christopher C. H. Lin
  • Publication number: 20110219478
    Abstract: The invention is directed to recombinant antibodies which bind to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum antigens and comprise a single chain variable fragment (scFv). The antigen may be selected from SSPG1d or a portion thereof, aspartyl protease or a portion thereof, or whole Sclerotinia sclerotiorum mycelium. The invention also provides an antibody linked to an anti-fungal polypeptide. The invention extends to nucleic acid sequences encoding the antibodies, and expression vectors comprising the nucleic acid sequences. The invention is also directed to transgenic plants, seeds, tissues or cells transformed with the expression vectors. Methods for producing a transgenic plant that is resistant to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, and for detecting Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in a biological sample utilizing an antibody which binds to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum antigen, and immunoassay kit for same are also provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2010
    Publication date: September 8, 2011
    Applicant: THE GOVERNORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
    Inventors: Nataraj KAV, William YAJIMA, Bo YANG
  • Publication number: 20110212384
    Abstract: Anode catalysts for conversion of hydrocarbon feeds in solid oxide fuel cell membrane reactors. An anode catalyst may be a mixture of a metal with a metal oxide, for example a mixture of copper or copper-nickel alloy or copper-cobalt alloy with Cr2O3. Mixed oxides can be prepared by dissolving into water soluble salts of the different metals, chelating the metal ions with a chelating agent, neutralizing the solution, removing water by evaporation to form a gel which then is dried, and finally heating the dried gel to form a mixed oxide of the different metals. The chelating agent can be citrate ions, and ammonia can be added to the solution until the pH of the solution is about 8. The mixed oxide so formed then is reduced, for example by hydrogen, to form a composite comprising the metal (Cu, Cu—Co, Cu—Ni) and metal oxide, here Cr2O3.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 9, 2011
    Publication date: September 1, 2011
    Applicant: THE GOVERNORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
    Inventors: Jing-li Luo, Xian-zhu Fu, Nemanja Danilovic, Karl T. Chuang, Alan R. Sanger, Andrzej Krzywicki
  • Publication number: 20110206905
    Abstract: A method for forming a block copolymer pattern on a substrate, wherein the areal density of nanostructures in the pattern is increased by increasing the thickness of the block copolymer film that is applied to the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 7, 2011
    Publication date: August 25, 2011
    Applicants: The Governors of the University of Alberta, National Research Council of Canada
    Inventors: Jillian Buriak, Jinan Chai, Kenneth Harris, Nathanael Wu, Xiaojiang Zhang
  • Patent number: 8003318
    Abstract: The physiological regulation of intake, growth and energy partitioning in animals is under the control of multiple genes, which may be important candidates for unraveling the genetic variation in economically relevant traits in beef production. The present invention relates to the identification of a single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the bovine genes encoding growth hormone receptor (GHR), ghrelin, leptin, neuropeptide Y (NPY), and Uncoupling Protein 2 (UCP2) and their association with economically relevant traits in beef production. The invention further encompasses methods and systems, including network-based processes, to manage the SNP data and other data relating to specific animals and herds of animals, veterinarian care, diagnostic and quality control data and management of livestock which, based on genotyping, have predictable meat quality traits, husbandry conditions, animal welfare, food safety information, audit of existing processes and data from field locations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2011
    Assignee: The Governors of the University of Alberta
    Inventors: Stephen Moore, Donald Joshua Nkrumah, Esther Laura Sherman
  • Publication number: 20110195342
    Abstract: An integral ceramic membrane for a fuel cell is provided, with a non-porous layer and porous layers both formed of proton conducting material. The proton-conducting material may be a compound or mixture of compounds of the formula X1-X2-O3-? where X1=Ba, Sr or mixtures thereof and X2=Ce, Zr, Y, Nd, Yb, Sm, La, Hf, Pr or mixtures thereof. The combined atomic ratio of Y, Nd, Yb, Sm and La to Ba and Sr may in an embodiment be between 0.1 and 0.3 inclusive.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 12, 2010
    Publication date: August 11, 2011
    Applicant: THE GOVERNORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
    Inventors: Jing-li Luo, Xian-zhu Fu, Nemanja Danilovic, Karl T. Chuang, Alan R. Sanger
  • Patent number: 7985398
    Abstract: The present teachings are directed towards a thermolysis method of producing iron-containing nanoparticles by providing an iron-containing component, a colloid stabilizing component, and an amount of water. The iron-containing component, the colloid stabilizing component, and the amount of water form a mixture, which is then heated to a temperature sufficient to form iron-containing nanoparticles, which are then isolated from the mixture. Another method is also provided which involves a repetitive shell growth method of producing iron-containing nanoparticles by providing a first amount of an iron-containing component and a colloid stabilizing component; the iron-containing component and the colloid stabilizing component are then mixed and heated to a temperature sufficient to form iron-containing nanoparticles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2011
    Assignees: Honda Motor Co., Ltd., The Governors of the University of Alberta
    Inventors: Christopher J. Brooks, Jonathan Veinot, Janet MacDonald, Victoria Russell
  • Publication number: 20110174498
    Abstract: Steam-Over-Solvent Injection in Fractured Reservoirs (SOS-FR) is carried out by treating a fractured hydrocarbon bearing formation penetrated by a well with a first phase of injecting a formation compatible aqueous fluid into the fractured hydrocarbon bearing formation through the well, a second phase of injecting a hydrocarbon solvent into the fractured hydrocarbon bearing formation through the well and at least a third phase of repeating the first phase after the second phase.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 5, 2009
    Publication date: July 21, 2011
    Applicant: THE GOVERNORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
    Inventors: Tayfun Babadagli, Al-Muatasim Al-Bahlani
  • Patent number: 7977006
    Abstract: The present invention provides a fuel cell in which electricity is generated and a paraffin is converted to an olefin. Between the anode and cathode compartment of the fuel cell is a ceramic membrane of the formula BaCe0.85-eAeLfY0.05-0.25O(3-?) wherein A is selected from the group consisting of Hf and Zr and mixtures thereof, e is from 0.1 to 0.5, L is a lanthanide and f is from 0 to 0.25 and ? is the oxygen deficiency in the ceramic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2011
    Assignee: The Governors of the University of Alberta
    Inventors: Jingli Luo, Karl Chuang, Alan Rodney Sanger
  • Publication number: 20110144685
    Abstract: A device for ventilating the upper airway of a trauma victim, and in particular to a device for performing a cricothyrotomy, including a inner and an outer catheter along with internal restraint that can expand inside the air way of a patient to anchor the device in place. An external restraint firmly positions the device in place.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2009
    Publication date: June 16, 2011
    Applicant: GOVERNORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
    Inventors: Roger Toogood, Jason P.R. Carey, Barry Finegan
  • Publication number: 20110128994
    Abstract: A novel ultra-wide bandwidth receiver structure dubbed the “zonal” receiver is proposed to detect time-hopping ultra-wide bandwidth signals in multiple access interference channels. The zonal receiver outperforms the conventional matched filter ultra-wide bandwidth receiver and the recently proposed soft-limiting ultra-wide bandwidth receiver when only MAI is present, or AWGN is negligible compared to MAI. In more practical mixed MAI-plus-AWGN environments, the zonal ultra-wide bandwidth receiver achieves better performance than the conventional matched filter ultra-wide bandwidth receiver, the recently proposed soft-limiting ultra-wide bandwidth receiver, and the recently proposed adaptive threshold soft-limiting ultra-wide bandwidth receiver. In multipath fading UWB channels, a new Rake receiver based on the zonal UWB receiver design has been proposed, this new Rake receiver can achieve better BER performance than the conventional matched filter based Rake receiver.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 7, 2008
    Publication date: June 2, 2011
    Applicant: THE GOVERNORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
    Inventors: Norman C. Beaulieu, Hua Shao
  • Publication number: 20110112604
    Abstract: A method is provided for mitigating or preventing formation of pressure ulcers by transmitting an electrical stimulus sufficient to effect contraction of a loaded muscle, wherein the method comprises the steps of providing an electrical transmission for effecting contraction of the loaded muscle, transmitting sufficient electrical stimulation to the muscle to contract it for a predetermined period of time (the ON period), and ceasing transmission of the stimulus to the muscle for a predetermined period of muscle relaxation (the OFF period), whereby the predetermined period of relaxation is sufficient to cause sustained reoxygenation of the activated muscle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 7, 2010
    Publication date: May 12, 2011
    Applicant: The Governors of the University of Alberta
    Inventors: Vivian K. Mushahwar, Leandro Rafael Solis-Aguilar
  • Patent number: 7935801
    Abstract: An isolated nucleic acid sequence encoding a non-oligomerizing Clavularia teal fluorescent protein (TFP) variant having a tyrosine-derived chromophore, and fragments and derivatives thereof. Also provided is a method for engineering the nucleic acid sequence, a vector comprising the nucleic acid sequence, a host cell comprising the vector, and use of the vector in a method for expressing the nucleic acid sequence. The present invention further provides an isolated nucleic acid, or mimetic or complement thereof, that hybridizes under stringent conditions to the nucleic acid sequence. Additionally, the present invention provides a non-oligomerizing TFP variant encoded by the nucleic acid sequence, as well as derivatives, fragments, and homologues thereof. Also provided is an antibody that specifically binds to the TFP variant. The present invention further provides a tandem dimer comprising two TFP dimers, operatively linked by a peptide linker.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2011
    Assignee: The Governors of the University of Alberta
    Inventors: Robert Earl Campbell, Hu-Wang Al
  • Publication number: 20110071634
    Abstract: A device and method for spreading apart adjacent vertebrae bodies for the safe insertion of an IBD into an IVD space said device designed for minimally invasive procedures and posterior or anterior approaches.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 19, 2010
    Publication date: March 24, 2011
    Applicant: The Governors of the University of Alberta
    Inventor: Hongxing Jiang
  • Patent number: 7910702
    Abstract: The invention is directed to recombinant antibodies which bind to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum antigens and comprise a single chain variable fragment (scFv). The antigen may be selected from SSPG1d or a portion thereof, aspartyl protease or a portion thereof, or whole Sclerotinia sclerotiorum mycelium. The invention also provides an antibody linked to an anti-fungal polypeptide. The invention extends to nucleic acid sequences encoding the antibodies, and expression vectors comprising the nucleic acid sequences. The invention is also directed to transgenic plants, seeds, tissues or cells transformed with the expression vectors. Methods for producing a transgenic plant that is resistant to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, and for detecting Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in a biological sample utilizing an antibody which binds to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum antigen, and immunoassay kit for same are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2011
    Assignee: The Governors of the University of Alberta
    Inventors: Nataraj Kav, William Yajima, Bo Yang
  • Patent number: 7906672
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a method of preparing silicon carbon nanocrystals (SiC-NCs) in a size-dependent manner by reacting a compound of the Formula I: R1Si(X1)3, with a compound of the Formula II Si(X2)4(II) under conditions for the hydrolysis and condensation of the compound of the Formula I and the compound of the Formula II to form a siloxane polymer comprising repeating units of the Formula III: —[(R1SiO1.5)x(SiO2)y]—, followed by thermal processing of the siloxane polymer under conditions to form SiC-NC's. Optionally the SiC-NC's are liberated to provide free standing SiC-NC's.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2011
    Assignee: The Governors of the University of Alberta
    Inventors: Jonathan Gordon Conn Veinot, Eric James Henderson