Patents by Inventor Allan S. Jacobson

Allan S. Jacobson has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Heterologous polypeptide production in the absence of nonsense-mediated MRNA decay functions
    Patent number: 6071700
    Abstract: The invention relates to the discovery of a gene, NMD2, named after its role in the Nonsense-Mediated mRNA Decay pathway, and the protein, Nmd2p, encoded by the NMD2 gene. The amino acid sequence of Nmd2p and the nucleotide sequence of the NMD2 gene encoding it are disclosed. Nmd2p is shown herein to bind to another protein in the decay pathway, Upf1p. A C-terminal fragment of the protein is also shown to bind Upf1p and, when overexpressed in the host cell, the fragment inhibits the function of Upf1p, thereby inhibiting the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay pathway. The invention also relates to methods of inhibiting the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay pathway to stabilize mRNA transcripts containing a nonsense codon which normally would cause an increase in the transcript decay rate. Such stabilization of a transcript is useful for the production of a recombinant protein or fragment thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2000
    Assignee: University of Massachusetts
    Inventors: Feng He, Allan S. Jacobson
  • Yeast NMD2 gene
    Patent number: 5679566
    Abstract: The invention relates to the discovery of a gene, NMD2, named after its role in the Nonsense-Mediated mRNA Decay pathway, and the protein, Nmd2p, encoded by the NMD2 gene. The amino acid sequence of Nmd2p and the nucleotide sequence of the NMD2 gene encoding it are disclosed. Nmd2p is shown herein to bind to another protein in the decay pathway, Upf1p. A C-terminal fragment of the protein is also shown to bind Upf1p and, when overexpressed in the host cell, the fragment inhibits the function of Upf1p, thereby inhibiting the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay pathway. The invention also relates to methods of inhibiting the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay pathway to stabilize mRNA transcripts containing a nonsense codon which normally would cause an increase in the transcript decay rate. Such stabilization of a transcript is useful for the production of a recombinant protein or fragment thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 1995
    Date of Patent: October 21, 1997
    Assignee: University of Massachusetts Medical Center
    Inventors: Feng He, Allan S. Jacobson