Patents by Inventor Neal Stewart

Neal Stewart 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).

  • Patent number: 11549121
    Abstract: This disclosure pertains to a novel platform for genetic engineering of chloroplasts. The disclosure provides episomal DNA vectors containing a chloroplast origin of replication. These vectors remain extra-plastomic and sustainably and autonomously replicate in chloroplasts of the plant cells transformed with the vectors and in the plants regenerated from the transformed plant cells. The episomal DNA vectors do not contain any sequence that shares sequence homology with the plastome DNA and, thus, do not get integrated into the plastome DNA. The vectors can also comprise one or more genes of interest that confer desirable characteristics to the transformed plant cells. The disclosure also provides methods of transforming plant cells with the episomal DNA vectors and regenerating from the transformed plant cells plants having desirable characteristics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE RESEARCH FOUNDATION
    Inventors: Scott C. Lenaghan, Alessandro Occhialini, Alexander C. Pfotenhauer, Agnieszka Piatek, C. Neal Stewart, Jr.
  • Publication number: 20220007607
    Abstract: The present disclosure describes novel methods for preparing leaf-derived plant cell suspension cultures. The cell suspension cultures produced by the methods provide a renewable and efficient source of protoplasts for high-throughput transformation and other uses. Applicants have surprisingly found that protoplasts can be obtained from the cell suspension cultures with inexpensive cell wall degrading enzymes and that the protoplasts provide increased transformation efficiencies relative to protoplasts from other sources.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 5, 2019
    Publication date: January 13, 2022
    Inventors: Mst Shamira SULTANA, Scott Christopher LENAGHAN, C. Neal STEWART, Taylor FRAZIER-DOUGLAS
  • Publication number: 20200109409
    Abstract: This disclosure pertains to a novel platform for genetic engineering of chloroplasts. The disclosure provides episomal DNA vectors containing a chloroplast origin of replication. These vectors remain extra-plastomic and sustainably and autonomously replicate in chloroplasts of the plant cells transformed with the vectors and in the plants regenerated from the transformed plant cells. The episomal DNA vectors do not contain any sequence that shares sequence homology with the plastome DNA and, thus, do not get integrated into the plastome DNA. The vectors can also comprise one or more genes of interest that confer desirable characteristics to the transformed plant cells. The disclosure also provides methods of transforming plant cells with the episomal DNA vectors and regenerating from the transformed plant cells plants having desirable characteristics.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 8, 2019
    Publication date: April 9, 2020
    Inventors: SCOTT C. LENAGHAN, ALESSANDRO OCCHIALINI, ALEXANDER C. PFOTENHAUER, AGNIESZKA PIATEK, C. NEAL STEWART, JR.
  • Patent number: 10457956
    Abstract: The invention relates to genes which may be utilized for resistance to soybean cyst nematode. More specifically the present disclosure relates to identification of gene(s) that can confer upon a soybean plant resistance to soybean cyst nematode (SCN) and methods to use these loci and genes to obtain soybean strains that are resistant to SCN.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2019
    Assignee: UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE RESEARCH FOUNDATION
    Inventors: Tarek Abdelfattah Hewezi, Aditi Rambani, C. Neal Stewart, Jr., Mitra Mazarei, Vincent Pantalone
  • Publication number: 20170369900
    Abstract: The invention relates to genes which may be utilized for resistance to soybean cyst nematode. More specifically the present disclosure relates to identification of gene(s) that can confer upon a soybean plant resistance to soybean cyst nematode (SCN) and methods to use these loci and genes to obtain soybean strains that are resistant to SCN.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 30, 2015
    Publication date: December 28, 2017
    Inventors: Tarek Abdel HEWEZI, Aditi RAMBANI, C. Neal STEWART, JR., Mitra MAZAREI, Vincent PANTALONE
  • Publication number: 20170130236
    Abstract: The subject invention pertains to a method of rapidly transforming a plant with a gene of interest. The method of the current invention comprises the steps of a) preparing a bacterial culture, wherein the bacterial culture comprises a vector containing the gene of interest, b) producing a plant cell suspension culture from the plant, c) contacting the plant cell suspension culture with the bacterial culture to produce a plant cell transformed with the gene of interest from the plant cell suspension culture, and e) producing a plant from the plant cell transformed with the gene of interest. The method of the current invention can be designed for a high throughput transformation and screening of a plant with a plurality of genes of interest and screening the plants to identify and obtain plants having desirable characteristics.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 2, 2015
    Publication date: May 11, 2017
    Inventors: C. NEAL STEWART, Jr., JONATHAN D. WILLIS, JASON BURRIS, MITRA MAZAREI
  • Patent number: 9157087
    Abstract: Disclosed are isolated nucleic acid molecules (inducible promoters) capable of directing expression in plant cell. In some embodiments, the promoters include a nucleic acid sequence set forth as SEQ ID NO: 1 or SEQ ID NO: 2, or a variant thereof. In some embodiments, the promoter is capable of gene expression in plants of an operably linked nucleic acid sequence. Disclosed are transgenic plants or parts thereof, that can include expression cassettes and/or expression vectors, which can be stably incorporated into the genome of the plant. Methods of regulating the expression of a polynucleotide of interest in a plant cell are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2015
    Assignee: University of Tennessee Research Foundation
    Inventors: C. Neal Stewart, Wusheng Liu, Mitra Mazarei
  • Patent number: 8931095
    Abstract: Communications can be processed with multiple countermeasures to identify attacks. Each countermeasure can compute a probability of a communication containing an attack and an accompanying confidence score indicating confidence in the probability. Combining the probabilities can produce a composite probability and associated confidence of the communication containing an attack. The composite probability and confidence scores can be produced from a weighted combination of the individual countermeasure probabilities and confidence scores. Weighting factors can be generated or obtained from a database that stores profiles of confirmed attacks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2015
    Assignee: Dell Products, LP
    Inventors: Jon R. Ramsey, Jyotish S. Varma, Ashley Thomas, Kevin J. Schmidt, Joseph Neal Stewart, Rudy Alexander Ristich, Joan Pepin
  • Publication number: 20140366219
    Abstract: Disclosed are pest resistance genes isolated from soybean. In several embodiments, a pest resistance gene isolated from soybean includes a nucleic acid sequence at least 80% identical to SEQ ID NO: 1 or SEQ ID NO: 2 or a degenerate variant thereof, or a fragment thereof. Also disclosed are expression vectors and constructs that include such nucleic acids. Methods are disclosed of producing a transgenic plant that has enhanced resistance to pests. Transgenic plants, plant cells or tissue (such as a dicotyledon or a monocotyledon plants, plant cells or tissue) transformed with the disclosed constructs are also disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 31, 2012
    Publication date: December 11, 2014
    Inventors: C. Neal Stewart, Jingyu Lin, Mitra Mazarei, Feng Chen
  • Publication number: 20140041028
    Abstract: Communications can be processed with multiple countermeasures to identify attacks. Each countermeasure can compute a probability of a communication containing an attack and an accompanying confidence score indicating confidence in the probability. Combining the probabilities can produce a composite probability and associated confidence of the communication containing an attack. The composite probability and confidence scores can be produced from a weighted combination of the individual countermeasure probabilities and confidence scores. Weighting factors can be generated or obtained from a database that stores profiles of confirmed attacks.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 4, 2013
    Publication date: February 6, 2014
    Applicant: Dell Products, LP
    Inventors: Jon R. Ramsey, Jyotish S. Varma, Ashley Thomas, Kevin J. Schmidt, Joseph Neal Stewart, Rudy Alexander Ritsch, Joan Pepin
  • Publication number: 20140007293
    Abstract: Disclosed are isolated nucleic acid molecules (inducible promoters) capable of directing expression in plant cell. In some embodiments, the promoters include a nucleic acid sequence set forth as SEQ ID NO: 1 or SEQ ID NO: 2, or a variant thereof. In some embodiments, the promoter is capable of gene expression in plants of an operably linked nucleic acid sequence. Disclosed are transgenic plants or parts thereof, that can include expression cassettes and/or expression vectors, which can be stably incorporated into the genome of the plant. Methods of regulating the expression of a polynucleotide of interest in a plant cell are also disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 11, 2013
    Publication date: January 2, 2014
    Applicant: University of Tennessee Research Foundation
    Inventors: C. Neal Stewart, Wusheng Liu, Mitra Mazarei
  • Patent number: 8621618
    Abstract: Communications can be processed with multiple countermeasures to identify attacks. Each countermeasure can compute a probability of a communication containing an attack and an accompanying confidence score indicating confidence in the probability. Combining the probabilities can produce a composite probability and associated confidence of the communication containing an attack. The composite probability and confidence scores can be produced from a weighted combination of the individual countermeasure probabilities and confidence scores. Weighting factors can be generated or obtained from a database that stores profiles of confirmed attacks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2013
    Assignee: Dell Products, LP
    Inventors: Jon R. Ramsey, Jyotish S. Varma, Ashley Thomas, Kevin J. Schmidt, Joseph Neal Stewart, Rudy Alexander Ristich, Joan Pepin
  • Publication number: 20130340116
    Abstract: The subject application provides polynucleotides, compositions thereof and methods for regulating gene expression in a plant. Polynucleotides disclosed herein comprise novel sequences for a promoter that initiates transcription of an operably linked nucleotide sequence. Thus, various embodiments of the invention comprise the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or 2 or fragments thereof that are capable of driving the expression of an operably linked nucleic acid sequence.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 25, 2013
    Publication date: December 19, 2013
    Applicant: UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE RESEARCH FOUNDATION
    Inventors: C. NEAL STEWART, DAVID GEORGE JAMES MANN
  • Patent number: 8604276
    Abstract: The subject application provides polynucleotides, compositions thereof and methods for regulating gene expression in a plant. Polynucleotides disclosed herein comprise novel sequences for a promoter isolated from Panicum virgatum (switchgrass) that initiates transcription of an operably linked nucleotide sequence. Thus, various embodiments of the invention comprise the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 or fragments thereof comprising nucleotides 1 to 692 of SEQ ID NO: 2 that are capable of driving the expression of an operably linked nucleic acid sequence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: University of Tennessee Research Foundation
    Inventors: C. Neal Stewart, David George James Mann
  • Publication number: 20130007911
    Abstract: The present invention relates to methods of blocking or reducing genetically modified plant (GMO) pollen flow using a “non-lethal” approach. In this aspect, at least one transgenic polynucleotide of interest is linked to a pollen-ablation construct as described herein. The pollen-ablation construct contains a polynucleotide encoding a restriction enzyme that renders the transgenic pollen unable to fertilize a sexually compatible ovule.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 2, 2012
    Publication date: January 3, 2013
    Applicant: UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE RESEARCH FOUNDATION
    Inventor: C. NEAL STEWART, JR.
  • Publication number: 20120084884
    Abstract: Methods that provide for stable transformation of fern spores and/or protonemata by Agrobacterium- and/or by particle-mediated transformation are disclosed. Also provided are stably transformed, non-chimeric ferns.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 5, 2011
    Publication date: April 5, 2012
    Applicant: University of Tennessee Research Foundation
    Inventors: Neal Stewart, Muthukumar Balasubramaniam, Blake Joyce
  • Patent number: 7973213
    Abstract: The use of selectable marker genes, such as the kanamycin resistance encoding neomycin phosphotransferase (nptII), has been invaluable in transgenic plant production. The subject invention provides a new selectable marker gene, an Arabidopsis thaliana ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter, Atwbc19 and methods of using the gene for the identification of transgenic plants. Since ABC transporters are endogenous to plants, there should be less controversy using Atwbc19, as a selectable marker in transgenic plants with regards to concerns of horizontal gene transfer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2011
    Assignee: University of Tennessee Research Foundation
    Inventors: C. Neal Stewart, Jr., Mentewab Ayalew
  • Publication number: 20110023183
    Abstract: The subject application provides polynucleotides, compositions thereof and methods for regulating gene expression in a plant. Polynucleotides disclosed herein comprise novel sequences for a promoter that initiates transcription of an operably linked nucleotide sequence. Thus, various embodiments of the invention comprise the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or 2 or fragments thereof that are capable of driving the expression of an operably linked nucleic acid sequence.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 9, 2010
    Publication date: January 27, 2011
    Applicant: UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE RESEARCH FOUNDATION
    Inventors: C. NEAL STEWART, DAVID GEORGE JAMES MANN
  • Publication number: 20080250527
    Abstract: The use of selectable marker genes, such as the kanamycin resistance encoding neomycin phosphotransferase (nptII), has been invaluable in transgenic plant production. The subject invention provides a new selectable marker gene, an Arabidopsis thaliana ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter, Atwbc19 and methods of using the gene for the identification of transgenic plants. Since ABC transporters are endogenous to plants, there should be less controversy using Atwbc19, as a selectable marker in transgenic plants with regards to concerns of horizontal gene transfer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2006
    Publication date: October 9, 2008
    Applicant: University of Tennessee Research Foundation
    Inventors: C. Neal Stewart, Mentewab Ayalew
  • Patent number: 6927322
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a DNA construct containing a DNA for a serine proteinase inhibitor isolated from Brassica oleracea, which has antibiosis activity. The present invention also relates to transgenic plants and transgenic plant seeds containing that nucleic acid molecule. Resistance to herbivorous insects can be conferred to a plant by either transformation of the plant with the nucleic acid molecule which encodes a serine proteinase inhibitor isolated from Brassica oleracea or by application of that inhibitor to plants or plant seeds.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2005
    Assignees: Cornell Research Foundation, Inc., University of North Carolina-Greensboro
    Inventors: C. Neal Stewart, Roxanne M. Broadway