Abstract: The present disclosure provides a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) molecule comprising a modified hinge and transmembrane domain (HTM-1), wherein the modified hinge and transmembrane domain comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2. Cells expressing CAR with the modified HTM-1 domain disclosed herein are expected to have enhanced anti-tumor activities with reduced release of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Abstract: An improved peptide library preparation method is described for constructing complete virtual peptide libraries such as a complete virtual tripeptide library, tetrapeptide library, pentapeptide library, hexapeptide library, heptapeptide library, or a complete octapeptide library, etc. The method includes constructing an expression vector for the expression of cyclic peptides. Each cyclic peptide displays an array of peptides of different sizes and sequences, and the number of cyclic peptides needed for constructing a complete virtual peptide library can be dramatically reduced compared with conventional chemical peptide synthesis. Furthermore, the cyclic peptide libraries can be readily reproduced by the expression and purification of the cyclic peptides using the constructed gene libraries.

Abstract: The present disclosure provides a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) molecule comprising a modified hinge domain, wherein the hinge domain comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1. Cells expressing a CAR comprising the modified hinge domain disclosed herein are shown to have enhanced anti-tumor activities with reduced release of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Abstract: This technology enables a dynamic host configuration protocol (“DHCP”) Layer 2 relay in a Virtual Extensible Local Area Network (“VXLAN”) overlay fabric. A host device broadcasts a configuration request, such as a DHCP discover, across an Ethernet virtual private network (“EVPN”) overlay fabric. The DHCP discover is intercepted by a VXLAN Tunnel End Point (“VTEP”) device with Layer 2 bridging functionality. The VTEP device selects a centralized gateway (“CGW”) device with Layer 3 relay functionality as a destination for the DHCP discover. The VTEP device encapsulates the DHCP discover with a unicast VXLAN header comprising the media access control (“MAC”) address of the CGW device and transmits the encapsulated DHCP discover to the CGW device, resolving the destination address associated with the broadcast. The CGW device transmits the DHCP discover to an Internet Protocol (“IP”) address associated with a DHCP server that is external to the EVPN overlay fabric.

Abstract: This technology enables a dynamic host configuration protocol (“DHCP”) Layer 2 relay in a Virtual Extensible Local Area Network (“VXLAN”) overlay fabric. A host device broadcasts a configuration request, such as a DHCP discover, across an Ethernet virtual private network (“EVPN”) overlay fabric. The DHCP discover is intercepted by a VXLAN Tunnel End Point (“VTEP”) device with Layer 2 bridging functionality. The VTEP device selects a centralized gateway (“CGW”) device with Layer 3 relay functionality as a destination for the DHCP discover. The VTEP device encapsulates the DHCP discover with a unicast VXLAN header comprising the media access control (“MAC”) address of the CGW device and transmits the encapsulated DHCP discover to the CGW device, resolving the destination address associated with the broadcast. The CGW device transmits the DHCP discover to an Internet Protocol (“IP”) address associated with a DHCP server that is external to the EVPN overlay fabric.

Abstract: An improved peptide library preparation method is described for constructing complete virtual peptide libraries such as a complete virtual tripeptide library, tetrapeptide library, pentapeptide library, hexapeptide library, heptapeptide library, or a complete octapeptide library, etc. The method includes constructing an expression vector for the expression of cyclic peptides. Each cyclic peptide displays an array of peptides of different sizes and sequences, and the number of cyclic peptides needed for constructing a complete virtual peptide library can be dramatically reduced compared with conventional chemical peptide synthesis. Furthermore, the cyclic peptide libraries can be readily reproduced by the expression and purification of the cyclic peptides using the constructed gene libraries.

Abstract: An improved peptide library preparation method is described for constructing complete peptide libraries such as a complete tripeptide library, tetrapeptide library, pentapeptide library, hexapeptide library, heptapeptide library, or a complete octapeptide library, etc. The method includes constructing an expression vector for the expression of tagged peptides. Each tagged peptide contains an array of peptides of different sizes, and the number of peptides in a complete peptide library can be dramatically reduced relative to conventional chemical peptide synthesis. Furthermore, the libraries can be readily reproduced. The improved peptide library preparation method can particularly be used, for example, to construct a complete pentapeptide library. Other related methods and related expression vectors are also described.

Abstract: An improved method is described for the synthesis of aspartame using a condensation reaction between the alpha-carboxyl group of the L-aspartic acid and the amino group of the methyl L-phenylalaninate catalyzed by an enzyme. The method allowed efficient and cost effective production of aspartame. A method of identifying an enzyme useful for preparing aspartame is also described.