Chlamydias are major disease-causing agents of infection affecting over 61 million individuals worldwide. Genital tract infection with Chlamydia trachomatis, the most common sexually transmitted bacterial disease, is an escalating global public health concern causing considerable morbidity and socioeconomic burden worldwide. Although antibiotics are used to treat symptomatic urogenital infections, chlamydial infection remains asymptomatic in approximately 50% of infected men and 70% of infected women contributing to horizontal transmission between sexual partners. There is no commercially available vaccine for the prevention of Chlamydia infections in human.
Researchers have evaluated novel Chlamydial proteins as immunogens in animal models for their ability to induce a protective immune response. Results indicate that these proteins are suitable candidates for a vaccine formulation.

Applications:

Generate a point-of-care thrombin generation curve in the absence of anticoagulants in whole blood. Thrombin generation curves are known to be altered in different disease states.

This novel method can be used as a point-of-care test for the presence of novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs), namely rivaroxaban, apixaban, and dabigatran in blood.

Detect disorders of coagulation at point-of-care

Screen for inhibitors of coagulation in whole blood

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a complex multi-organ disease that is among the most common life-shortening genetic disorders affecting the western world. Mutations to the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene results in abnormal secretory glands that impact respiratory, digestive, and reproductive systems of CF patients. Newborn screening for early detection of CF currently relies on population-based genetic testing, but lacks specificity resulting in false-positives and widespread carrier identification, which contributes to unnecessary follow-up testing. Thus, new biomarkers are urgently needed to improve the performance of CF screening that may also serve to predict disease progression and treatment responses to therapy on an individual level.

The discovery is related to the identification of a panel of CF-specific biomarkers from blood spot extracts and sweat samples. Using tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) capabilities, nontargeted metabolite screening of CF patients revealed new metabolites and their aberrant metabolic pathways from asymptomatic infants. Retrospective analysis suggests that this technology is selective and sensitive to identify and stratify CF patients early in life based on their characteristic metabolite profile that is complementary to genotyping and sweat chloride testing. Additionally, a new therapeutic target for CF therapy may avoid recurrent lung infections has been discovered that is orthogonal to orphan drug development largely based on CFTR modulation therapy.

The Comprehensive Antibiotic Resistance Database (CARD) is an ontology- and model-based framework for detection of antibiotic resistance genes. It contains an expert-curated collection of characterized, peer-reviewed resistance determinants and associated antibiotics, organized by the Antibiotic Resistance Ontology (ARO) and AMR gene detection models. The software utilizes these detection models for predicting AMR from genome sequences.

Other associated tools include the Resistance Gene Identifier (RGI) which is a novel genome analysis tool for resistome prediction. It annotates DNA and protein sequences and detects matches to CARD reference sequences, variants of known AMR genes and emergent threats.

Resistomes is a computer-generated data set including genome annotation and variants data using RGI for 85 pathogens of interest. For each of these pathogens, complete chromosome sequences, plasmid sequences, and whole genome shotgun assemblies were analyzed individually by RGI to generate prevalence data. Results are further categorized using the ARO.
Benefits

Expert-curated database that is updated monthly As of November 29, 2019:

4358 Ontology Terms, 2909 Reference Sequences, 1318 SNPs, 2663 Publications, 2943 AMR Detection Models

Resistome predictions: 85 pathogens, 8046 chromosomes, 18337 plasmids, 90531 WGS assemblies, 182532 alleles

Software for prediction of resistance genes from isolates or metagenomic samples from clinical, environmental, or agricultural samples

Effective and well-tolerated novel therapies are needed for the treatment of breast cancer and other cancers. Unfortunately, the length of time required to develop a new drug is increasing, averaging approximately 14 years and costing US$1.8 billion. This long development period and high cost of new oncology drugs is largely due to unexpected problems once they reach testing in human clinical trials. Although drugs may appear to be effective in cell cultures and/or animal models, they often cause unacceptable toxic side effects in humans.

Dronedarone is an FDA-approved oral drug that is used to treat patients with cardiac arrhythmias but has shown to anti-cancer activity in breast cancer cell cultures, sphere forming assays and in mice. Given its established safety profile and pre-clinical efficacy data, Dronedarone offers a tantalizing opportunity for drug re-purposing as a potential anti-cancer agent, primarily through its effects on the induction of apoptosis and MYC inhibition. Dronedarone and related compounds (which are structurally similar and likely to have comparable safety profiles) hold promise as novel anti-cancer agents for the treatment of patients with breast and other cancers.

Pharmacological chaperones (PCs) are a promising strategy for the treatment of genetic disorders based on enzyme enhancement therapy, such as phenylketonuria (PKU). PKU is a common in-born error of amino acid metabolism that is related to more than 500 disease-causing mutations of phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) or by a defect in the synthesis or regeneration of tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4). To date, lifelong dietary Phe-restriction and BH4 supplementation are the only accepted treatment options for PKU patients. However, special lowprotein diets can lead to malnutrition, psychosocial or neurocognitive complications due to poor compliance, while BH4 therapy is costly and only 20-30% of PKU patients are responsive. Using a novel screening strategy to identify small molecules from a chemical library with chaperone activity, plant-derived natural products (and synthetic analogs) have been identified to enhance the activity of denatured/inactive wild-type PAH and two clinically relevant PKU mutant enzymes. These plant-derived natural products are present in variable amounts in the human diet and thus offer a safe yet effective therapeutic treatment of PKU via nutritional supplementation, notably for patients with severe phenotypes.

Though cardiovascular disease resulting in heart attacks is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, most patients with chest pain symptoms presenting to the emergency department (ED) do not have a heart attack. However, there is no easy way to accurately identify which patients are at low or high risk of an acute cardiovascular event or death. The current hospital-based lab test to identify myocardial injury in patients uses a biomarker (i.e. cardiac troponin) that is not exclusively elevated with cardiac infarction, leading to misdiagnoses that can miss patients who need treatment and possibly admit patients for invasive tests and treatment who could be sent home. A method has been developed to accurately determine the risk of an acute cardiovascular event or death that incorporates important biochemical parameters for easy interpretation. At least two different laboratory scores have been derived for both clinical and community settings, providing the safest approach to date to rule out heart attacks or death as soon as a patient comes to the ED. This also identifies those low risk patients that can be released after initial bloodwork, which is not possible using other diagnostic pathways.

Sepsis (or “blood poisoning”) is a leading cause of death in intensive care units (ICUs), with mortality rates as high as 35%. Previous clinical trials in sepsis utilized a “one size fits all” approach which has not translated into improved outcomes. Better strategies for patient care and clinical trial enrichment, including prognostic enrichment (enrolling patients at highest risk of death) and predictive enrichment (enrolling patients who are more likely to respond to treatment based on pathological differences), are needed. A personalized tool has been developed for assessing the mortality risk of septic patients with utility for both clinical trials and patient care. It is a highly reliable predictive algorithm of sepsis-related mortality based on monitoring a specific combination of biological and clinical indicators over time. A mortality risk profile can be generated for each individual patient, highlighting the relative contribution of each indicator to the risk of death. This can help identify underlying pathophysiology of each patient to inform treatment decisions and monitor their response to treatment.

Solving the antibiotic resistance crisis requires the discovery of new antimicrobial drugs and the preservation of existing ones. With no new antibiotics on the horizon, blocking resistance with antibiotic adjuvants have emerged as a viable strategy. Antibiotics are co-formulated with an inhibitor of resistance, blocking the resistance element and freeing the antibiotic to target the bacterium. A major difficulty in identifying new antibiotics is the frequent rediscovery of known compounds, necessitating laborious "dereplication" to identify novel chemical entities. The antibiotic resistance platform (ARP) can be used for both the identification of antibiotic adjuvants and for antibiotic dereplication. The ARP is a cell-based library of Escherichia coli expressing mechanistically distinct individual resistance elements in an identical genetic background. The strength of the ARP lies within the mechanistic diversity and rigorously curated substrate specificity of the resistance strains. Using either a low copy plasmid or integration of the gene into the bacterial chromosome, the researchers are able to control resistance gene copy number. Expression is further regulated through the use of two promoter systems differing in strength. This platform is optimized for antibiotic dereplication and the identification of potentiators of existing antibiotics.

Anti-factor Xa direct oral anticoagulants (aFXa-DOACs), such as rivaroxaban and apixaban, represent a new class of drug being used more frequently in the treatment and prevention of arterial and venous thrombosis. As such, it is becoming more important to be able to measure the levels of these agents in the blood of patients. However, there is currently no simple way to accurately quantify circulating levels of aFXa-DOACs, particularly at very low concentrations. This technology provides an assay to quickly and conveniently determine levels of aFXa-DOACs directly in whole blood or plasma.

Minimizing the risk of cardio-toxicity is an essential consideration in tailoring medical treatments involving anticancer therapy. Current methods of cardio-toxicity management and detection are based on physical examination, assessment using echocardiography, and endomyocardial biopsy. Unfortunately, these methods either have low diagnostic sensitivity, low predictive power in detecting subclinical myocardial injury, or are impractical due to invasiveness. These methods only identify cardiac damage after the onset of cardiac dysfunction. Thus, a novel algorithm to detect risk of cardio-toxicity is advantageous, using a combination of easily detectible cardiac biomarkers in the blood.

Protein and antibody therapeutics are becoming an increasingly prevalent class of drugs due to their selectivity and potency compared to small molecule drugs. However, administration and delivery are challenging due to their pharmacokinetic properties such as uptake at disease sites, half-life, tissue distribution, elimination. Currently, repeated and frequent intravenous doses or infusions are required to achieve therapeutic benefit. For example, bispecifics are continually infused for several weeks. Therefore, there is a need for improved methods of delivery for these protein and antibody therapeutics. Hydrogels are an ideal vehicle for drug delivery since they are injectable, biocompatible and hold large drug payloads with enhanced protein stability. Currently, their use clinically has been limited because they only marginally decrease injection frequency. A platform technology with hydrogels that can sustain and localize antibody/protein release for several weeks is available. Ongoing work with this platform technology includes pre-clinical mouse studies in a glioblastoma model.

Adenovirus-based gene transfer vectors are being increasingly developed as promising vaccine platforms against both old and newly emerging infections1-3 . However, the real-world application of adenoviral vectors, particularly in developing countries, is challenging due to their instability when stored or transported at even mild temperatures. The cold chain requirements for maintaining stability increase the vaccine’s cost and create logistical challenges for distribution and storage. A promising approach capable of increasing thermal stability is through vitrification with excipient matrices, preferably by spray drying due to scalability and favorable economics. Simple excipient formulations appear poorly suited to stabilizing the viral vector and more complex formulations yielding a well-stabilized spray dried form had yet to be developed until the present invention. A robust method for preparing a thermally stable adenovirus formulation has been developed through the immobilization of adenoviral vectors in a multi-component non-cytotoxic carbohydrate matrix by spray drying. This work extends the possible applications of adenovirus-based vectors as thermally stable vaccines.

Staphylococcus aureus is the leading cause of both hospital and community-associated infections worldwide and a major cause of morbidity and mortality due to the emergence of methicillinresistant S. aureus (MRSA). The pipeline for innovative antibiotics is insufficient to overcome this healthcare threat and, thus new strategies are urgently needed. Using a cell-based screen of ~45,000 diverse synthetic compounds, researchers discovered a potent bioactive (MAC-545496) that reverses β-lactam resistance in the community-acquired MRSA USA300 strain. This compound attenuates the MRSA virulence in vivo with potency at the low nanomolar range, inhibits biofilm formation, and abrogates intracellular survival in macrophages. Mechanistic characterization through chemical-genomics and biochemical approaches revealed the cellular target to be GraR (glycopeptide resistance associated protein R), an important virulence factor and antibiotic resistance determinant. This newly discovered small molecule bioactive is the first inhibitor against GraR; it can serve as: (i) an antibiotic adjuvant reversing methicillin resistance; and (ii) an anti-virulence agent effective as a monotherapy in vivo against MRSA. Together, this work provides a novel antibacterial lead series of new mechanism to combat drug-resistant Staphylococcal infections.

Bacteriophages (also known as phages) are viruses that specifically fight bacteria in nature, without affecting non-bacteria cells. Bacteriophages have been used for over 100 years in clinics around the world to treat bacterial infections. With the rise of superbugs, phages have garnered more attention as a targeted approach to fight antimicrobial resistant bacteria. Phages have been developed as structural material for developing coatings and gels, but the focus has so far never been on their antimicrobial property, but rather their identity as protein nanoparticles. Therefore, no effort was made to preserve phage antimicrobial activity when it was used as structural material. Researchers have created hierarchically structured hydrogels composed entirely of self-organized phage. These phage hydrogels retain the innate antimicrobial activity of free phage and in addition, they can return to its original state after being cut or sheared with minimal scarring (self-healing). These bioactive hydrogels also biodegrade and emit fluorescence, allowing non-destructive imaging. These simple and versatile hydrogel compositions can be utilized within a plethora of medical and environmental applications.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), is an idiopathic chronic gastrointestinal (GI) condition that affects pediatric populations with about 20- 30% of IBD patients experiencing their first symptoms before the age of 18. Current procedures dedicated to diagnosing the disease rely on invasive and expensive endoscopic imaging and tissue biopsies that can lead to indeterminate results. New insights into the distinctive pathophysiology of IBD are critical for early detection and optimal treatment strategies for individual patients. Researchers have developed a method to differentiate between UC and CD through a urinary sample. Researchers have determined distinct urine-based biomarkers and metabolic phenotypes of IBD patients thereby permitting differentiation between CD and UD. This allows for earlier diagnosis and the facilitation of treatment monitoring while also potentially avoiding the need for invasive colonoscopic imaging and tissue biopsies.

Peripheral artery disease (PAD), a form of atherosclerosis manifested in the lower extremities, is associated with higher risk of cardiovascular events such as myocardial infarction, stroke, and vascular death. If left untreated, patients progress to more advanced stages of PAD known as chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI), which is characterized by rest pain, non-healing ischemic ulcers, and gangrene requiring limb amputation. Currently, specialized equipment based on ankle brake index (ABI, not available in most clinical centres) and clinical symptoms (e.g, self-reported pain short distance to walk) are used together to derive a Rutherford score which is used to stage PAD – however, this approach is more subjective, variable and not convenient for routine screening and early detection of PAD. PAD disease progression is highly variable and some CLTI amputee patients present with no PAD symptoms 6 months before onset. With a low survivorship amongst CLTI patients, there is an urgent need to understand the mechanisms of PAD progression for early detection of CLTI that also guides evidence-based treatment decisions. Researchers have developed a screening strategy that utilizes serum biomarkers that differentiate late-stage CLTI from early onset intermittent claudication (IC). This discovery may enable better risk assessment and diagnostic testing for PAD that may progress to more serious CLTI that is often diagnosed late requiring surgical intervention and amputation with poor clinical prognosis.

Block copolymers based on poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and poly(lactic acid) (PLA) or poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) have been widely used in a range of biomedical applications, including tissue engineering, drug delivery, bioresorbable sutures and implantable devices. This widespread use is mainly due to the hydrophobicity and degradability of PL(G)A (enabling its self-assembly in water and potential to load and deliver a hydrophobic drug) coupled with the hydrophilicity and excellent protein repellency of PEG. However, the chemical nature of the polymer inherently limits its potential for functionalization to adapt to a broad variety of potential applications. Researchers have developed brush amphiphilic block copolymers (hydrophobic + hydrophilic properties) based on polymers that have PL(G)A and PEG blocks not in their backbone (like conventional PL(G)A-PEG materials) but rather on their side chains. This results in a polymer that has the same beneficial self-assembly and protein repellency properties of PL(G)A-PEG but with the capacity to easily (and inexpensively) tune the chemistry of one or both of the hydrophilic and hydrophobic phases. This added variability in the physical properties of these materials can be leveraged for optimizing a variety of biomedical technologies.

Immobilization of biomolecules (i.e. proteins, enzymes) has significant implications in energy production, pharmaceutical synthesis, and drug screening. More recently, interfacial thin-film hydrogels enabling the stable encapsulation of enzymes have attracted interest in the biosensing field due to their potential to be incorporated into high throughput screening (HTS) screens in which high numbers of small volume samples can be tested. Traditional HTS methods present various challenges including false-positive hits and non-specific and/or promiscuous behaviour of compounds, typically due to aggregates that physically block (rather than biochemically bind to) an enzyme active site. As a result, time and money are lost chasing false lead compounds. To-date, there has been limited success in the discovery of methods to quickly identify these promiscuous compounds and aggregates. To address this, researchers have developed a printable hydrogelbased drug-screening platform that can immobilize a bioactive biomolecule and control access to that biomolecule based on the hydrogel pore size. This approach is highly beneficial in drug discovery and early stage pharmaceutical testing and analysis because it provides the ability to discriminate between true enzyme inhibitors and promiscuous inhibitors for lead enzyme-targeting drugs while significantly reducing (by up to 95%) the amount of sample required for screening. This saves time and money when conducting HTS while resulting in significantly fewer false-positive hits. The hydrogel is also printable using an ink jet printer without requiring external activation.

In small molecule drug discovery pipelines, identification of mechanism of action and therapeutic potential of compounds with known bioactivity is a time-intensive process, often taking years to arrive at a conclusion. Current methods focus on a single therapeutic indication (i.e. antibacterial, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, anticancer) which are typically hypothesis-driven, intuitive, and slow. Therefore, there is a need for improved predictive tools in identifying possible mechanisms of action and therapeutic utilities. Gene expression studies of a wide variety of cell types have revealed that various cell systems have complex unique fingerprint responses to chemical perturbants. Researchers have developed a deep learning model which predicts the mechanism of action of chemical compounds based on such microbial fingerprint responses. This densely connected network uses unique microbial responses to chemical inputs to map unknown (test set) compounds to a well annotated database (training set) of compounds. By utilizing a sensitive microorganism reporter, the biological activity inherent in any drug may be detected, even if it is not an antibiotic.

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is an aggressive endocrine carcinoma with a 5-year survival rate of < 50% [1]. Surgical resection is the only curative treatment, but 50-80% of patients experience relapse often with concurrent metastasis [2]. Despite being an aggressive carcinoma, ACC has variable prognosis with some tumors not recurring or progress slowly to metastasis. Effective assessment of ACC relapse (progression) and fatality risks is thus critical to patient or tumor-specific treatment. However, effective risk stratification remains challenging in ACC, which is even more difficult considering ACC is an orphan disease with annual incidence of 1-2 cases/million [3]. Therefore, a method to effectively diagnose patients with high risk of metastasis and lethal disease is needed. Researchers have developed a novel multigene signature panel that robustly predicts ACC prognosis and progression.

Prostate cancer (PC) is the top ranked male malignancy in the developed world. Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is an aggressive endocrine carcinoma with a 5-year survival rate of < 50%. For both PC and ACC, surgery remains a main curative treatment; however, relapse and metastasis are common. To optimize treatment benefits and reduce fatality, it is essential to know which cancers are at risk for metastasis and lethal disease. Therefore, a method to effectively diagnose patients with high risk of metastasis and lethal disease is needed. Researchers have developed a novel multigene signature panel that robustly predicts PC biochemical recurrence (BCR) as well as ACC prognosis and progression.

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most prevalent and aggressive type of kidney cancer. Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is an aggressive endocrine carcinoma with a 5-year survival rate of < 50%. For both ccRCC and ACC, surgery remains the main treatment; however, relapse and metastasis are common. To optimize treatment benefits and reduce fatality, it is essential to know which cancers are at risk for metastasis and lethal disease. Therefore, a method to effectively diagnose patients with high risk of metastasis and lethal disease is needed. Researchers have developed a novel multigene signature panel that robustly predicts ccRCC metastasis and fatality as well as ACC prognosis and progression.

Resistance to frontline β-lactam antibiotics (penicillins, cephalosporins, carbapenems) is one of the most pressing public health crises of our time. β-Lactamases come in two classes, those that use a Ser at their active site and those that use a Zn2+ metal ion. While inhibitors of Ser βlactamases are known and routinely used in combination with various βlactam antibiotics in the clinic, there are no effective inhibitors of metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) that can be similarly deployed. These MBLs have been relatively rare in the clinic, but in the past decade, the emergence and spread of the NDM alleles of MBLs have gained a significant foothold and are a pressing clinical concern across the globe. The MBL enzymes are increasingly common in Gram negative pathogens, resulting in resistance to virtually all β-lactam drugs, including last resort carbapenems such as meropenem. They are a particular concern as they inactivate all penicillin, cephalosporin and carbapenem antibiotics. Researchers have discovered a potent inhibitor of NDM and other MBLs through a screen of microbial natural products. The compound, aspergillomarasmine A (AMA), inactivates MBLs and with the combination of β-lactam antibiotics it can be used as an effective therapy to treat infections caused by bacteria harboring MBLs. This combination offers a solution to a significant unmet medical need. There is ample precedent for such a drug combination and the market is well accustomed to such agents. The lack of an effective inhibitor of MBLs represents an innovation gap that is filled by AMA.

Eye drops are the most common and easily administered form of ophthalmic drug delivery, however, they produce considerable waste and must be frequently reapplied. Replacing conventional eyedrops with a hydrogel based system can improve bioavailability and provide sustained drug release, however, the mechanical loading from blinking causes rapid deterioration of the applied gel. Application to the inferior fornix (the pocket below the lower eyelid) has been investigated such that the hydrogels do not deteriorate as quickly while blinking or obstruct vision. However, these developed systems are often non-degradable, uncomfortable and difficult to place accurately. Therefore, there is a need for degradable eye drops that offer prolonged drug release and simple application. Researchers have developed a gel formula consisting of a thermo-sensitive synthetic polymer which forms a gel when introduced to ocular heat, and the natural polymer chitosan to improve ophthalmic drug delivery. The gel degrades over a period of days, during which therapeutic can be steadily released into the eye. This thermo-gel can be easily applied to the inferior fornix. By administering the gel to the inferior fornix non-transparent interventions can be administered without causing visual impairment.

Developing engineered tissues and organoids has become a central focus in regenerative medicine and drug discovery. Currently, there is a need to create complex functional tissues that resembles the spatial alignment and organization of native tissues (e.g. aligned and contractile cardiomyocytes in myocardium, organoid zonation in liver, etc.). Since current techniques for tissue implantation are invasive and difficult to implement, there is also a need for the development of minimally invasive delivery methods of delivery of functional tissues. Researchers have developed a biocompatible “z-wire” scaffold as a novel strategy for tissue engineering and organoid assembly. Through a scalable and gel-free process, the z-wire scaffold structurally supports the development of cell aggregation and organoid assembly into a functional tissue construct with precise spatial organization (e.g. patterning of zone-specific liver organoids to create hepatic cord assembloids). The z-wire design also reinforces longitudinal alignment of aggregated cells while allowing compressibility, which is particularly important for muscle fiber tissues that require specific biomechanical properties (e.g. cardiac muscle tissue contractility). These smart scaffolds also incorporate nanoscale magnetic particles which aid in macroscopic tissue alignment postdelivery by means of external magnetic guidance. These properties support the intramuscular implantation of functional tissues using minimally invasive injection.

Studies of past earthquakes, especially in developing countries, have shown that numerous deaths are often attributed to the collapse of poorly constructed housing. If the level of seismic demand, imposed on these buildings, was reduced through a simple but reliable base isolation technique, fewer buildings would fail and fewer lives would be lost. Researchers have developed a prototype isolator to effectively mitigate the effects of earthquakes on low-rise buildings in high seismic regions. This invention bridges the gap between a traditionally fully bonded elastomer bearing and an unbonded elastomeric isolator. Recent research has demonstrated the effectiveness of an unbonded fiber reinforced elastomeric isolator. However, unlike a fully bonded elastomeric isolator an unbonded isolator cannot resist any (uplift) tensile forces. Similar to a stable unbonded fiber reinforced elastomeric isolator, a partially bonded bearing still exhibits a reduction in horizontal stiffness when displaced laterally. In addition, the partial bond between the bearing and the contact surfaces allows the isolator to resist (uplift) tensile forces. Finite element simulations have confirmed the response characteristics of a partially bonded bearing. Results confirm the feasibility of this novel base isolation technique for hazard mitigation of low-rise buildings located in high-seismic regions worldwide.

With a global demand for tires expected to reach 3.2 billion units by 2022, we can expect rubber waste from these facilities to increase as well. Most automotive rubber tires are vulcanized (crosslinked by sulfur) to make them hard-wearing, and there are no highly efficient means of converting the rubber back into useful organic polymers. Instead, these rubbers are used for energy production, processed into crumb for relatively low value applications or pyrolyzed to make recover some of the hydrocarbons; in many jurisdictions, they are collected or sent to land fills. Researchers have developed a mild and efficient method to break the sulfur-sulfur bonds that hold these vulcanized rubbers together to recover the organic polymers originally used to make the tire; they may be reused to create new products. The inorganic components in such rubber products (e.g. carbon black, metal wires, etc.) can also be readily separated and reused for a variety of applications.