Current success in organ transplantation is dependent upon the use of calcineurin-inhibitor-based immunosuppressive regimens. Unfortunately, current immunotherapy targets molecules with ubiquitous expression resulting in devastating non-immune side effects. T-cell costimulation has been identified as a new potential immunosuppressive target. The best characterized pathway includes CD28, its homologue CTLA4 and their ligands CD80 and CD86. While an immunoglobulin fusion protein construct of CTLA4 suppressed rejection in rodents, it lacked efficacy in primate transplant models. In an attempt to increase the biologic potency of the parent molecule a novel, modified version of CTLA4-Ig, LEA29Y (belatacept), was constructed. Two amino acid substitutions (L104E and A29Y) gave rise to slower dissociation rates for both CD86 and CD80. The increased avidity resulted in a 10-fold increase in potency in vitro and significant prolongation of renal allograft survival in a pre-clinical primate model. The use of immunoselective biologics may provide effective maintenance immunosuppression while avoiding the collateral toxicities associated with conventional immunsuppressants.

Many useful algorithms for processing images and geometry fall under the general framework of high-dimensional Gaussian filtering. This family of algorithms includes bilateral filtering and non-local means. We propose a new way to perform such filters using the permutohedral lattice, which tessellates high-dimensional space with uniform simplices. Our algorithm is the first implementation of a high-dimensional Gaussian filter that is both linear in input size and polynomial in dimensionality. Furthermore it is parameter-free, apart from the filter size, and achieves a consistently high accuracy relative to ground truth (> 45 dB). We use this to demonstrate a number of interactive-rate applications of filters in as high as eight dimensions.

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The advent of inexpensive digital image sensors and the ability to create photographs that combine information from a number of sensed images are changing the way we think about photography. In this paper, we describe a unique array of 100 custom video cameras that we have built, and we summarize our experiences using this array in a range of imaging applications. Our goal was to explore the capabilities of a system that would be inexpensive to produce in the future. With this in mind, we used simple cameras, lenses, and mountings, and we assumed that processing large numbers of images would eventually be easy and cheap. The applications we have explored include approximating a conventional single center of projection video camera with high performance along one or more axes, such as resolution, dynamic range, frame rate, and/or large aperture, and using multiple cameras to approximate a video camera with a large synthetic aperture. This permits us to capture a video light field, to which we can apply spatiotemporal view interpolation algorithms in order to digitally simulate time dilation and camera motion. It also permits us to create video sequences using custom non-uniform synthetic apertures. *