ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,351,609, issued on July 8, was assigned to The Board of Regents of The University of Texas System (Austin, Texas).

"Use of a small native peptide activator of SERCA pump for treatment of heart failure and other disorders characterized by cytosolic calcium overload" was invented by Eric N. Olson (University Park, Texas), Rhonda S. Bassel-Duby (Dallas), Catherine A. Makarewich (Dallas) and Benjamin R. Nelson (Dallas).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The present disclosure describes a new native peptide designated herein as Dwarf Open Reading Frame, or DWORF. This peptide enhances the apparent activity of the SERCA pump, is positively inotropic...