[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 79 (Monday, April 24, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21772-21773]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-10179]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Government-Owned Inventions; Availability for Licensing

AGENCY: National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, DHHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The inventions listed below are owned by agencies of the U.S. 
Government and are available for licensing in the U.S. in accordance 
with 35 U.S.C. 207 to achieve expeditious commercialization of results 
of federally-funded research and development. Foreign patent 
applications are filed on selected inventions to extend market coverage 
for companies and may also be available for licensing.

ADDRESSES: Licensing information and copies of the U.S. patent 
applications listed below may be obtained by contacting Carol A. 
Salata, Ph.D., at the Office of Technology Transfer, National 
Institutes of Health, 6011 Executive Boulevard, Suite 325, Rockville, 
Maryland 20852-3804; telephone: 301/496-7735 ext. 232; fax: 301/402-
0220; e-mail: [email protected]. A signed Confidential Disclosure 
Agreement will be required to receive copies of the patent 
applications.

Molecular Clones With Mutated HIV GAG/POL and SIV Genes

George N Pavlakis (NCI)
Serial No. 60/173,036 filed 23 Dec 1999

    The invention is a DNA construct which can be used as part of an 
HIV DNA vaccine or as a lentiviral vector to deliver heterologous DNA 
to cells. The advantage of lentiviral vectors, over retroviral vectors, 
is that they can transduce quiescent cells, such as terminally 
differentiated neurons. The advantage of the lentiviral vectors of the 
invention over the lentiviral vectors of the prior art are that they 
can be highly expressed in human or mammalian cells in the absence of 
any other regulatory or structural protein of HIV, including REV. The 
advantage of vectors based on SIV is that they are divergent from HIV-
1.
    The construct encodes the gag/pol region of the HIV-1 genome in 
which the instability regions (INS) have been removed by multiple point 
mutations, without changing the protein sequence. The INS are regions 
in the unspliced RNA which decrease the amount of expression from the 
RNA, a decrease which is overcome by the interaction of the HIV protein 
REV with the RRE (Rev Response Element) found on the RNA constructs 
encoding gag, pol and env of HIV-1. Under certain situations the 
construct can result in the formation of infectious viral particles 
which contain only gag and pol from HIV. These viral particles can be 
used as vaccines or for gene therapy.

Time-Gated Imaging With a Split-Beam Source

Ronald W. Waynant (FDA)
Serial No. 60/153,100 filed 09 Sep 1999

    The present invention provides a new apparatus and methods for 
generating a split-beam electromagnetic source for imaging devices and 
methodologies. With this invention, one part of a split beam is used 
for generating an image of an object and another part of the split beam 
is used for timely capturing the generated image. The present invention 
offers many advantages over earlier technologies. For example: (1) 
switching with a short duration pulse allows for a fast time gate; (2) 
utilization of an electromagnetic pulse source to both image and time 
gate allows for easier and more precise synchronization of the time 
gate with the imaging source; and (3) optically switching the time gate 
solves the problem of jitter and inhomogeneous gating.

Identification of the Domain of Plasmodium falciparum Erythrocyte 
Membrane Protein (PfEMP1) that Mediates Adhesion to Chondroitin 
Sulfate A

Arthur Scherf et al. (NIAID)
Serial No. 60/152,023 filed 01 Sep 1999

    Plasmodium falciparum malaria is more severe in pregnant women and 
causes disease in the mother and fetal death, even in those women who 
were previously immune. Severe malaria during pregnancy is more common 
during the first pregnancy (primigravida) and much less after multiple 
pregnancies (multigravid). Pregnant women are infected by parasites 
that sequester in the placenta and such sequestration contributes to 
growth retardation, infant mortality and severe anemia. Multigravid 
women develop antibodies that block the adhesion of infected 
erythrocytes to their placental receptor, chondroitin sulfate A (CSA). 
This interaction is mediated by specific var (PfEMP1) genes that bind 
to the host receptor CSA. The domain of the CSA-binding var gene that 
mediates adherence to CSA has been identified. This domain and 
potentially other parts of the molecule can give rise to development of 
anti malaria vaccines and therapeutics that will protect women from 
placental malaria, particularly during their first pregnancy.

Method for Generating NMR Relaxation Data and Identifying Ligands 
to Target Molecules From Multiple Field NMR Spectra

David Fushman, Nico Tjandra (NHLBI), David Cowburn
Serial No. 09/385,227 filed 27 Aug 1999

    The present invention provides a nuclear magnetic resonance 
relaxation method of screening compounds for their ability to bind to 
target molecules and elicit site specific changes in the target 
molecule's structure. Specifically, this application pertains to a 
method of generating site specific nuclear relaxation data for target 
molecules and their ligands. These data can be used for exploration 
into the thermodynamic requirements of ligand binding, the calculation 
of structural constraints helpful in predicting the solution structure 
of a target molecule and its ligand complexes, and to design new 
ligands for target molecules.

Fast Displacement Encoding with Stimulated Magnetic Resonance 
Echoes by Sampling Both Components of a Stimulated Echo

Anthony H. Aletras, Han Wen (NHLBI)
Serial No. 60/147,314 filed 05 Aug 1999

    The present invention provides a nuclear magnetic resonance method 
of phase contrast motion encoding. This methodology samples both the 
simulated-echo and the simulated-anti-echo by means of multiple 180 
degree refocusing radiofrequency pulses. The pulses produced by the 
disclosed methods are compatible for reconstructing images without the 
need for elaborate data processing steps. By combining this method with 
pulses with unequal first order moments, dynamic range of motion 
measurements, in the heart, can be extended within the time period of a 
breath-hold in humans. Utilizing this powerful new methodology, a 
variety of diagnostic information can be learned about cardiac function 
in normal and diseased states.

[[Page 21773]]

MRI Contrast Agents Depending on Proton Chemical Exchange

Robert S. Balaban, Kathleen Ward, Anthony H. Aletras (NHLBI)
DHHS Reference No. E-240-98/0 filed 21 Apr 1999

    Recently, methods have been developed to Magnetic Resonance Imaging 
(MRI) contrast using exogenous agents with exchangeable protons. These 
methods incorporate the use of selective reagents, such as sugars, 
amino acids, and nucleosides with appropriate proton exchange sites. 
Image contrast is generated by using saturation transfer techniques to 
selectively affect the water protons used in forming the MR image. The 
contrast agents developed do not contain metals or metal chelates. The 
agents have appropriate exchangeable proton sites which can be 
irradiated at known frequencies to obtain MRI images with specific 
contrast. This permits the image contrast to be turned off and on based 
on the irradiation scheme. This method also uses a controlled 
irradiation scheme to overcome the obstacle of broad proton resonance 
that limits contrast enhancement. In-Vivo data has shown the utility of 
this invention.

Oligomeric HIV-1 Envelope Glycoproteins

Patricia L. Earl, Chris C. Broder, Robert W. Doms, Bernard Moss (NIAID)
Serial Nos. 08/165,314 filed December 10, 1993; 08/805,889 filed March 
3, 1997; 09/070,291 filed April 30, 1998; and 09/415,326 filed October 
8, 1999

    This invention embodies a method for generating antibodies to HIV-1 
envelope glycoproteins, which could hold powerful implications toward 
both the diagnosis and the treatment of AIDS. Specifically, the method 
involves the expression of a soluble protein, gp140, and the generation 
of antibodies to this protein. gp140 is a recombinant version of gp160, 
a protein which normally is cleaved in vivo to generate two 
glycoprotein subunits which are expressed on the surface of the HIV-1 
envelope. Unlike previously isolated versions of gp160, gp140 is 
purified in a manner which preserves the quaternary structural elements 
of the protein. Due to the conserved nature of these structural 
elements, antibodies generated against gp140 may be more broadly 
reactive against various forms of AIDS than other antibodies generated 
to date.

    Dated: April 17, 2000.
Jack Spiegel,
Director, Division of Technology Development and Transfer, Office of 
Technology Transfer, National Institutes of Health.
[FR Doc. 00-10179 Filed 4-21-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P