[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 34 (Tuesday, February 20, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10898-10899]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-4093]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Prospective Grant of Exclusive License: Method and Apparatus for 
Constructing Tissue Microarrays

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

ACTION: None.

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SUMMARY: This is notice, in accordance with 35 U.S.C 209(c)(1) and 37 
CFR 404.7(a)(1)(i), that the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 
Department of Health and Human Services, is contemplating the grant of 
an exclusive license worldwide to practice the inventions embodied in: 
(1) U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 60/075,979 (PCT/US99/04001) 
entitled ``Tumor Tissue Microarrays for Rapid Molecular Profiling'', 
provisionally filed February 24, 1998 and PCT filed February 24, 1999, 
and (2) U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 60/170,461 (PCT/US00/34043) 
entitled ``Method and Apparatus for Constructing Tissue Microarrays'', 
provisionally filed December 13, 1999 and PCT filed December 13, 2000, 
to Beecher Instruments Company having a place of business in Silver 
Spring, Maryland. The United States of America is an assignee to the 
patent rights of these inventions.
    The contemplated exclusive license may be limited to the 
development of instruments for the construction of tissue microarrays 
for use for medical research and clinical diagnostics.

DATES: Only written comments and/or applications for a license which 
are received by the NIH Office of Technology Transfer on or before 
April 23, 2001 will be considered.

ADDRESSES: Requests for a copy of the patent application, inquiries, 
comments and other materials relating to the contemplated license 
should be directed to: Uri Reichman, Ph.D., Technology Licensing 
Specialist, Office of Technology Transfer, National Institutes of 
Health, 6011 Executive Boulevard, Suite 325, Rockville, MD 20852-3804; 
Telephone: (301) 496-7056, ext. 240; Facsimile: (301) 402-0220; E-mail: 
[email protected]. A signed Confidential Disclosure Agreement will be 
required to receive copies of the patent application.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The advent of the technology of Tissue 
Microarrays (also called ``Tissue Chips'') has made it possible to 
perform simultaneous molecular profiling of hundreds or even thousands 
of tissue samples in a high-throughput fashion. Tissue Microarrays 
include multiplicity of sub-millimeter tissue specimens, fixed and 
arranged on a single microscope slide. The technology provides means to 
generate hundreds of identical copies of the slides. These slides then 
can be used for specific molecular analyses, such as DNA and mRNA in 
situ hybridization and protein immunostaining. The subject

[[Page 10899]]

inventions, contemplated for the exclusive license, are directed 
towards the instruments used for the construction of tissue 
microarrays, and describe the design and the operations of these 
instruments. The method-of-use and the different applications of tissue 
microarrays for medical research and diagnostics are available for 
licensing by the NIH on a nonexclusive basis under a separate 
arrangement.
    The prospective exclusive license will be royalty-bearing and will 
comply with the terms and conditions of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 404.7. 
The prospective exclusive license may be granted unless, within 60 days 
from the date of this published Notice, NIH receives written evidence 
and argument that established that the grant of the license would not 
be consistent with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 404.7.
    Properly filed competing applications for a license filed in 
response to this notice will be treated as objections to the 
contemplated license. Comments and objections submitted in response to 
this notice will not be made available for public inspection, and, to 
the extent permitted by law, will not be released under the Freedom of 
Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552.

    Dated: February 12, 2001.
Jack Spiegel,
Director, Division of Technology Development and Transfer, Office of 
Technology Transfer.
[FR Doc. 01-4093 Filed 2-16-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-M