[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 238 (Tuesday, December 11, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Page 64047]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-30515]


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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 writing to the indicated 
licensing contact at the Office of Technology Transfer, National 
Institutes of Health, 6011 Executive Boulevard, Suite 325, Rockville, 
Maryland 20852-3804; telephone: 301/496-7057; fax: 301/402-0220. A 
signed Confidential Disclosure Agreement will be required to receive 
copies of the patent applications.

Imaging of Extracellular Proteases in Cells Using Mutant Anthrax 
Toxin Protective Antigens

Bugge et al. (NIDCR)
DHHS Reference No. E-295-01/0 filed 05 Sep 2001
Licensing Contact: Richard Rodriguez; 301/496-7056 ext. 287; e-mail: 
[email protected].

    The claimed invention provides highly specific and sensitive 
methods for in vivo, in vitro, or ex vivo imaging of specific 
extracellular protease activity using an anthrax binary toxin system. 
The system targets cells that express extracellular proteases of 
interest. Such a system would be highly useful since various studies 
have demonstrated a positive correlation between the activity of 
extracellular proteases and various diseases and undesirable 
physiological conditions. For example, breakdown of the extracellular 
matrix by extracellular proteases is a prerequisite for the invasive 
growth of malignant cells, metastatic spread of tumors, and other 
pathological remodeling of tissue. In this case, methods are provided 
for the imaging of a specific extracellular protease by contacting a 
cell with: (1) A mutant anthrax toxin protective antigen (mPrAg) that 
binds to a cell surface receptor of a cell expressing an extracellular 
protease and is cleaved by a specific extracellular protease expressed 
by the cell and (2) a ligand that specifically binds to the cleaved 
mPrAg and is linked to a moiety that is detected by an imaging 
procedure, thereby forming a ligand-mPrAg complex that is translocated 
into the cell. The detectable moiety linked to the ligand in the 
ligand-mPrAg complex can be imaged before, during, or after 
translocation. Specific disease examples might include, but are not 
necessarily limited to, cancer, inflammation, and tumor progression or 
regression.

Neural Crest-Melanocyte cDNA Based Microarray Analysis for Human 
Skin Pigmentation Research

William Pavan and Stacie K. Loftus (NHGRI)
DHHS Reference No. E-014-02/0
Licensing Contact: Pradeep Ghosh; 301/496-7736 ext. 211; e-mail: 
[email protected].

    Microarrays have wide applications in basic research and are used 
for the discovery of candidate genes as markers for disease and for 
therapeutic intervention. This invention pertains to the identification 
of a set of neural crest-melanocyte (NC-M) genes through microarray 
analysis and informatic analysis. Utilizing the extensive sequence 
information in the expressed sequence tag database (dbEST), the 
specific set of cDNA sequence was identified for microarray analysis of 
melanocyte function and diseases. This integrated technique of 
sequencing with bioinformatics led to the discovery of novel genes. The 
cDNA sequences selected in this invention are differently expressed in 
neural crest melanocyte derivates relative to non-neural derived 
samples. Given that many of the neural-crest melanocyte genes are 
expressed at embryonic stages of neural crest-melanocyte development, 
the gene set identified in this invention should provide a useful tool 
for the analysis of patterns of transcriptional regulation of NC-M 
development. Thus, this technology will be useful for the 
characterization of altered expression patterns in diseases such as 
melanoma. Further, this new microarray research tool has been developed 
using the set of genes that are likely to be involved in the control of 
human skin pigmentation. The microarray system utilizing these genes is 
of significant importance in identifying small molecules that may 
modulate their activity leading to alterations in human skin 
pigmentation. Therefore, this invention is significantly useful to the 
researchers to study alterations in human skin pigment amount and type.

    Dated: November 29, 2001.
Jack Spiegel,
Director, Division of Technology Development and Transfer, Office of 
Technology Transfer, National Institutes of Health.
[FR Doc. 01-30515 Filed 12-10-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P