[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 146 (Wednesday, July 30, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44804-44805]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-19296]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Prospective Grant of Exclusive License: Instrumentation Systems 
and Associated Reagents for High Speed Parallel Molecular Nucleic Acid 
Sequencing for Performing Single Molecule Nucleic Acid Analysis

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

ACTION: Notice.

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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 to practice the invention embodied in Patent 
Applications U.S. 60/151,580, filed August 29, 1999, PCT/US00/23736, 
filed August 29, 2000, and U.S. 10/070,053, filed June 10, 2002, 
entitled ``High Speed Parallel Molecular Nucleic Acid Sequencing'', to 
LI-COR, Inc., having a place of business in Lincoln, NE. The patent 
rights in this invention have been assigned to the United States of 
America.

DATES: Only written comments and/or application for a license that are 
received by the NIH Office of Technology Transfer on or before 
September 29, 2003, 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: Cristina Thalhammer-Reyero, Ph.D., M.B.A., 
Office of Technology Transfer, National Institutes of Health, 6011 
Executive Boulevard, Suite 325, Rockville, MD 20852-3804; E-mail: 
[email protected]; Telephone: 301-435-4507; Facsimile: 301-402-
0220.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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

[[Page 44805]]

exclusive license may be granted unless, within 60 days from the date 
of this published notice, NIH receives written evidence and argument 
that establishes that the grant of the license would not be consistent 
with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. Sec.  209 and 37 CFR Sec.  404.7.
    The invention relates to a method and apparatus for DNA sequencing, 
also known as Two Dye Sequencing (TDS). This invention is based on 
Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET), a technology 
increasingly in use for several molecular analysis purposes. In 
particular, the method consists of: (1) Attachment of engineered DNA 
polymerases labeled with a donor fluorophore to the surface (chamber) 
of a microscope field of view, (2) addition to the chamber of DNA with 
an annealed oligonucleotide primer, which is bound by the polymerase, 
(3) further addition of four nucleotide triphosphates, each labeled on 
the base with a different fluorescent acceptor dye, (4) excitation of 
the donor fluorophore with light of a wavelength specific for the donor 
but not for any of the acceptors, resulting in the transfer of the 
energy associated with the excited state of the donor to the acceptor 
fluorophore for a given nucleotide, which is then radiated via FRET, 
(5) identification of the nucleotides most recently added to the 
chamber by recording the fluorescent spectrum of the individual dye 
molecules at specific locations in the microscope field, and (6) 
converting the sequential spectrum into a DNA sequence for each DNA 
molecule in the microscope field of view.
    The field of use may be limited to instrumentation systems and 
associated reagents for performing single molecule nucleic acid 
analysis.
    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: July 17, 2003.
Steven M. Ferguson,
Acting Director, Division of Technology Development and Transfer, 
Office of Technology Transfer.
[FR Doc. 03-19296 Filed 7-29-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P