[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 111 (Friday, June 9, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33467-33468]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-9018]


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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, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The inventions listed below are owned by an agency 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.

DNA Influenza Vaccine

    Description of Technology: The FDA is pleased to announce a single 
vector DNA vaccine against influenza as available for licensing. The 
single vector

[[Page 33468]]

expresses both hemagglutinin (HA) and matrix (M) proteins, generating 
both humoral and cellular immune responses. The vaccine candidate 
completely protected mice against homologous virus challenge and 
significantly improved survival against heterologous virus challenge. A 
robust and reliable vaccine supply is widely recognized as critical for 
seasonal or pandemic influenza preparedness. The advantages offered by 
this vaccine make it an excellent candidate for further development.
    Advantages: (1) DNA vaccines are easy to produce and store; (2) 
Vaccine candidate improved survival against heterologous virus 
challenge; (3) No risk of reversion to pathogenic strain as with live-
attenuated virus vaccines; (4) Can be administered to immuno-
compromised individuals, increasing potential market size; (5) HA and M 
proteins encoded by single vector, ensuring uniform delivery of 
immunogen; (6) More efficient to boost synergistic effects on both HA 
and M specific immune responses than a mixture of individual plasmids; 
(7) M protein not subject to antigenic drift, which allows advanced 
manufacturing and overcomes the need for strain monitoring; (8) DNA 
vaccines elicit cellular immune response, essential for efficient virus 
clearance.
    Inventors: Zhiping Ye et al. (FDA).
    Patent Status: U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/786,747 filed 27 
Mar 2006 (HHS Reference No. E-300-2005/0-US-01).
    Licensing Status: Available for exclusive or non-exclusive 
licensing.
    Licensing Contact: Susan Ano, Ph.D.; 301/435-5515; 
[email protected].
    Collaborative Research Opportunity: The Food and Drug 
Administration is seeking statements of capability or interest from 
parties interested in collaborative research to further develop, 
evaluate, or commercialize this technology. Please contact the 
inventor, Zhiping Ye at 301/435-5197 or Beatrice Droke at 301/827-7008 
for more information.

Method for Improved Phase Contrast MRI Resolution

    Description of Technology: This invention is a method to 
significantly improve the temporal or spatial resolution in a phase 
contrast MRI (PC-MRI) study. In general, conventional PC-MRI involves 
encoding the motion information of spins in the phase of the image. The 
velocity of the spin motion can be extracted by calculating the phase 
difference between two consecutive images acquired with two different 
bipolar encoding gradients. Two scans are required in order to 
reconstruct flow velocity data, resulting in an increase in image 
acquisition and reconstruction time by a factor of two compared to that 
of a standard anatomical image. As a means of reducing the PC-MRI scan 
time, the inventors propose a method of acquiring only a fraction of k-
space data. The k-space is sampled using an under-sampled spiral or 
single projection, radial scheme. Subsequently, the two data sets in 
the PC-MRI are subtracted to extract the motion information from 
undersampled data without any aliasing artifacts. This method of 
partial-field of view acquisition and reconstruction of PC-MRI results 
in an increased temporal resolution, while maintaining high spatial 
resolution. The increase in image acquisition efficiency could be used 
to increase the spatial resolution while maintaining the temporal 
resolution.
    Inventors: Reza Nezafat et al. (NHLBI).
    Patent Status: U.S. Patent Application No. 11/227,406 filed 14 Sep 
2005 (HHS Reference No. E-134-2005/0-US-01).
    Licensing Status: Available for non-exclusive or exclusive 
licensing.
    Licensing Contact: Chekesha Clingman, PhD; 301/435-5018; 
[email protected].

Image Guided Systems and Methods for Organ Viability Assessment

    Description of Technology: The number of patients for organ 
transplants continues to grow, without an increase in the number of 
organs available for transplant. This has increased interest in 
transplanting organs from non-traditional sources, such as donations 
after cardiac death. However, there are currently no methods to 
objectively measure the effects of resuscitation and ischemia damage on 
organ viability.
    The present invention relates to systems and methods for evaluating 
the status and characterization of organs, determining their 
suitability for transplants, as well as restoring the viability of 
organs intended for transplants. Particularly, this method is based on 
using optical (infrared or near infrared) imaging to guide the 
resuscitation of the donor organs and predict the recovery of grafts 
challenged with several hours of preservation. This method allows for 
localization of ischemic areas and guiding targeted resuscitation of 
the organ.
    For example, the inventors have shown that by combining a kidney 
reperfusion system with infrared imaging equipment, it is possible to 
differentiate between ischemic and non-ischemic tissue and restore the 
viability of the kidney. This method can potentially be used to 
evaluate the viability of any body part or organ intended for 
transplantation, such as extremities, heart, lungs, and liver. This 
approach can lead to the utilization of donation-after-cardiac-death 
organs and can substantially increase the donor pool of organs. Hence, 
this new method can identify organs that may be considered unsuitable 
for transplant, and help prevent transplantation of organs whose 
function may be considered impaired, as well as help guide 
resuscitation efforts.
    Inventors: Alexander M. Gorbach (ORS), Allan D. Kirk (NIDDK), Eric 
Elster (NIDDK).
    Patent Status: U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/778,785 filed 03 
Mar 2006 (HHS Reference No. E-098-2005/0-US-01).
    Licensing Status: Available for non-exclusive or exclusive 
licensing.
    Licensing Contact: Chekesha Clingman, PhD; 301/435-5018; 
[email protected].

    Dated: June 5, 2006.
David R. Sadowski,
Acting Director, Division of Technology Development and Transfer, 
Office of Technology Transfer, National Institutes of Health.
[FR Doc. E6-9018 Filed 6-8-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P