[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 84 (Monday, May 3, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23272-23274]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-10264]


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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.

Retroviral Vectors for Selective Reversible Immortalization of 
Stimulus-responding Primary Cells

    Description of Invention: Researchers at the National Cancer 
Institute-Frederick, NIH, have developed a novel set of retroviral 
vectors and producer cell lines useful for selective reversible 
immortalization of primary cells (i.e. lymphocytes) that respond to a 
stimulus, such as a viral antigen (e.g.

[[Page 23273]]

HIV toxoids), a tumor antigen, or a growth factor.
    Derived from the murine leukemia virus (MuLV), these retroviral 
vectors will only infect dividing cells. Therefore, only primary cells 
activated by the stimulus will be infected and immortalized, thereby 
creating an ``antigen-specific trap.''
    The primary cells to be immortalized can be in targeted tissue or 
in stimulated ex vivo culture. The transduced cells can be expanded to 
large numbers without differentiating, and returned to the primary cell 
stage by removal of the introduced genes using a vector excision 
strategy.

Applications

     Isolation/replication of normally short-lived primary 
cells that respond to a stimulus.
     Immortalization of antigen-specific T cells for vaccine 
development or adoptive transfer immunotherapy.
     Production of primary cell lines for large-scale 
production of cell-secreted factors, cytokines, and other molecules.

Advantages

     System acts as an anti-senescence treatment: Cells that 
are normally short-lived can be kept in culture for years.
     Vectors with different markers are available to identify 
transduced cells and for cell selection.
     Excision allows for gene/marker removal.
     The MuLV-based system only infects dividing (e.g. 
activated) cells
    Inventors: Eugene V. Barsov and David E. Ott (NCI).

Relevant Publications

1. E Barsov et al. Capture of antigen-specific T lymphocytes from human 
blood by selective immortalization to establish long-term T-cell lines 
maintaining primary cell characteristics. Immunol Lett. 2006 May 
15;105(1):26-37. [PubMed: 16442639]
2. H Andersen et al. Transduction with human telomerase reverse 
transcriptase immortalizes a rhesus macaque CD8+ T cell clone with 
maintenance of surface marker phenotype and function. AIDS Res Hum 
Retroviruses 2007 Mar;23(3):456-465. [PubMed: 17411379]

    Patent Status: HHS Reference No. E-140-2010/0--Research Tool. 
Patent protection is not being pursued for this technology.
    Licensing Status: Available for biological materials licensing 
only.
    Licensing Contact: Patrick P. McCue, PhD; 301-435-5560; 
[email protected].
    Collaborative Research Opportunity: The Center for Cancer Research, 
AIDS and Cancer Virus Program, is seeking statements of capability or 
interest from parties interested in collaborative research to further 
develop, evaluate, or commercialize this technology. Please contact 
John Hewes, PhD at 301-435-3131 or [email protected]. for more 
information.

A Method of Measuring Ultraviolet A (UVA) Protection in Sunscreen 
Products

    Description of Invention: There are different types of ultraviolet 
(UV) rays in sunlight. UVB radiation causes redness (erythema) or 
sunburn. While UVA radiation, which absorbs deep into the skin, causes 
more long-term effects such as wrinkles, skin aging and skin cancer.
    Effective sunscreens are expected to block both UVA and UVB 
radiation. The Sun Protection Factor (SPF) label found on all over-the-
counter sunscreen products is a better measure for UVB protection than 
UVA protection. Currently, there is no standard in vivo test to 
determine the amount of UVA protection in sunscreen products, despite 
the fact that many products are advertised as effectively blocking both 
UVA and UVB radiation.
    This invention describes sets of genes useful for measuring UVA 
exposure in human skin and assessing sunscreen products for their 
ability to block UVA radiation.
    Application: A test for measuring UVA protection provided by 
sunscreens.
    Development Status: Early stage.
    Market: According to a report by the Global Industry Analysts, 
Inc., the sun care market is projected to reach $5.6 billion by the 
year 2015.
    Inventors: Atsushi Terunuma and Jonathan C. Vogel (NCI).
    Related Publication: In preparation.
    Patent Status: U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/309,179 filed 01 
Mar 2010 (HHS Reference No. E-097-2010/0-US-01).
    Licensing Status: Available for licensing.
    Licensing Contact: Charlene Sydnor, PhD; 301-435-4689; 
[email protected].
    Collaborative Research Opportunity: The Center for Cancer Research, 
Dermatology Branch, is seeking statements of capability or interest 
from parties interested in collaborative research to further develop, 
evaluate, or commercialize this technology. Please contact John Hewes, 
PhD at 301-435-3131 or [email protected] for more information.

Laser Scanning Microscopy for Three Dimensional Motion Tracking for 
Volumetric Data

    Description of Invention: The technology offered for licensing and 
for further development is in the field of volumetric tissue scanning 
microscopy. More specifically, the invention provides for a device, 
system and methods that can acquire and analyze volumetric data from a 
high-speed laser-scanning microscope and compute motion of the sample 
under the microscope in three dimensions. This computed motion is used 
to adjust position of the sample in real time to maintain field of view 
and relative location. This motion compensation scheme can be used to 
collect micron-scale information over time, which can be important in a 
number of research or medical device applications.

Applications

     Biomedical research involving in vivo microscopy.
     Real time tracking of cells or cellular structures.
     Tracking tissue during various physiological perturbations 
and observation of dynamic physiological processes. Physiological 
perturbations include metabolic substrates, drug delivery and anoxia.
     Potential applications in molecular diagnostic imaging.
     Potential applications in medical procedures such as 
biopsy and microsurgery where information has to be collected from a 
specific microscope location over a period of time.

Advantages

     Improved analytical capabilities for biological processes.
     Improved capabilities of accurately examining and studying 
physiological perturbations.
     Potential improvement in medical procedures such as 
biopsy.
     May readily be adaptable to commercial microscopes.
    Development Status: The invention is fully developed. Further work 
needs to be done in the following areas:
     Adaptation to different types of microscopes.
     Further demonstration of utility of in-vivo imaging.
    Inventors: James L. Schroeder (NHLBI) et al.
    Related Publication: Schroeder JL, Luger-Hamer M, Pursley R, Pohida 
T, Chefd'Hotel C, Kellman P, Balaban RS. Short communication: 
Subcellular motion compensation for minimally invasive microscopy, in 
vivo: evidence for oxygen gradients in resting muscle.

[[Page 23274]]

Circ Res. 2010 Apr 2;106(6):1129-1133. [PubMed: 20167928].
    Patent Status: U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/245,586 filed 24 
Sep 2009 (HHS Reference No. E-290-2009/0-US-01).
    Licensing Status: Available for licensing.
    Licensing Contacts: Uri Reichman, PhD, MBA; 301-435-4616; 
[email protected], or Michael Shmilovich, Esq.; 301-435-5019; 
[email protected].
    Collaborative Research Opportunity: The National Heart, Lung, and 
Blood Institute, Laboratory of Cardiac Energetics, is seeking 
statements of capability or interest from parties interested in 
collaborative research to further develop, evaluate, or commercialize 
automatic 3D volumetric motion tracking systems for use during in vivo 
microscopy. Please contact Denise Crooks, PhD at 301-435-0103 or 
[email protected] for more information.

    Dated: April 26, 2010.
Richard U. Rodriguez,
Director, Division of Technology Development and Transfer, Office of 
Technology Transfer, National Institutes of Health.
[FR Doc. 2010-10264 Filed 4-30-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P