[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 120 (Wednesday, June 22, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36549-36551]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-15467]


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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

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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.

A System for Delivering Embolic Materials Endovascularly to Patients

    Description of Technology: The Public Health Service seeks 
commercial entities interested in licensing patent rights that pertain 
to a system for delivering embolic materials endovascularly to 
patients. The system includes a smart catheter that provides 
quantitative feedback to a physician during embolotherapy. This 
includes a detecting portion for measuring flow velocity (e.g., Doppler 
tip), amount of reflux, and amount of embolic particles (e.g., 
embolization beads) delivered by the catheter. A graphical user 
interface displays the measured information in real-time.
    Applications:
     Transarterial chemoembolization
     Drug eluting bead
     Intravenous drug delivery
     Drug distribution monitoring
     Real-time imaging
    Inventors: Matthew Dreher, Elliot Levy, Karun Sharma, David Tabriz, 
Peter Guion, Ankur Kapoor, Bradford Wood (all NIHCC).
    Patent Status: U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/486,722 filed 16 
May 2011 (HHS Reference No. E-184-2011/0-US-01).
    Licensing Status: Available for licensing.
    Licensing Contact: Michael A. Shmilovich, Esq.; 301-435-5019; 
[email protected].
    Collaborative Research Opportunity: The NIH Clinical Center, 
Radiology and Imaging Sciences Department, is seeking statements of 
capability or interest from parties interested in collaborative 
research to further develop, evaluate, or commercialize a catheter for 
quantitative feedback during embolotherapy. Please contact Ken Rose, 
PhD at 301-435-3132 or [email protected] for more information.

Liver Segmental Anatomy and Analysis From Vessel and Tumor Segmentation

    Description of Technology: The invention is a novel graph-based 
method for the automated segmentation of tumors and major intra-hepatic 
blood vessels and identification of the liver anatomical segments. The 
method allows visualization and risk analysis for interventional 
planning involving the liver. The method avoids the shortcomings of the 
traditional graph cuts or intensity-based segmentation methods by 
including multi-phase enhancement modeling and shape likelihoods. The 
segmented vessels can be correctly classified into right, middle and 
left hepatic, and right and left portal veins using a hybrid process 
that incorporates anatomical information and competitive region 
growing. Tumors can be detected and segmented using their differential 
enhancement and shape with accuracy comparable to the reports from the 
Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI) 
liver tumor segmentation competition. Furthermore, a vessel tracker 
allowed fitting planes to the major hepatic vasculature and identifying 
the liver segments according to the Couinaud atlas. The automated 
method can be used in conjunction with manual and automatic liver 
segmentations to perform enhanced visualization for diagnosis and 
planning of interventions.
    Applications: To assist in the visualization, diagnosis and 
planning of interventional procedures involving the liver.
    Advantages:
     The method avoids the shortcomings of the traditional 
segmentation methods by including multi-phase enhancement modeling and 
shape likelihoods.
     Tumors are segmented with accuracy comparable to the 
reports from MICCAI liver tumor segmentation competition.
     Liver segments according to the Couinaud Atlas are 
automatically identified.
     The automated method allows the enhanced visualization of 
the liver for diagnosis and planning of interventions.
    Development Status: The algorithm and software of the method are 
fully developed.
    Inventors: Marius G. Linguraru and Bradford J. Wood (NIHCC).
    Patent Status: HHS Reference No. E-178-2011/0--Software/Research 
Tool. Patent protection is not being pursued for this technology.
    Licensing Status: A software package encompassing the method is 
available for licensing.
    Licensing Contacts:
     Uri Reichman, PhD, MBA; 301-435-4616; [email protected]
     Michael Shmilovich, Esq.; 301-435-5019; 
[email protected]
    Collaborative Research Opportunity: The NIH Clinical Center, 
Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, is seeking statements of 
capability or interest from parties interested in collaborative 
research to further develop, evaluate, or commercialize techniques for 
the enhanced visualization, diagnosis and image-based interventions of 
the liver. Please contact Ken Rose, PhD at 301-435-3132 or 
[email protected] for more information.

MicroRNA-205 for the Treatment and Diagnosis of Parkinson Disease

    Description of Technology: Parkinson disease (PD) is a devastating 
neurodegenerative movement disorder, pathologically characterized by 
selective loss of dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra 
pars compacta (SNpc) and the presence of intracytoplasmic inclusions 
named Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites (Schapira, Baillieres Clin. Neurol. 
6:15-36, 1997). Increasing numbers of genes have been identified as a 
genetic cause of PD (Hardy et al., Ann. Neurol. 60:389-398, 2006), for 
example, multiple missense mutations in the leucine-rich repeat kinase 
2 (LRRK2) gene were recently found to be associated with an autosomal 
dominant form of familial PD (Paisan-Ruiz et al., Neuron 44:595-600, 
2004; Zimprich et al., Neuron 44:601-607, 2004; Zabetian et al., 
Neurology 65:741-744, 2005). Recent genome-wide association studies 
(GWAS) also revealed LRRK2, together with SNCA (encoding [alpha]-syn) 
and PARK16, as shared risk loci for PD (Simon-Sanchez et al., Nat. 
Genet. 41:1308-1312, 2009; Satake et al., Nat. Genet. 41:1303-1307, 
2009), indicating a potential contribution of normal LRRK2 protein to 
the etiology of sporadic PD cases.
    Micro-RNAs (miRNAs or miRs) are evolutionarily conserved small non-
protein coding transcripts that bind to partially complementary binding 
sites in the 3' untranslated region (3'-UTR) of target messenger RNAs 
(mRNAs) and control the translation of their target mRNAs at the post-
transcriptional level (Bartel, Cell 116:281-297, 2004). Several miRNAs 
have been associated with neurodegenerative disease as well as synaptic 
plasticity, memory formation and developmental cell fate decisions in 
the nervous system (Hebert and De Strooper, Trends Neurosci. 32:199-
206, 2009; Kosik, Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 7:911-920, 2006).
    NIH inventors have recently discovered that LRRK2 protein

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expression is significantly increased in the brain of PD patients, 
while expression of miR-205 is specifically down-regulated in the same 
patients. Also, the NIH inventors have discovered that the expression 
levels of LRRK2 and miR-205 are dynamically regulated and reversely 
correlated in multiple brain regions and at different ages in mouse 
brains, indicating that miR-205 plays a regulatory role in LRRK2 
protein expression.
    Based on these novel findings, the present technology provides for 
novel methods of treatment of patients suffering from PD disease by 
modulating the amount of miR-205 in patients by administration of a 
miR-205 gene product, a vector encoding a miR-205 gene product or an 
agent that increases expression of miR-205. The present technology also 
provides for methods of determining the effectiveness of different 
candidate drugs for the treatment of PD, methods of diagnosing PD, or 
having an increased susceptibility to developing PD, and an in vitro 
process for identifying a therapeutic agent for the treatment of PD.
    Applications: Therapeutics and diagnostics for PD.
    Development Status: Early-stage.
    Inventors: Huaibin Cai and Hyun J. Cho (NIA).
    Patent Status: U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/430,626 filed 07 
Jan 2011 (HHS Reference No. E-209-2010/0-US-01).
    Licensing Status: Available for licensing.
    Licensing Contact: Suryanarayana Vepa, PhD, J.D.; 301-435-5020; 
[email protected].
    Collaborative Research Opportunity: The National Institute on 
Aging, Transgenics Section, is seeking statements of capability or 
interest from parties interested in collaborative research to further 
develop, evaluate, or commercialize microRNA-205 or other reagents for 
the treatment and diagnosis of Parkinson Disease. Please contact Nicole 
Guyton, PhD at 301-435-3101 or [email protected] for more 
information.

    Dated: June 14, 2011.
Richard U. Rodriguez,
Director, Division of Technology Development and Transfer, Office of 
Technology Transfer, National Institutes of Health.
[FR Doc. 2011-15467 Filed 6-21-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P