[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 19 (Thursday, January 29, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Page 4935]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-01610]


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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, 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. 209 and 37 CFR part 404 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 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.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Technology descriptions follow.

Miniature System for Manipulating Small Animals in High-Throughput 
Screening Small Molecules

    Description of Technology: The invention pertains to a miniaturized 
plating and feeding system based on a 96-well microplate base and is 
intended to reduce manipulation of organisms as well as amounts of test 
drug/anesthetic, thereby mitigating waste. The kit comprises a feeder 
plate, transfer adaptor and receiver plate. The feeder plate is defined 
by, for example, a plastic 96-well plate with rounded wells. The 
rounded bottoms can dispense to or permit access to the test organism 
of liquid food or drug through about 7 holes of approximately 350 
microns in diameter. A top portion of the well provides test organisms 
(e.g., drosophila, daphnia) with sufficient space to enjoy normal life-
cycles without confinement stress. The feeder plate includes means for 
interfacing with complementary components of the transfer and receiver 
plates through receiving holes and complementary dowels or pins. A 
transfer adapter allows the interconnection of the feeder plate to the 
receiver plate. The transfer plate can be configured to be square or 
rounded for the transfer of organisms from the feeder plate to the 
receiver plate.

Potential Commercial Applications

 Drug Development
 Toxicity Studies
 Drug Design

Competitive Advantages

 Small animals
 High Throughput
 Space efficiency
 Resource economy

Development Stage

 Early stage
 Prototype

    Inventors: Maria De Los Angeles Jaime and Brian Oliver (NIDDK).
    Intellectual Property: HHS Reference No. E-034-2015/0--US 
Provisional Application No. 62/080,181 filed November 14, 2015.
    Licensing Contact: Michael Shmilovich, Esq.; 301-435-5019; 
[email protected].
    Collaborative Research Opportunity: The National Institute of 
Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases is seeking statements of 
capability or interest from parties interested in collaborative 
research to further develop, evaluate or commercialize High-Throughput 
Small Animal Manipulation for Drug Design. For collaboration 
opportunities, please contact Marguerite J. Miller at 
[email protected].

LRKK2 Inhibitors: Novel Treatment for Intestinal Bowel Disorders

    Description of Technology: Use of Leucine Rich Repeat Kinase 2 
(LRRK2) inhibitors for the treatment of Intestinal Bowel Disorders 
(IBD) is disclosed. IBD is a broad term that describes conditions with 
chronic or recurring immune response and inflammation of the 
gastrointestinal tract. Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, two 
common forms of idiopathic IBD, are chronic, relapsing inflammatory 
disorders of the gastrointestinal tract.
    LRRK2 is a kinase encoded by a gene that contains a non-coding 
polymorphism (SNP). LRRK2 has been associated with and is a risk factor 
for inflammatory bowel disease. NIH inventors have shown that human 
cells expressing this SNP have increased levels of LRRK2 and, 
correspondingly, mice with increased levels of LRRK2 exhibit more 
severe Dextran Sulfate colitis. In various studies of the role of LRRK2 
in cell signaling, NIH inventors have shown that increased levels of 
LRRK2 lead to increased pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion. Also, an 
inhibitor of LRRK2 is shown to abrogate the pro-inflammatory activity 
of LRRK2 both in vitro and in vivo.
    Potential Commercial Applications: Treatment for or prevention of 
Intestinal Bowel Disorders.

Competitive Advantages

     A LRRK2 inhibitor would be a unique form of anti-
inflammatory therapy that will complement or compete with an array of 
cytokines in primary treatment for lBD.
     A LRRK2 inhibitor would provide a much needed alternate 
mode of therapy.

Development Stage

 Early-stage
 In vitro data available
 In vivo data available (animal)
    Inventors: Warren Strober, Ivan J. Fuss, Tetsuya Takagawa, Atsushi 
Kitani (all of NIAID).
    Intellectual Property: HHS Reference No. E-070-2014/0--US 
Provisional Application No. 61/993,637 filed May 15, 2014.
    Licensing Contact: Suryanarayana Vepa, Ph.D., J.D.; 301-435-5020; 
[email protected].

    Dated: January 22, 2015.
Richard U. Rodriguez,
Acting Director, Office of Technology Transfer, National Institutes of 
Health.
[FR Doc. 2015-01610 Filed 1-28-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P