[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 243 (Wednesday, December 20, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60408-60409]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-27417]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Government-Owned Inventions; Availability for Licensing

AGENCY: National Institutes of Health, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The invention listed below is owned by an agency of the U.S. 
Government and is available for licensing 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: Dr. Natalie Greco, 301-761-7898; 
[email protected]. Licensing information and copies of the patent 
applications listed below may be obtained by communicating with the 
indicated licensing contact at the Technology Transfer and Intellectual 
Property Office, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 
5601 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20852; tel. 301-496-2644. A signed 
Confidential Disclosure Agreement will be required to receive copies of 
unpublished patent applications.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Technology description follows.

Enhanced Tissue Clearing Solution, Clearing-Enhanced 3D (Ce3D), 
Compatible With Advanced Fluorescence Microscopy Imaging

    Description of Technology: NIH immunologists have created a 
solution, Clearing-enhanced 3D (Ce3D), that can be used to make entire 
organs extremely transparent. This allows the tissue to be imaged using 
advanced fluorescence microscopy techniques. Unlike current tissue 
clearing solutions, the Ce3D tissue clearing solution is robustly 
compatible with a variety of staining methods, and preserves tissue 
morphology and reporter fluorescence. Ce3D enabled microscopy provides 
unprecedented insight into the spatial organization of cells within 
intact organs. Further, when Ce3D enabled microscopy is coupled with 
multiplexed staining and a newly developed analysis pipeline, 
investigators are able to extensively characterize densely packed cells 
in situ, providing advantages to phenotyping cells with flow cytometric 
techniques.
    This technology is available for licensing for commercial 
development in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR part 404, as 
well as for further development and evaluation under a research 
collaboration.
    Potential Commercial Applications:
     Research reagent--can be applied to a variety of 
biological disciplines.
     Diagnostic medical imaging reagent--characterization of 
disease state/condition.
    Competitive Advantages:
     Simple, quick and inexpensive procedure that has been 
extensively validated.
     Generates excellent tissue transparency, resulting in high 
quality images.
     Compatible with highly multiplexed staining/labeling 
techniques, including antibody-based methods, fluorescently tagged 
reporter proteins, and RNA-FISH.
     Fluorescence is maintained in diverse fluorescent proteins 
and fluorophores.
     Enables quantitative analysis of tissue composition and 
cellular distribution in whole organs, and has advantages over flow 
cytometric techniques.
    Development Stage:

[[Page 60409]]

     Prototype.
    Inventors: Ronald N. Germain, Michael Y. Gerner, Weizhe Li (All 
from NIAID).
    Publications: Li W, et al. (2017)--Multiplex, quantitative cellular 
analysis in large tissue volumes with clearing-enhanced 3D microscopy 
(Ce3D) [PMID: 28808033--PMCID: PMC5584454].
    Intellectual Property: PCT Patent Application--PCT/US2017/049133, 
HHS Reference No. E-168-2016.
    Licensing Contact: Dr. Natalie Greco, 301-761-7898; 
[email protected].
    Collaborative Research Opportunity: The National Institute of 
Allergy and Infectious Diseases is seeking statements of capability or 
interest from parties interested in collaborative research to further 
develop, evaluate or commercialize tissue-clearing technologies. For 
collaboration opportunities, please contact Dr. Natalie Greco, 301-761-
7898; [email protected].

    Dated: December 13, 2017.
Suzanne Frisbie,
Deputy Director, Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Office, 
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
[FR Doc. 2017-27417 Filed 12-19-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4140-01-P