[Federal Register: November 8, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 217)]
[Notices]
[Page 68145-68146]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr08no02-101]
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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 agencies 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.
Tissue Microosmometer
Ferenc Horkay, Peter J. Basser, Adam Berman (NICHD)
DHHS Reference No. E-280-2002/0 filed Aug. 07, 2002
Licensing Contact: Dale Berkley; 301/435-5019; berkleyd@od.nih.gov
This new tissue microosmometer allows for the quantification of
minor changes in the swelling properties of different tissues (e.g.
cartilage) using very small amounts of tissue, and can be used as a
potential diagnostic technique to detect early stages of cell or tissue
injury such as cartilage degeneration or disorder. Varying the vapor
pressure in the environment of the device induces controlled changes in
the osmotic pressure of a tissue layer attached to the surface of a
flat quartz crystal. Variation in the swelling degree is measured with
high sensitivity and reliability by monitoring the change in resonance
frequency of the quartz crystal. The device requires less than one
microgram of sample, and the small tissue sample allows for an
extremely fast response time. The device is well suited to the study of
expensive or limited availability biological or macromolecular samples.
Method for Convection Enhanced Delivery of Therapeutic Agents
Edward H. Oldfield (NINDS)
DHHS Reference No. E-202-2002/0 filed Sep. 24, 2002
Licensing Contact: Dale Berkley; 301/435-5019; berkleyd@od.nih.gov
The invention is a method for monitoring the spatial distribution
of therapeutic substances by MRI or CT that have been administered to
tissue using convection-enhanced delivery, a technique that is the
subject of NIH-owned U.S. Patent No. 5,720,720. In one embodiment, the
tracer is a molecule,
[[Page 68146]]
detectable by MRI or CT, which functions as a surrogate for the motion
of the therapeutic agent through the solid tissue. In other particular
embodiments, the tracer is the therapeutic agent conjugated to an
imaging moiety. The method of this invention uses non-toxic
macromolecular MRI contrast agents comprised of chelated Gd(III). In
particular, the surrogate tracer used in this invention is a serum
albumin conjugated with either a gadolinium chelate of 2-(p-
isothiocyanotobenzyl)-6-methyldiethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid or
with iopanoic acid. These macromolecular imaging agents have clearance
properties that mimic the pharmacokinetic properties of co-
administrated drugs, so as to be useful in quantifying the range and
dosage level of therapeutic drugs using MR imaging.
Refinement of Isointensity Surfaces
Peter Yim (CC)
DHHS Reference No. E-078-2002/0 filed Feb 22, 2002
Licensing Contact: Dale Berkley; 301/435-5019; berkleyd@od.nih.gov
The invention is a method for reconstructing arterial geometry from
magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) using isosurfaces deformed to
conform to the boundaries of objects in the image with minimal a priori
assumptions of object shape. The method determines the degree of
stenosis in digital phantoms with an accuracy of at least 10%. This
method, unlike previous techniques, does not require the imposition of
a pre-defined surface mesh onto the image or user interaction for
definition of the vessel axes. Here, the deformable model surface mesh
is generated by the isosurface algorithm. Accordingly, the new method
requires minimal user interaction and provides highly accurate results
when applied to the evaluation of vascular stenoses. The methodology
may also be applicable for reconstruction of the geometry of vascular
aneurysms from MRA. Other potential applications include precision
surface reconstruction of vascular surfaces from computed tomographic
angiography (CTA) and precision reconstruction of the surface of the
colon from computed tomography (CT).
Automated Centerline Detection Algorithm for Colon-Like 3D Surfaces
Gheorghe Iordanescu (CC), Ronald Summers (CC), Juan Cebral
DHHS Reference No. E-311-2001 filed Dec. 27, 2001
Licensing Contact: Dale Berkley; 301/435-5019; berkleyd@od.nih.gov
The invention is a method for obtaining the centerline of a colon-
like surface, which is an important tool for virtual colonoscopy. The
invention uses only three steps: (1) Computing a shrunken version of
the colon surface (2) modeling the shrunken colon by an ordered group
of 3D points and (3) selecting equally distanced planes to define equal
length segments along the centerline. The centerline is a vital
parameter for any virtual colonoscopy technique as it defines a
navigation path along which the imaging proceeds and it provides a
natural coordinate system for describing polyp detections. A virtual
colonoscopy method is described and claimed in NIH-owned U.S. Patent
No. 6,246,784. However, detecting the centerline of the colon is a
challenging problem for which a number of approaches have been
developed. Most of these approaches are not fully automatic, are slow
and require the original CT images. The method of this invention is
fully automatic, relatively quick and uses only the 3D surface rather
than the original CT images.
Discovery of Novel Inhibitors of HIV-1 Integrase That Can Be Used for
the Treatment of Retroviral Infection Including AIDS
Terrence R. Burke, Jr., Xuechen Zhang, Godwin C. G. Pais, Christophe
Marchand, Evguenia Svarovskaia, Vinay K. Pathak, and Yves Pommier (NCI)
DHHS Reference No. E-317-2001/0 filed Dec. 07, 2001
Licensing Contact: Sally Hu; 301/435-5606; hus@od.nih.gov
This invention provides azido group-containing diketo acids that
can inhibit HIV-1 integrase in vitro efficiently while being highly
selective for the strand transfer step of the integration reaction.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and other retroviruses require three
viral enzymes for replication: Reverse transcriptase, protease and
integrase. The prognosis of AIDS has been improved recently by the
discovery and application of reverse transcriptase and protease
inhibitors. However, a significant fraction of patients fail to respond
to such treatments and viral resistance remains a major problem.
Furthermore, anti-AIDS combinations are often not well tolerated. Thus,
HIV integrase is a rational target for AIDS therapy because genetic
studies demonstrated that the enzyme is essential for viral replication
while being without a cellular equivalent. Therefore, specific
integrase inhibitors should be effective and devoid of toxicity. Since
this invention involves the discovery of novel HIV-1 integrase
inhibitors that are derived from diketo acids with a different anti-HIV
mechanism from that of reverse transcriptase and protease inhibitors,
these azide group-containing compounds may represent potential new
therapeutics for treatment of retroviral infections, including AIDS.
Dated: November 4, 2002.
Jack Spiegel,
Director, Division of Technology, Development and Transfer, Office of
Technology Transfer, National Institutes of Health.
[FR Doc. 02-28537 Filed 11-7-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P