[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 67 (Monday, April 10, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Page 17268]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-07057]


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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 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: Licensing information and copies of 
the patent applications listed below may be obtained by communicating 
with the indicated licensing contact Peter Soukas 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will be required to receive copies of unpublished patent applications.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.

A Full-Length Infectious cDNA Clone of Zika Virus From the 2015 
Epidemic in Brazil as a Genetic Platform for Studies of Virus-Host 
Interactions and Vaccine Development

    Description of Technology: An arthropod-borne virus, Zika virus 
(ZIKV), has recently emerged as a major human pathogen. Associated with 
complications during perinatal development and Guillain-Barr[eacute] 
syndrome in adults, ZIKV raises new challenges for understanding the 
molecular determinants of flavivirus pathogenesis. This underscores the 
necessity for the development of a reverse genetic system based on an 
epidemic ZIKV strain. This technology relates to the generation and 
characterization in cell cultures of an infectious cDNA clone of ZIKV 
isolated from the 2015 epidemic in Brazil. The cDNA-derived ZIKV 
replicated efficiently in a variety of cell lines, including those of 
both neuronal and placental origin. It was observed that the growth of 
cDNA-derived virus was attenuated compared to the growth of the 
parental isolate in most cell lines, which correlates with substantial 
differences in sequence heterogeneity between these viruses that were 
determined by deep-sequencing analysis. Moreover, these results 
indicate that caution should be exercised when interpreting the results 
of reverse-genetics experiments in attempts to accurately predict the 
biology of natural viruses. Finally, a Vero cell-adapted cDNA clone of 
ZIKV was generated that can be used as a convenient platform for 
studies aimed at the development of ZIKV vaccines (live attenuated and 
inactivated) and therapeutics.
    This technology is available for licensing nonexclusively 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.
    This technology is further described in Tsetsarkin et al., ``A 
Full-Length Infectious cDNA Clone of Zika Virus from the 2015 Epidemic 
in Brazil as a Genetic Platform for Studies of Virus-Host Interactions 
and Vaccine Development,'' mBio. 2016 Jul-Aug; 7(4): e01114-16. 
Published online 2016 Aug 23. doi: 10.1128/mBio.01114-16.

Potential Commercial Applications:
     Diagnostics
     Vaccines
     Development of therapeutics
Competitive Advantages:
     Use in development of flavivirus vaccines
     Virus growth in various cell lines
     Developing and developed world research tool
Development Stage:
     Research materials

    Inventors: Alexander Pletnev (NIAID), Konstantin Tsetsarkin 
(NIAID).
    Intellectual Property: HHS Reference No. E-114-2017/0.
    Licensing Contact: Peter Soukas, J.D., 301-594-8730; 
[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 vaccine(s) or diagnostics for 
prophylaxis against flavivirus infections. For collaboration 
opportunities, please contact Peter Soukas, J.D., 301-594-8730; 
[email protected].

    Dated: March 23, 2017.
Suzanne Frisbie,
Deputy Director, Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Office, 
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
[FR Doc. 2017-07057 Filed 4-7-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4140-01-P