Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 57 / Wednesday, March 25, 2015 / Notices 15791 

CXCR4 in HSCs is described. HSC are 

the only cells in the bone marrow that 

are both pluripotent and long lived. 

Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) 

using HSC is an increasingly common 

medical therapy for severe hematologic 

cancers and primary hematologic 

immunodeficiencies. However, for 

significant HSC engraftment to occur 

there must usually be pre-transplant 

conditioning with either irradiation or 

chemotherapy or both. The technology 

described herein shows that it is 

possible to replace HSC without the 

need for pre-transplant conditioning 

regimen. It is known that the chemokine 

receptor CXCR4 plays a critical role in 

HSC homing to the bone marrow and in 

HSC quiescence. The inventors have 

identified a patient in which one copy 

of CXCR4 had been deleted in a somatic 

mutation of an HSC and this cell had 

clonally repopulated the bone marrow. 

This led to experiments in mice where 

the inventors clearly demonstrated in a 

bone marrow transplantation model, 

that donor cells with a single copy of 

the Cxcr4 gene repopulate recipient 

mice much faster and last much longer 

than donor cells having two copies of 

the Cxcr4 gene. This technology which 

shows that HSCs with one copy of the 

CXCR4 gene have a durable selective 

advantage in bone marrow repopulation 

can solve the problem frequently 

encountered in gene therapy, i.e., the 

short-lived nature of gene-corrected 

cells, by utilizing recently discovered 

gene editing methods that can be used 

to delete one copy of CXCR4 gene in 

gene-corrected cells. 

Potential Commercial Applications 

• Improvement of engraftment in 

gene therapy protocols and in HSC 

transplantation. 

• Improved bone marrow 

transplantation, enhancing the 

efficiency and durability of donor cell 

repopulation. 

Competitive Advantages 

• This technology potentially 

facilitates HSC transplantation without 

the need of radiation or chemotherapy 

conditioning. 

• This technology may uniquely 

overcome a major hurdle limiting all 

gene therapy applications, namely the 

failure to correct the gene defect over a 

long time. 

Development Stage 

• Early-stage 

• In vitro data available 

• In vivo data available (animal) 

Inventors: Jiliang Gao, Philip M. 

Murphy, David H. McDermott, Marie 

Siwicki, Harry L. Malech, and Joy Liu 

(all of NIAID). 

Publication: McDermott DH, et al. 

Chromothriptic cure of WHIM 

syndrome. Cell. 2015 Feb 

12;160(4):686–99. [PMID 25662009]. 

Intellectual Property: HHS Reference 

No. E–173–2014/0—US Patent 

Application No. 62/026,138 filed July 

18, 2014. 

Licensing Contact: Sury Vepa, Ph.D., 

J.D.; 301–435–5020; vepas@

mail.nih.gov. 

Development of GPR124 Wildtype and 

Knockout Brain Endothelial Reporter 

Cells 

Description of Technology: There is 

currently no effective way to block betacatenin signaling specifically in brain 

endothelial cells. There is neither an 

effective way to block beta-catenin 

signaling stimulated by a particular Wnt 

family member such as WNT7. The 

reporter cells created by the NIH 

investigator from GPR124 knockout 

mice provide a unique and effective tool 

to screen for drugs that can specifically 

interfere with the Wnt7/GPR124 

signaling pathway. Such drugs have 

potential for widespread therapeutic 

application in the treatment of 

cerebrovascular diseases, the third 

leading cause of death in the United 

States, and a variety of 

neurodegenerative disorders such as 

Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson disease, 

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple 

sclerosis, and others. 

Potential Commercial Applications: 

Research tools for drug screening. 

Competitive Advantages: The reporter 

cells are ideal for screening for drugs 

that specifically interfere with the 

Wnt7/GPR124 signaling pathway as the 

cells have no inherent low level Gpr124 

expression. 

Development Stage: Prototype. 

Inventor: Brad St. Croix (NCI). 

Publication: Posokhova E, et al. 

GPR124 functions as a WNT7-specific 

coactivator of canonical beta-catenin 

signaling. Cell Rep. 2015 Jan 13;10 

(2):123–30. [PMID 25558062]. 

Intellectual Property: HHS Reference 

No. E–079–2015/0—Research Tool. 

Patent protection is not being pursued 

for this technology. 

Licensing Contact: Betty B. Tong, 

Ph.D.; 301–594–6565; tongb@

mail.nih.gov. 

Collaborative Research Opportunity: 

The National Cancer Institute is seeking 

statements of capability or interest from 

parties interested in collaborative 

research to further develop, evaluate, or 

commercialize agents that antagonize or 

promote Gpr124 function. For 

collaboration opportunities, please 

contact John D. Hewes, Ph.D. at hewesj@

mail.nih.gov. 

Dated: March 20, 2015. 

Richard U. Rodriguez, 

Acting Director, Office of Technology 

Transfer, National Institutes of Health. 

[FR Doc. 2015–06845 Filed 3–24–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4140–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention 

[30Day–15–15IG] 

Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork 

Reduction Act Review 

The Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention (CDC) publishes a list of 

information collection requests under 

review by the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) in compliance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 

Chapter 35). To request a copy of these 

requests, call (404) 639–7570 or send an 

email to omb@cdc.gov. Send written 

comments to CDC Desk Officer, Office of 

Management and Budget, Washington, 

DC or by fax to (202) 395–5806. Written 

comments should be received within 30 

days of this notice. 

Proposed Project 

Public Health Associate Program 

(PHAP) Alumni Assessment—New –- 

Office for State, Tribal, Local, and 

Territorial Support (OSTLTS), Centers 

for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC). 

Background and Brief Description 

The Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention (CDC) works to protect 

America from health, safety and security 

threats, both foreign and in the U.S. 

CDC strives to fulfill this mission, in 

part, through a competent and capable 

public health workforce. One 

mechanism to developing the public 

health workforce is through training 

programs like the Public Health 

Associate Program (PHAP). 

The mission of the Public Health 

Associate Program (PHAP) is to train 

and provide experiential learning to 

early career professionals who 

contribute to the public health 

workforce. PHAP targets recent 

graduates with bachelors or masters 

degrees who are beginning a career in 

public health. Each year, a new cohort 

of up to 200 associates is enrolled in the 

program. 

Associates are CDC employees who 

complete two-year assignments in a host 

site (i.e., a state, tribal, local, or 


rljohnson on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
15792 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 57 / Wednesday, March 25, 2015 / Notices 

territorial health department or nonprofit organization). Host sites design 

their associates’ assignments to meet 

their agency’s unique needs while also 

providing on-the-job experience that 

prepare associates for future careers in 

public health. Associates also receive 

CDC-based training in core public 

health concepts and topics to provide 

the knowledge, skills, and abilities 

necessary to succeed in their 

assignments and provide a foundation 

for a career in public health. 

PHAP hosts an initial in-person 

orientation and annual public health 

training at CDC and offers long-distance 

learning opportunities throughout the 

program. It is the goal of PHAP to have 

alumni seek employment within the 

public health system (i.e., federal, state, 

tribal, local, or territorial health 

agencies, or non-governmental 

organizations), focusing on public 

health or health/healthcare. 

When PHAP originated in 2007, the 

program focused on increasing 

recruitment and enrollment; to date, 

there has been limited systematic 

assessment of the program. As a result, 

one current program priority is focused 

on documenting program outcomes to 

inform refinements to program 

processes and activities, demonstrate 

program impact, and inform decision 

making about future program direction. 

The purpose of this information 

collection request is to gain approval to 

follow alumni career movement and 

progression following participation in 

PHAP. The information collection will 

enable the program to demonstrate 

evidence of program outcomes, 

specifically to document how many 

alumni are retained as members of the 

public health workforce, where alumni 

are employed, what topical and 

functional public health areas alumni 

support (e.g., chronic disease, infectious 

disease, assessment, communications, 

etc.), to what extent alumni support the 

capabilities of public health agencies at 

the federal, state, territorial, local, tribal, 

and non-governmental organizational 

levels, and to what extent PHAP has 

influenced alumni career paths (if at 

all). 

Information will be used to answer 

key program assessment questions, 

specifically: ‘‘Is PHAP a quality 

program?’’, ‘‘Is PHAP an effective 

program?’’, and ‘‘What is the impact of 

PHAP?’’ 

CDC will administer the PHAP 

Alumni Assessment at two different 

time points (1 year post-graduation, and 

3 years post-graduation) to PHAP 

alumni. Assessment questions will 

remain consistent at each 

administration (i.e., 1 year, or 3 years 

post-PHAP graduation). The language, 

however, will be updated for each 

assessment administration to reflect the 

appropriate time period. It is estimated 

that there will be no more than 480 

respondents (160 respondents annually) 

over the course of the three year 

approval period. The estimated time for 

data collection is 8 minutes per 

assessment administration. Assessments 

will be administered electronically; a 

link to the assessment Web site will be 

provided in the email invitation. The 

total annualized estimated burden is 21 

hours. There are no costs to respondents 

except their time. 

ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS

Type of respondent Form name Number of 

respondents 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Average 

burden per 

response 

(in hours) 

PHAP Alumni .................................................. PHAP Alumni Assessment ............................. 160 1 8/60 

Leroy A. Richardson, 

Chief, Information Collection Review Office, 

Office of Scientific Integrity, Office of the 

Associate Director for Science, Office of the 

Director, Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention. 

[FR Doc. 2015–06801 Filed 3–24–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4163–18–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

National Institutes of Health 

Center For Scientific Review; Notice of 

Closed Meetings 

Pursuant to section 10(d) of the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act, as 

amended (5 U.S.C. App.), notice is 

hereby given of the following meetings. 

The meetings will be closed to the 

public in accordance with the 

provisions set forth in sections 

552b(c)(4) and 552b(c)(6), Title 5 U.S.C., 

as amended. The grant applications and 

the discussions could disclose 

confidential trade secrets or commercial 

property such as patentable material, 

and personal information concerning 

individuals associated with the grant 

applications, the disclosure of which 

would constitute a clearly unwarranted 

invasion of personal privacy. 

Name of Committee: Center for Scientific 

Review Special Emphasis Panel; RFA RM14– 

003: Transformative Research Award. 

Date: April 21, 2015. 

Time: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 

Agenda: To review and evaluate grant 

applications. 

Place: Hyatt Regency Bethesda, One 

Bethesda Metro Center, 7400 Wisconsin 

Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814. 

Contact Person: John L Bowers, Ph.D., 

Scientific Review Officer, Center for 

Scientific Review, National Institutes of 

Health, 6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 4170, 

MSC 7806, Bethesda, MD 20892, (301) 435– 

1725, bowersj@csr.nih.gov. 

Name of Committee: Center for Scientific 

Review Special Emphasis Panel; RFA RM14– 

003: Transformative Research Award. 

Date: April 21, 2015. 

Time: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 

Agenda: To review and evaluate grant 

applications. 

Place: Hyatt Regency Bethesda, One 

Bethesda Metro Center, 7400 Wisconsin 

Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814. 

Contact Person: John L Bowers, Ph.D., 

Scientific Review Officer, Center for 

Scientific Review, National Institutes of 

Health, 6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 4170, 

MSC 7806, Bethesda, MD 20892, (301) 435– 

1725, bowersj@csr.nih.gov. 

Name of Committee: Center for Scientific 

Review Special Emphasis Panel; RFA RM13– 

007: New Innovator Award. 

Date: April 23–24, 2015. 

Time: 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. 

Agenda: To review and evaluate grant 

applications. 

Place: Residence Inn Bethesda, 7335 

Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814. 

Contact Person: Rajiv Kumar, Ph.D., Chief, 

MOSS IRG, Center for Scientific Review, 

National Institutes of Health, 6701 Rockledge 

Drive, Room 4216, MSC 7802, Bethesda, MD 

20892, 301–435–1212, kumarra@csr.nih.gov. 

(Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Program Nos. 93.306, Comparative Medicine; 

93.333, Clinical Research, 93.306, 93.333, 

93.337, 93.393–93.396, 93.837–93.844, 

93.846–93.878, 93.892, 93.893, National 

Institutes of Health, HHS) 

Dated: March 20, 2015. 

Anna Snouffer, 

Deputy Director, Office of Federal Advisory 

Committee Policy. 

[FR Doc. 2015–06844 Filed 3–24–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4140–01–P 


rljohnson on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES