Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 57 / Thursday, March 24, 2022 / Notices 16757 

certification to ORI at the conclusion of 

the Supervision Period that his 

participation was not proposed on a 

research project for which an 

application for PHS support was 

submitted and that he has not 

participated in any capacity in PHSsupported research. 

(5) During the Exclusion and 

Supervision Periods, Respondent will 

exclude himself voluntarily from 

serving in any advisory or consultant 

capacity to PHS including, but not 

limited to, service on any PHS advisory 

committee, board, and/or peer review 

committee. 

Dated: March 21, 2022. 

Wanda K. Jones, 

Acting Director, Office of Research Integrity, 

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health. 

[FR Doc. 2022–06246 Filed 3–23–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4150–31–P 

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: 

Peter Tung at 240–669–5483 or 

peter.tung@nih.gov. 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to receive copies of unpublished patent 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: 

Novel Compositions of Matter 

Comprising Stabilized Coronavirus 

Antigens and Their Use 

Description of Technology 

Using a computational design 

methodology, SARS-CoV–2 spike 

proteins containing engineered amino 

acid changes to the receptor binding 

domain (RBD) were designed. These 

engineered spike proteins improved the 

immune response upon immunization 

of animals. An engineered RBD was also 

expressed at greater yield, had increased 

temperature stability, and improved the 

immune response upon immunization 

of animals. Specifically, the disclosed 

RBD designs can be produced 

approximately 7 times more efficiently 

than the native sequence, facilitating 

vaccine manufacturing on a global scale. 

The disclosed designs also have up to 

10 °C higher thermal stability than the 

native sequence, suggesting enhanced 

stability during storage and when in the 

body. Finally, immunization of animals 

with the disclosed antigens produces up 

to 10-fold higher levels of blocking 

antibodies than the native sequence and 

30-fold higher levels of pseudoviral 

neutralizing antibodies. An additional 

RBD protein has been engineered to 

eliminate the need for glycosylation, 

facilitating production and singlecomponent nanoparticle display of the 

antigen. The engineered receptor 

binding domain (RBD) and spike protein 

antigens produce significant 

improvements in pre-clinical animal 

models and may be used to develop 

improved coronavirus vaccines. 

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 

• Novel SARS-CoV–2 vaccine. 

• Improved SARS-CoV–2 diagnostics 

using stabilized antigens. 

• Method of designing vaccine 

candidates or stabilized antigens by 

computational. optimization of amino 

acid identity, followed by additional 

sequence comparison and selection 

(Stabilizer for Protein Expression and 

Epitope Design (SPEEDesign)). 

Competitive Advantages 

• Novel SARS-CoV–2 spike vaccine 

with improved breadth and duration of 

protection. 

• Novel RBD monomer and 

nanoparticle designs that are more 

immunogenic and stable than the 

naturally occurring RBD sequence. 

• Computational method of designing 

vaccine antigens. 

Development Stage 

• Pre-clinical testing of the novel 

immunogens in non-human primates. 

Inventors: Dr. Niraj Tolia and Dr. 

Thayne Dickey, both of NIAID. 

Publications: ‘‘Design of the SARSCoV–2 RBD vaccine antigen improves 

neutralizing antibody response’’, 

https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.09.

443238. 

Intellectual Property: HHS Reference 

No. E–045–2021–0–US–01—U.S. 

Provisional Application No. 63/200,194, 

filed February 18, 2021; PCT/US2022/ 

070744, filed February 1, 2022 

Licensing Contact: To license this 

technology, please contact Peter Tung at 

240–669–5483 or peter.tung@nih.gov. 

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 the invention. For 

collaboration opportunities, please 

contact Peter Tung at 240–669–5483; 

peter.tung@nih.gov. 

Dated: March 17, 2022. 

Surekha Vathyam, 

Deputy Director, Technology Transfer and 

Intellectual Property Office, National Institute 

of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. 

[FR Doc. 2022–06174 Filed 3–23–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4140–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

National Institutes of Health 

Center for Scientific Review; Notice of 

Closed Meeting 

Pursuant to section 10(d) of the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act, as 

amended, notice is hereby given of the 

following meeting. 

The meeting 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; 

Antimicrobial Resistant Infections. 

Date: April 19, 2022. 


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