Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 110 / Thursday, June 10, 2021 / Notices 30967 

Hurley at 240–669–5092 or 

benjamin.hurley@nih.gov, and reference 

E–076–2019. 

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 this invention. For 

collaboration opportunities, please 

contact Benjamin Hurley; (240) 669– 

5092, benjamin.hurley@nih.gov. 

Dated: June 2, 2021. 

Surekha Vathyam, 

Deputy Director, Technology Transfer and 

Intellectual Property Office, National Institute 

of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. 

[FR Doc. 2021–12182 Filed 6–9–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4140–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

National Institutes of Health 

National Heart, Lung, and Blood 

Institute; 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: National Heart, Lung, 

and Blood Institute Special Emphasis Panel; 

NHLBI Career Development Awards—K99. 

Date: July 14, 2021. 

Time: 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. 

Agenda: To review and evaluate grant 

applications. 

Place: National Institutes of Health, 6705 

Rockledge Drive, Bethesda, MD 20817 

(Virtual Meeting). 

Contact Person: Lindsay M. Garvin, Ph.D., 

Scientific Review Officer, Office of Scientific 

Review/DERA, National Heart, Lung, and 

Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, 

6705 Rockledge Drive, Suite 208–Y, 

Bethesda, MD 20892, (301) 827–7911, 

lindsay.garvin@nih.gov. 

(Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Program Nos. 93.233, National Center for 

Sleep Disorders Research; 93.837, Heart and 

Vascular Diseases Research; 93.838, Lung 

Diseases Research; 93.839, Blood Diseases 

and Resources Research, National Institutes 

of Health, HHS) 

Dated: June 4, 2021. 

David W. Freeman, 

Program Analyst, Office of Federal Advisory 

Committee Policy. 

[FR Doc. 2021–12139 Filed 6–9–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4140–01–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: 

Benjamin Hurley at 240–669–5092; 

benjamin.hurley@nih.gov. Licensing 

information may be obtained by 

communicating with 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 information 

related to the invention. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Technology description follows: 

Producing Modified Vaccinia Ankara 

(MVA) Virus With Continuous Cell 

Lines: Modifications of Mammalian 

Host Cells for Increasing MVA Vaccine 

Production Yield 

Description of Technology: Modified 

vaccinia Ankara (MVA) is a well-known 

and important platform for vaccine 

development, and many MVA-based 

vaccine trials are currently underway to 

prevent a variety of microbial diseases. 

While MVA shows promise as a vaccine 

platform, wide-scale industry use of 

MVA may be currently held back due to 

MVA’s severe host-restriction, and the 

fact that large bulks of culture cells are 

presently required to produce enough 

product for mass commercial use. At 

present, the range of commonly-used 

culture cells that can support high-titer 

production of MVA is limited to chick 

embryo fibroblast (CEF) cells. 

Unfortunately, the production of CEF 

cells in bulk involves many slow and 

inefficient manufacturing steps both 

upstream and downstream. Therefore, 

especially in the context of pandemic 

preparedness, continuous cell lines that 

allow for efficient, large-scale MVA 

propagation would be beneficial. 

There is a clear need for an expanded 

range of cell lines that are easily 

maintained in culture, and that allow 

for the production of high titers of 

infectious MVA virus. The present 

invention provides methods of 

modifying non-permissive cell lines in a 

way that allows for production of MVA. 

Scientists at NIAID have made a 

breakthrough discovery by identifying 

the mammalian Zinc finger antiviral 

protein (ZAP) as a restriction factor that 

inhibits MVA growth in mammalian 

cells. They have demonstrated that ZAP 

abrogation enhanced replication of the 

MVA in a range of mammalian cells that 

are normally non-permissive for MVA 

replication. In particular, CRISPR/Cas9 

inactivation of ZAP was shown to 

produce stable cell lines capable of 

supporting MVA replication. 

Additionally, recombinant host cells 

engineered to produce vaccinia virus 

proteins C12L and C16L have been 

shown to overcome the host range 

inhibition of the MVA. 

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: 

• Vaccine Development: 

Recombinant continuous cell lines 

useful for efficient, large-scale 

production of MVA. 

• May offer improved vaccine 

production scaling-response times, 

enhancing epidemic/pandemic 

preparedness. 

Competitive Advantages: 

• Overcomes inefficiencies associated 

with CEF production of MVA-based 

vaccines. 

Inventors: Bernard Moss, Linda Wyatt, 

Chen Peng, Gilad Sivan, Shira 

Glushakow-Smith, all of NIAID. 

Publications: 

Liu R, Mendez-Rios JD, Peng C, et al. SPI– 

1 is a missing host-range factor required 

for replication of the attenuated modified 

vaccinia Ankara (MVA) vaccine vector in 

human cells.; PLoS Pathog. 2019. 

Peng C, Moss B. Repair of a previously 

uncharacterized second host-range gene 

contributes to full replication of 

modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) 

in human cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S 

A. 2020. 

Peng, C, Wyatt, L, Glushakow-Smith, SG, LalVerDate Sep<11>2014 17:15 Jun 09, 2021 Jkt 253001 PO 00000 Frm 00058 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 E:\FR\FM\10JNN1.SGM 10JNN1

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