Technology Transfer ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ...................... .... Converting scientific knowledge into ransferring technology to equipment, or other resources. Funds the private sector, a pri- must come from the nongovernmental commercially useful mary mission of DOE, is partner. A benefit to participating com- products strongly encouraged in the panies is the opportunity to negotiate T Human Genome Program exclusive licenses for inventions arising ......................... to enhance the nation’s investment in from these collaborations. For periods research and technological competitive- through 1996, the CRADAs in place in ness. Human genome centers at the DOE Human Genome Program in- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory cluded the following: (LBNL), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and Los Alamos • LLNL with Applied Biosystems National Laboratory (LANL) provide Division of Perkin-Elmer Corporation opportunities for private companies to to develop analytical instrumentation collaborate on joint projects or use labo- for faster DNA sequencing instru- ratory resources. These opportunities in- mentation; clude access to information (including • LANL with Amgen, Inc., to develop databases), personnel, and special facili- bioassays for cell growth factors; ties; informal research collaborations; Cooperative Research and Development • Oak Ridge National Laboratory Agreements (CRADAs); and patent and (ORNL) with Darwin Molecular, software licensing. For information on Inc., for mouse models of human recently developed resources, contact immunologic disease; individual genome research centers or • ORNL with Proctor & see Research Highlights, beginning on Gamble, Inc., for p. 9. Many universities have their own analyses of liver regen- Technology Transfer licensing and technology transfer offices. eration in a mouse Legislation Some collaborations and technology- model; and transfer highlights from FY 1994 • Brookhaven National Technology transfer involves converting through FY 1996 are described below. Laboratory with U.S. scientific knowledge into commercially Biochemical Corpora- useful products. Through the 1980s, a se- Collaborations tion to identify proteins ries of laws was enacted to encourage the useful for primer- development of commercial applications Involvement of the private sector in re- walking methods and of federally funded research at universities search and development can facilitate large-scale sequencing. and federal laboratories. Such laws [chiefly successful transfer of technology to the the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, Stevenson- marketplace, and collaborations can Work for Others Wydler Act of 1980, and Federal Technol- speed production of essential tools for ogy Transfer Act of 1986 (Public Laws genome research. A number of interac- In other collaborations, 96-517, 96-480, and 99-502, respectively)] tive projects are now under way, and the LBNL genome center were not aimed specifically at genome or others are in preliminary stages. is participating in a Work even biomedical research. However, such for Others agreement research and the surrounding commercial CRADAs with Amgen to automate biotechnology enterprises clearly have the isolation and charac- benefited from them. The biotechnology One technology-transfer mechanism terization of large num- sector’s success owes much to federal used by DOE national laboratories is bers of mouse cDNAs. policies on technology transfer and intel- the CRADA, a legal agreement with a The center group is focus- lectual property. [Source: U.S. Congress, nongovernmental organization to col- ing on adapting LBNL’s Office of Technology Assessment, Fed- laborate on a defined research project. automated colony-picking eral Technology Transfer and the Human Under a CRADA, the two entities share system to cDNA protocols Genome Project, OTA-BP-EHR-162 scientific and technological expertise, and applying methods to (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government with the governmental organization pro- generate large numbers of Printing Office, September 1995)] viding personnel, services, facilities, filter replicas for colony DOE Human Genome Program Report 21 filter hybridization and subsequent Patenting and analysis. [“Work for Others” projects supported by an agency or organization Licensing Highlights, other than DOE (e.g., NIH, National FY 1994–96 Cancer Institute, or a private company) can be conducted at a DOE installation • A development license for single- because this work is complementary to molecule DNA sequencing replaced DOE research missions and usually re- the 1991–94 CRADA (the first quires multidisciplinary DOE facilities CRADA to be established in the U.S. and technologies.] Human Genome Project) between LANL and Life Technologies, Inc. The Resource for Molecular Cytogenetics (LTI). was established at LBNL and the Uni- • In 1995, a broad patent was awarded versity of California (UC), San Fran- to UC for chromosome painting. This cisco, with the support of the Office of technology uses FISH to stain spe- Biological and Environmental Research cific locations in cells and chromo- and Vysis, Inc. (formerly Imagenetics). somes for diagnosing, imaging, and The Resource aims to apply fluorescent studying chromosomal abnormalities in situ hybridization (FISH) techniques and cancer. Resulting from a 1989 to genetic analysis of human tissue CRADA between LLNL and UC, samples; produce probe reagents; design FISH was licensed exclusively to and develop digital-imaging micros- Vysis. copy; distribute probes, analysis tech- nology, and educational materials in the • Hyseq, Inc., was founded in 1993 by molecular cytogenetic community; and former Argonne National Laboratory transfer useful reagents, processes, and researchers Radoje Drmanac and instruments to the private sector for Radomir Crkvenjakov to commer- commercialization. cialize the sequencing by hybridiza- tion (SBH) technology. Hyseq has exclusive patent rights to a variation known as format 3 of SBH or the “super chip.” Hyseq later won an Ad- NIST Advanced Technology Program vanced Technology Program award from the U.S. National Institute of Several commercial applications of research sponsored by the U.S. Standards and Technology to develop Human Genome Project have been furthered by the Advanced the technology further. Technology Program (ATP) of the U.S. National Institute of Stan- dards and Technology. ATP’s mission is to stimulate economic • Oligomers—short, single-stranded growth and industrial competitiveness by encouraging high-risk DNAs—are crucial reagents for ge- but powerful new technologies. Its Tools for DNA Diagnostics nome research and biomedical diag- program uses collaborations among researchers and industry to nostics. ProtoGene Laboratories, develop (1) cost-effective methods for determining, analyzing, and Inc., was founded to commercialize storing DNA sequences for a wide variety of diagnostic applica- tions ranging from healthcare to agriculture to the environment and new DNA synthesis technology (2) a new and potentially very large market for DNA diagnostic (developed initially at LBNL with systems. completed prototypes at Stanford University) and to offer the first Awardees have included companies developing DNA diagnostic lower-cost custom oligomer syn- chips, more powerful cytogenetic diagnostic techniques based on thesis. The Parallel Array Synthesis comparative genomic hybridization, DNA sequencing instrumen- system, which independently synthe- tation, and DNA analysis technology. Eventually, commercializa- tion of these underlying technologies is expected to generate sizes 96 oligomers per run in a stan- hundreds of thousands of jobs. [800/287-3863, Fax: 301/926-9524, dard 96-well microtiter plate format, [email protected], http://www.atp.nist.gov] shows great promise for significant cost reductions. ProtoGene first 22 DOE Human Genome Program Report, Technology Transfer licensed sales and distribution to LTI cutting-edge, high-risk research with and, later, production rights as well. potential for high payoff in different ar- LTI operates production centers in eas, including human genome research. the United States, Europe, and Japan. Small business firms with fewer than 500 employees are invited to submit • The GRAIL-genQuest sequence- applications. SBIR human genome top- analysis software developed at ics concentrate on innovative and ex- ORNL was licensed by Martin perimental approaches for carrying out Marietta Energy Systems (now the goals of the Human Genome Project Lockheed Martin Energy Research) (see SBIR, p. 63, in Part 2 of this re- to ApoCom, Inc., for pharmaceutical port). The Small Business Technology and biotechnology company re- Transfer (STTR) Program fosters trans- searchers who cannot use the Internet fers between research institutions and because of data-security concerns. small businesses. [DOE SBIR and The public GRAIL-genQuest service STTR contact: Kay Etzler (301/903- remains freely available on the 5867, Fax: -5488, [email protected]. Internet (see box, p. 17). gov), http://sbir.er.doe.gov/sbir, • In 1995, an exclusive license was http://sttr.er.doe.gov/sttr] granted to U.S. Biochemical Corpo- ration for a genetically engineered, heat-stable, DNA-replicating enzyme with much-improved sequencing properties. The enzyme was devel- oped by Stanley Tabor at Harvard University Medical School. • In 1995, an advanced capillary array CCD electrophoresis system for