SPECIAL NOTICE
A -- TECHNOLOGY/BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY Nanolipoprotein Constructs for Just-in-Time Vaccines
- Notice Date
- 6/18/2009
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 238990
— All Other Specialty Trade Contractors
- Contracting Office
- Department of Energy, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (DOE Contractor), Industrial Partnerships & Commercialization, 7000 East Avenue, L-795, Livermore, California, 94550
- ZIP Code
- 94550
- Solicitation Number
- FBO206-09
- Archive Date
- 7/21/2009
- Point of Contact
- Connie L Pitcock, Phone: 925-422-1072
- E-Mail Address
-
pitcock1@llnl.gov
(pitcock1@llnl.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- TECHNOLOGY/BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY Nanolipoprotein Constructs for Just-in-Time Vaccines Opportunity: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), operated by the Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS), LLC under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is offering the opportunity to license and further develop vaccines using nanolipoprotein constructs. Background: Vaccine development is an expensive, multi-year effort from conception to patient administration. The problems of time and expense with vaccine development are often associated with "whole microbe"-based vaccine approach and classical methods of production, e.g. fertilized chicken eggs. Classic passivation of an infectious microbial agent by chemical treatment or biological re-engineering to modify known/established virulent genes, requires substantial resource investments and regulatory approval. Yet, despite these hurdles, vaccines are one of the most effective ways to prevent infectious disease proliferation. With the advent of modern molecular biology methods, sub-unit vaccines have become an interesting alternative. This approach involves cloning and expression of immunogenic microbial proteins only, not growing and attenuating live microbes. While more convenient, subunit vaccines have their challenges, e.g. antigen/immunogen epitope discovery (isolating the agent responsible for eliciting a protective immune response), epitope purification and epitope conjugation remain significant challenges. This approach, however, holds the potential for enabling rapid development of new protective vaccines consistent with responding to emerging threats. The possibility of bioterrorism as well as emerging infectious pathogens (West Nile Virus, Yellow Fever, Coronaviruses, etc.) require novel, rapid and inexpensive approaches to accelerate vaccine development to protect against these threats. Description: LLNL is interested in developing a universal platform for the delivery and presentation of any protein antigen, including toxin, viral and bacterial proteins, with apparent concomitant adjuvant activity to enhance the host immune response. Advantages: LLNL and University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) have used nickel-chelating nanolipoprotein particles (Ni-NLPs) as a universal vaccine platform for five main reasons: (1) the approach is scalable enabling chemical manufacturing approaches, avoiding timely and expensive bio-processing, i.e., growing in fertilized chicken eggs; (2) nickel-chelating ability of the Ni-NLPs allows conjugation of any (His)-tagged protein or other immunogenic molecule, opening the door to thousands of potential antigens; (3) Ni-NLPs can act as articulate delivery systems, similar in size to certain pathogens while also enabling patterned, oriented and concentrated/clustered antigen presentation; (4) formation of Ni-NLPs is amenable to the incorporation of secondary additives to enhance immune response (e.g. non-human scaffold proteins, chemokines, cytokines, pattern-recognition receptor agonists and immune stimulatory molecules, synthetic or natural, known or unknown at this time); and (5) additional adjuvants, can be incorporated into Ni-NLPs for further enhanced immunogenic ability. For more information on Ni-NLPs see a recent publication in Bioconjugate Chemistry, 2009, Vol. 20, Issue 3, pp.460-465. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1021/bc8003155 Potential Applications: This invention can be developed for rapid sub-unit vaccine development. By conjugating any of the thousands of His-tagged biomolecules, e.g. proteins, peptides, toxins, carbohydrates and the like to Ni-NLP constructs, an effective protective vaccine construct can be realized. Protection of armed forces and the general public can be realized potentially with direct, systematic and compliant product development. Development Status: Initial tests have been performed in mice inoculated with West Nile Virus (WNV) conjugated with Ni-NLPs and then challenged with WNV. The survival rate is greater than eighty percent relative to non-inoculated control animals. Other systems LLNL is looking to test include tularemia, H5/NI, H1/N1, etc. LLNL has filed a U.S. Patent application and the technology is being further developed. LLNL is seeking industry partners with a demonstrated ability to bring such inventions to the market. Moving critical technology beyond the Laboratory to the commercial world helps our licensees gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. All licensing activities are conducted under policies relating to the strict nondisclosure of company proprietary information. Please visit the IPO website at http://ipo.llnl.gov/workwithus/partneringprocess.php for more information on working with LLNL and the industrial partnering and technology transfer process. Note: THIS IS NOT A PROCUREMENT. Companies interested in commercializing LLNL's Nanolipoprotein Constructs for Just-in-Time Vaccines should provide a written statement of interest, which includes the following: 1. Company Name and address. 2. The name, address, and telephone number of a point of contact. •3. A description of corporate expertise and facilities relevant to commercializing this technology. Written responses should be directed to: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Industrial Partnerships Office P.O. Box 808, L-795 Livermore, CA 94551-0808 Attention: FBO 206-09 Please provide your written statement within thirty (30) days from the date this announcement is published to ensure consideration of your interest in LLNL's Nanolipoprotein Constructs for Just-in-Ttime Vaccines.
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FBO.gov Permalink
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- Record
- SN01848693-W 20090620/090618234837-d32e68f25419d18c9087d630dbcf7ea7 (fbodaily.com)
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