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Technology Transfer Program
Please Note: The technology listed below is not available to the public at this time. This technology is in the early stage of research and requires further development before it is ready for the marketplace. The VA is currently in the process of identifying potential companies who may be interested in licensing and/or further developing the technology through Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADA). Through cooperative research initiatives such as these, it is our hope and goal that commercial products will be fully developed and made available to benefit veterans and others.
VA TECHNOLOGY OPPORTUNITY BRIEF
A Method for Rapid Screening of Mad Cow Disease and Other Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies
OPPORTUNITY:
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is seeking a commercial partner through a Cooperative Research & Development Agreement (CRADA) or licensing agreement to further develop a novel method for the rapid screening of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
OVERVIEW:
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) are a group of neurodegenerative diseases that affect humans and animals. TSE is responsible for sporadic and variant forms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk, and scrapie in sheep and goats. The infectious agent responsible for these diseases is called a prion, which is a small proteinaceous infectious particle which resists inactivation by procedures that modify nucleic acids. The protease-resistant form of a prion (PrPres) acts as a self-catalyzing enzyme. The catalytic activity of PrPres causes the refolding of native proteins resulting in the formation of insoluble protein aggregates, which impair cellular function and induce cell death. Prion diseases are often called spongiform encephalopathies because microscopic vacuoles appear within the affected brain causing it to appear sponge-like.
The threat of BSE has had a multi-billion dollar impact on the US cattle industry because many nations are not allowing beef imports unless every cow is tested. The US has resisted the testing of all cattle due to the expense, time and labor costs involved with such testing. The current invention describes the novel use of an imaging technology for the detection of BSE in cattle which allows for the rapid, inexpensive testing of every slaughtered animal.
TECHNOLOGY INFORMATION:
The current invention utilizes optical coherence tomography (OCT), an emerging imaging technology based on fiber optics and Michelson interferometry, to detect the appearance of the characteristic vacuoles of BSE in cattle. Vacuoles induced by BSE cause a high degree of back-scatter of light and produce a characteristic, high-contrast image when viewed by OCT. The technology can be utilized for post-mortem and possible ante-mortem screening in a slaughterhouse setting. Additional advantages of the technology include a reduction in screening time with results available prior to product shipment, elimination of the need for biopsy sampling and analysis, cost competitiveness with current technology, and the potential to be integrated into an automated screening process within a high-throughput production environment.
IP STATUS:
U.S. patent application (11/108,118) was filed on April 18, 2005
International patent application was filed on April 18, 2005 (PCT/US2005/013155).
U.S. provisional patent application (60/563,538) was filed on April 19, 2004
Federal register notice published May 4, 2005 (Vol. 70, No. 85) pg. 23299
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Saleem Sheredos
Program Manager
Technology Transfer Program
Veterans Affairs
Office of Research & Development (12TT)
5th Floor
103 South Gay Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
202-380-5080
Fax 410.962.2141
e-mail: saleem.sheredos@va.gov