Intellectual Property Office

Non-Confidential Disclosures

"Universal Strategy for Virus Attenuation"

PSU Inv. Disc. No 2006-3279

Field of the Invention:

"Universal Strategy for Virus Attenuation"

Inventors:

Craig E. Cameron, Jamie J. Arnold, Christian Castro

Invention status:

Patent Pending.

Background:

The rate-limiting step for live-virus vaccine development is the identification of a suitable attenuated virus. Isolation of attenuated viruses is a random, slow process that often involves passage of the virus in "foreign" or non-permissive cell lines. The availability of a universal strategy for virus attenuation would remove this bottleneck in vaccine development, paving the way for rapid, effective response to viruses with regular intervals of antigenic shift (e.g. influenza virus), newly emerging and re-emerging viruses (e.g. SARS coronavirus, West Nile virus or Dengue virus), or agents of terror and biological weapons (e.g. ebola virus or smallpox virus).

Invention description:

We have discovered a novel method to attenuate any class of virus. Our in vivo experiments have confirmed that a virus attenuated via our method is able to confer protection against a lethal challenge with the wild-type virus

Advantages:

• A universal, rapid, and adaptable approach to the production of attenuated viruses for multiple purposes, including the development of live-virus vaccine candidates.
  

Contact:

James F. Kolonay, Ph.D.
Technology Licensing Officer
Intellectual Property Office
113 Technology Center
The Pennsylvania State Univ.
University Park, PA 16802-7000
Phone: (814) 863-7070
Fax: (814) 865-3591
E-mail: jfk11@psu.edu