Licensing Opportunities

The National Research Council (NRC) develops many new technologies available for licensing. View some of the available NRC technologies for licensing.

Methylobacterium-based technology platform for the production of recombinant proteins and other Bioproducts
Modern biotechnology uses living cells as cell factories for the production of bioproducts. This novel expression platform uses the non-pathogenic bacterium Methylobacterium extorquens as a natural source for the production of industrially important compounds and as an alternative to current bacterial expression systems for the production of recombinant proteins.

HEK293 mammalian cell platform for high yield production of recombinant proteins, vaccines, and viral vectors
Mammalian expression systems enable the production of vaccines, gene therapy products, and active recombinant proteins (r-proteins) possessing relevant posttranslational modifications. The HEK293 technology platform includes proprietary cell lines derived from well characterized HEK293 cells, expression vectors, serum-free media formulations, and optimized processes for large scale transient and stable gene expression.

Cumate-inducible expression system in eukaryotic cells
The cumate-inducible expression system allows turning on the expression of a given protein only when needed. This system is especially important for proteins that would slow down or even prevent the growth of the very cells that are used to produce the protein. Additional uses include human gene therapy where turning the protein production on or off at a specific time may be needed.

Retractable bivalent polypeptide inhibitors
Bivalent polypeptides are particularly suited for the inhibition of difficult pharmaceutical targets such as protein-protein interactions. When constructed from weaker binding moieties, the high-affinity binding of bivalent molecules is intrinsically inducible or retractable. This approach was successfully demonstrated by developing a new generation of thrombin inhibitors.

Optimized large-scale transient gene expression with a serum-free suspension-growing HEK293 cell line
Large-scale transient gene expression in mammalian cells is becoming an established technology for the fast production of large amounts of recombinant proteins (r-proteins). This technology presents key improvements in expression vectors, serum-free media and process of a system for transient gene expression in human cells that have significantly increased the ease and yield of r-protein production.

Novel carrier proteins derived from Staphylococcus nuclease for high yield peptide production
Genome-scale protein-studies and proteomics are increasing the use of peptides. Their synthesis relies mainly on chemical methods that generally suffer from cost disadvantages and low yield for peptides larger than 40 amino acids. This technology overcomes these drawbacks by providing novel carrier proteins for the production of small or large peptides as recombinant fusion proteins. These carriers confer stability and solubility to the peptides as well as simplify and improve their recovery.

Potent anticoagulants based on peptide inhibitors of thrombin
Thrombosis, or pathogenic blood coagulation, is a major cause of death in Western societies. The current generations of antithrombotic agents have shortcomings which limit and complicate their clinical use. This technology relates to a series of new peptide inhibitors of thrombin designed to improve the efficacy and safety outcomes compared to present-day direct thrombin inhibitors (DTI). Made of only natural amino acids, these new anticoagulants will allow more cost-effective production through recombinant DNA technology.

Fast and high yield recombinant proteins production by large-scale transfection of suspension-growing mammalian cells
Mammalian expression systems allow for the production of active recombinant proteins (r-proteins) that possess relevant post-translational modifications. Current practices for the production of significant amounts of r-proteins with mammalian cells are often long, tedious, or of limited scalability. This technology provides an improved process for the production of r-proteins by the transient transfection of suspension-growing cells. The process carried out in a single step is easily scalable and achieves high expression levels in a very short period of time.