Technology Licensing Opportunity - This is not a procurement. Antibody Profiling Forensics Identification Technology Opportunity: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), managed and operated by Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (BEA), is offering the opportunity to enter into a license and/or collaborative research agreement to commercialize the Antibody Profiling technology. Background: Historically, biologically identifying individual persons has involved such technologies as fingerprinting, retinal scans, and DNA analysis. Although DNA testing is now commonly used by law enforcement, medicine, and agriculture, it is expensive and time consuming. There is an increasing demand for forensics identification and because of the scarce resources and slow throughput of current methods, a large backlog continues to grow. This backlog causes delays in identifying criminals and holding innocent suspects. In the U.S., this backlog in the DNA testing system has over 90,000 untested samples. Delays in solving crime can be costly and dangerous. Description: Researchers at INL have developed a new technique that can uniquely identify a person by analyzing the antibodies in body fluids. A unique, individual set of antibodies is found in blood, serum, saliva, urine, semen, perspiration, tears, and body tissues, and the antibodies are not affected by illness, medication, or food/drug intake. The identification process is simple. A sample is placed on a membrane strip, and two reagents are added to the strip. A final step produces a colored profile, or bar code. The bar code is unique to the person. One can compare the bar code visually to those from previous tests, or, using computer software, compare it to those stored in a database. The Antibody Profiling technology will serve as a complement to DNA testing, providing a quick screening to reduce the volume of DNA tests needed. Applications: In addition to crime scene forensics, this technology is also being adapted to drug testing in law enforcement and rehabilitation settings. There are potential uses in identity confirmation for security applications also Advantages: The Antibody Profiling technology can be performed in the field with minimal training and yield results faster and more cheaply. It also potentially solves privacy concerns with DNA testing as antibodies are specific to you after conception and based on early life environmental exposures. Impact: The cost and time savings provide significant value, saving 90% of the cost and producing results ten times faster. Having quick and easy results will reduce the number of DNA tests needed which will clear backlogs and lead to quicker identification of suspects and quicker case resolutions. This leads to law enforcement having more time and money to solve crimes. Development: TRL 4. The technology has been tested at bench-scale. Further development is required. IP Status: Multiple US Patents: No. RE46351, “Improved Antibody Profiling Sensitivity through Increased Reporter Antibody Layering,” and No. 8,969,009, “Identification of Discriminant Proteins through Antibody Profiling, Methods and Apparatus for Identifying an Individual.” BEA Docket No. BA-158 and BA-386. INL is seeking to license the above intellectual property to a company with a demonstrated ability to bring such inventions to the market. Exclusive rights in defined fields of use may be available. Please visit Technology Deployment’s website at https://inl.gov/inl-initiatives/technology-deployment for more information on working with INL and the industrial partnering and technology transfer process. Companies interested in learning more about this licensing opportunity should contact Ryan Bills at
[email protected].