Technology Transfer Licensing Opportunity: Retention Lid for Cell Culture Inserts

Opportunity:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Federal Technology Transfer Act team solicits inquiries from companies seeking to develop government-developed, government-owned intellectual property through licensing arrangements. Specifically, EPA is offering the opportunity to enter into a license agreement to further commercialize, manufacture, and market the following technology. The license agreement(s) granted may be exclusive or non-exclusive in nature and may include exclusivity based on specific fields of use. EPA provides no funding to licensees through its license agreement contracts. This is not a procurement.

Technology Context:

Scientists increasingly use porous membrane inserts (PMIs) to help them replicate physiological conditions in vitro, and PMIs are used by all scientists, from academia, to government, to industrial use. PMIs are widely used in toxicology, oncology, neurology, immunology, infectiology, and other disciplines. Use of PMIs increases biological relevancy and facilitates easier cell and tissue recapture than other types of three-dimensional cell culture. While highly advantageous, PMI-mediated cell culture is not perfect: the inserts require careful handling and technicians often accidently disrupt the established culture system when performing basic cell culture maintenance. This disruption can cause reagent overflow, loss of cell adhesion, or media contamination, all of which can endanger or destroy the cell culture experiment.

Technology Summary:

EPA’s “Retention Lid for Cell Culture Inserts,” invented by Shaun McCullough and Earl Puckett, prevents the unintentional shifting of PMIs during cell culture manipulations, and reduces or eliminates the troublesome disruptions described above. The Retention Lid is applied after PMIs are added to well plates and sits atop the PMIs, locking their three-dimensional position. The Retention Lid can fit all multi-well plates, can be used alone or under plate well lids, and can be made of single use plastic or reusable materials. By stabilizing PMIs, the Retention Lid reduces the potential for error and contamination, saving scientists time and resources incurred after accidental loss.

Potential Technology Applications:

• Research and Development


• Reagent and Consumables Supply


• Diagnostics

Technology Development Status:

Current Technology Readiness Level (TRL): 4

Patent protection is pending for this technology, including U.S. Patent Application 17/888,153 and PCT Application PCT/US2023/024947 both titled, “Retention lid for stabilizing porous membrane inserts during manipulation.”

License Agreement Process Information:

Please visit https://www.epa.gov/ftta for more information on working with EPA’s Federal Technology Transfer Act team and on this technology.

To express interest in this opportunity, please submit a license application form to EPA’s Federal Technology Transfer Act team. Information concerning the license application process and editable license application templates are available at https://www.epa.gov/ftta/epa-licensing-information.

If you have any questions, please e-mail EPA’s Federal Technology Transfer Act team at ftta@epa.gov with the title of this Technology Transfer Licensing Opportunity as listed in this SAM.gov notice and your preferred contact information. For more information about licensing other EPA-developed technologies, please visit https://www.epa.gov/ftta/epa-technologies-available-licensing.

Contact Information

Contracting Office Address: Washington, DC 20460, USA

Primary Point of Contact: EPA’s Federal Technology Transfer Act team, ftta@epa.gov