Plant Scientists Create Novel Non-Toxic Crop Treatment

InteliSpark client, Ascribe Bioscience, wins a phase II SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) grant from the National Institutes of Health. Building on the success of phase I, researchers will finalize the formulation for a novel sprout seed formulation to prevent sprout-related foodborne illnesses.

Between 1996 and 2018, the FDA reported 50 outbreaks linked to contaminated sprouts, resulting in more than an estimated 2,600 cases of foodborne illnesses. Bacterial pathogens such as e. coli, salmonella, and listeria contaminate edible sprouts, including alfalfa, mung bean and clover, and lead to severe outbreaks of foodborne illnesses. Though some seed treatments exist, no treatment is currently available to eliminate pathogens on seeds or sprouts that cause foodborne illness.

The agricultural biotech startup, Ascribe Bioscience, has developed an innovative seed treatment technology that enhances a plant’s natural defense against pathogens. In contrast to combatting pathogens with toxins, this treatment enables farmers to treat crops without harming the environment or human health. Ascribe uses a natural, microbiome-derived molecule that activates plant defenses at the seed stage, thereby giving sprouts an enhanced resistance against contamination by disease-causing bacterial pathogens.

In phase I, Ascribe established the feasibility of the technology by demonstrating that the treatment can prevent Salmonella growth during the sprouting process in alfalfa. In phase II, Ascribe will finalize the formulation for the sprout seed treatment, expand testing against other illness-causing pathogens on a variety of sprout types, and develop methods to enable large-scale production of the active ingredient. This innovative seed treatment has the potential to dramatically improve the safety of edible sprouts and prevent sprout-related foodborne illness outbreaks.

Utilizing Algorithms to Promote Hair and Scalp Health

InteliSpark client, HairDays, wins a phase I SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a data-driven hair intelligence platform that aims to improve hair and scalp health by providing user-specific hair recommendations. HairDays Founder and CEO, Dr. Tiffany St. Bernard, will lead this phase I project.

Individuals, particularly those in underserved, minority communities, often lack access to quality products and care information for their hair type. Hair and scalp issues such as sudden hair loss, burns, breakage, and rashes often stem from ill-suited products and care practices. Furthermore, these issues extend beyond hair and scalp health to an overall decline in mental and physical health.

HairDays, a technology-driven, data company based in Houston, TX, will use big data to provide users hair and scalp recommendations and match them with suitable products and care regimens that will promote hair and scalp health and mitigate issues. The technology will utilize proprietary algorithms and leverage data from peer-reviewed publications and scientific databases to create unique hair profiles for users. As a “personal hair diary,” as the company calls it, users will be able to track and map everything about their hair including hair type, ingredients in products, treatment regimens and product usage. Additionally, the data and user engagement with the platform will inform brands, healthcare providers, and insurance companies with deeper insights into their customers’ hair care-related goals, reoccurring problems, and health conditions.

Tech Startup Advances to Phase II Funding to Develop Cutting-Edge Camera

InteliSpark client, Circle Optics, wins nearly $1 million for a SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) project from the National Science Foundation. This project builds upon phase I success for “Fast Panoramic Image Capture for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.”

UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), sometimes called drones, are an incredibly useful and cost-saving technology that utilizes cameras to capture different types of imagery. By avoiding the deployment of humans in the field, UAVs have the potential to minimize danger, health risks, and labor inefficiencies. Yet, the wider adoption of UAVs across a variety of industries requires a superior camera that can overcome current limitations in image processing. In panoramic photography, parallax errors or perspective errors may arise when multiple photographs are stitched or blended to form a composite image. These challenges lead to expensive and time-sensitive post-production for content creators and producers attempting to integrate many shots for panoramic images.

Circle Optics has been developing a cutting-edge, lightweight, 360-degree panoramic camera that will overcome the problems of parallax error and perspective errors. In other words, what you see through the camera lens is exactly what you get in the photograph. This innovative camera produces real-time high-fidelity images of remote areas otherwise inaccessible which in turn, will reduce labor costs. These benefits may enable the wider adoption of UAVs across industries such as real estate, agriculture, construction, energy, entertainment, oil & gas, and journalism.

Combatting Chronic Diseases through Healthy Food Access and Economic Opportunity

InteliSpark client, Equiti Foods, wins a phase II STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) to further develop their business model for “Good Bowls,” appetizing frozen meals based on the Mediterranean diet with local southern flavors.

Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes are the leading cause of death and disability in America and are a major contributor to our nation’s $3.8 trillion in annual health care costs. Poor nutrition is a risk factor for developing chronic diseases which makes low-income, minority and rural communities that lack access to affordable, nutritious foods at a higher risk of developing a chronic disease.  Rural poverty and lack of economic opportunities for upward mobility, exacerbated by discrimination against black farmers, contribute to lack of access to affordable, nutritious food.

Equiti Foods, a mission-driven start-up, is taking on this public health crisis by addressing both healthy food access and economic opportunity. Good Bowls are good-tasting frozen foods based on the Mediterranean diet that integrate southern staple foods like collard greens, sweet potatoes, peppers, corn and beans. Through the creation of Good Bowls, Equiti Foods is striving to build a network of local producers and to locally source as many ingredients for their frozen meals as possible, thereby opening up economic opportunities in communities. They are also working to provide subsidized Good Bowls to communities that might not otherwise have access to healthy food options. Through a sliding-scale model, these locally sourced meals are sold at a lower price in corner stores and at a higher price in high-end stores.

Nutrition professor and Equiti Foods founder, Dr. Alice Ammerman, will lead this project to address the following aims:

1.       Establish Employee Wellness Committees to refine implementation strategies and facilitate engagement with blue-collar workers and families;

2.       Test the impact of subsidized Good Bowls availability and promotion alone (Good Bowls) relative to Good Bowls + the phone App nudge and home- based education program (Nudge/Education); and

3.       Further develop and test the cost-offset model using both direct-to-consumer and retail sales to assess the volume and pricing of high-end sales needed to support the social mission.

A New Therapeutic Shows Promise in Treating Type 2 Diabetes

InteliSpark client, Senseion Therapeutics, Inc., advances to Phase II of their SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) project, winning nearly $1 million from the National Institutes of Health to build on their work conducted in Phase I of the project in developing a new therapeutic for the treatment and prevention of Type 2 diabetes.

According to the Centers of Disease Control, 34.2 million Americans are living with diabetes, of which 90-95% have type 2 diabetes. The medical costs and loss of work and wages for patients with diabetes total $327 billion yearly. Diabetes can lead to serious health outcomes including adverse cardiovascular events.

Prior to phase I, researchers discovered a signaling pathway that regulates both insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion and identified a small molecule modulator that appears to normalize both glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity. They believed that by modulating the signaling, they could develop new drugs to treat the disease.

In phase I, researchers tested the feasibility of this treatment in the lab. In phase II, Dr. Daniel Lerner, CEO of Senseion Therapeutics, will co-lead the project with Dr. Rajan Sah, Associate Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, to examine the therapeutic tractability of the modulators for the treatment of patients with Type 2 diabetes and its impact on cardiovascular parameters. Drug development efforts in phase II will expand their understanding of this novel therapeutic to be able to do clinical trials. They plan to submit an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the FDA in in the beginning of 2023.

Novel Gene Therapy May Prevent Blindness in Glaucoma Patients

InteliSpark client, Advanced Vision Technologies, wins a phase I STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) grant from the National Eye Institute at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. John Danias, a clinician scientist, will lead this project in developing a novel gene therapy to treat high intraocular pressure (IOP), or high fluid pressure in the eye, that is known to increase the risk for both development and progression of blindness in glaucoma patients.

Glaucoma, a disease that damages the eye’s optic nerve, is the second cause of blindness worldwide with around 3 million Americans living with the disease currently. The economic impact of the disease on the US government is around $1.5 billion annually including health care costs, social security benefits and lost income tax revenues.

Open angle glaucoma (OAG), the most common form of the disease, results in increased eye pressure and is a leading cause of blindness. While there is no cure yet for Glaucoma, early detection and treatment may prevent further vision loss. Traditional therapies, in the form of eye drops, require regular administration over long periods of time which often leads to issues with patient adherence and managing the disease effectively. Furthermore, traditional therapies often do not address the underlying cause of the disease.

To meet the need for more effective treatments, Advanced Vision Technologies will target the underlying pathology of the disease in the outflow tissues by knocking down SERPINE1, a gene with critical effects in regulating outflow facility. If phase I is successful in confirming the gene therapy target, phase II will develop and test the efficacy of therapeutics to the outflow tissues in animal studies, thus setting the foundation for human clinical trials in the future. This treatment will address the issue of patient adherence found in traditional therapies by taking the patient out of the delivery system and may ultimately prevent vision loss for millions of patients across the country.

A New Drug May Slow Cognitive Decline in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease

InteliSpark client, Novoron Bioscience wins a phase I SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) grant from the National  Institute on Aging to evaluate the potential of a novel therapeutic in its ability to restrict the spread of tau, a protein correlated with cognitive decline found in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions.

The number of Americans with Alzheimer’s disease is growing with more than 6.5 million living with the disease currently and nearly 13 million projected to have Alzheimer’s dementia by 2050. There is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, but a recent discovery has shown that LRP1, a receptor-related protein, regulates tau uptake and spread in the brain, indicating that it may slow the progression of various tauopathies.

Novoron Bioscience, a biotechnology company based in San Diego, is developing a novel drug targeting LRP1 to regulate tau in the brain and ultimately slow cognitive decline in patients. This phase I project, co-led by Dr. Travis Stiles, President & CEO of Novoron Bioscience, and Dr. Kenneth S. Kosik, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of California, Santa Barbara, will evaluate the therapeutic potential of this drug in restricting the spread of tau in the rodent brain.

Creating a Strong STEM Workforce through Innovative Education

InteliSpark client, Mechanismic, Inc., wins a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop SnappyXO Design, a new product for design-driven robotics education for K-12 schools, freshman college programs, and STEM summer camps.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs in computer and information technology fields are projected to grow 13% from 2020 to 2030. With a high median annual wage for tech jobs and a job market that currently has 2.5 million vacant STEM jobs, the impetus to educate and prepare the next generation in STEM has never been greater.  

Mechanismic, Inc, a tech startup based in New York, recognizes this knowledge and skills gap and is designing and manufacturing innovative educational robotic products for K-12 schools, colleges, and other educational learning centers. Mechanismic, in partnership with Stony Brook Univiersity, will further develop their SnappyXO Design, “the world’s first design-driven robotics education platform consisting of a 1) patented hardware, 2) apps for designing robot motions and controlling them, 3) curriculum, tutorials, and professional development material, and 4) educational services in the field of mechanical engineering, electronics, and computer programming in the context of engineering design.”

This project also seeks to narrow the gap of underrepresented populations, particularly women and ethnic minorities, in having access to quality STEM education. Mechanismic aims to ensure their educational platform is affordable, equitable, and inclusive for students at all grade levels.

As Mechanismic has advanced successfully to phase II in this STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) program, this project shows great potential in equipping the next generation with the necessary knowledge and skills to enter a STEM-driven job market.

Protecting our Planet through Innovative Recycling Technology

InteliSpark client, Intermix Performance Materials, Inc., wins a phase I STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) grant from the Department of Energy to develop technology that increases the efficiency and lowers the costs of recycling mixed-plastics.

Plastic, a convenient and widely used material found in households and industries all across the country, is a difficult material to recycle. The challenge with two of the most common plastics, polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) that also make up a large faction of waste, is that they must be processed separately when recycled. They must be sorted first at a material recovery facility which makes recycling these plastics incredibly inefficient and costly. Furthermore, when plastics are recycled, their properties change and the end result is often a lower-quality material.

To address these challenges, Intermix Performance Materials, has developed a recycling technology that not only bypasses the step of sorting mixed plastics but also creates high-quality plastics as an end result. Researchers have developed “compatibilizers,” or chemicals that allow the two plastics, PP and PE, to be recycled together. Their novel chemical recycling takes plastic apart at the molecular level and creates plastic that is high in quality as an end result.

This innovative recycling technology that was developed at Cornell University may make a great positive impact on our environment through increased recycling rates.

Innovations in Diagnostics to Address the Rise of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis

InteliSpark client, Inso Biosciences, Inc. (formerly Tico Biosciences), wins a grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a facile, microfluidic method for host cell and DNA removal that will enhance the detection of mycobacterium tuberculosis during whole-genome sequencing.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes tuberculosis (TB), attacks the lungs and damages other parts of the body. In 2019, TB was one of the top ten causes of death globally, with an estimated 10 million people becoming ill and 1.4 million dying from the disease. TB is treatable, but a rise in multidrug-resistant TB in recent years poses a threat in getting this infectious disease under control.

Effective diagnosis and screening are more important than ever in addressing this public health issue. However, current TB diagnostics are severely inadequate, requiring sample preparation that is labor-intensive, slow, prone to errors, and sample contamination. Inso Biosciences is addressing these limitations by utilizing microfluidics technologies that promises to enhance the detection of TB and will enable rapid and cost-effective whole-genome sequencing, a way to obtain high-level information about mycobacterium tuberculosis using just one test.

Dr. Harvey Tian, CEO of Inso Biosciences, will lead this phase I SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) project. Technologies developed at Cornell University led to the founding of Inso Biosciences.