Comake, Inc. wins NSF SBIR Grant

InteliSpark client, Comake, Inc. has been awarded a SBIR Phase I grant by the National Science Foundation. Their project focuses on enhancing economic growth and innovation, by increasing a worker’s knowledge and ease of access to digital information that is relevant to his/her work.

Businesses today are enormously dependent on the archives of files, communication, and other information contained within systems and services such as network drives, cloud storage, messaging tools, e-mail, to name a few. As these archives grow, they become more difficult to standardize and organize. Resultantly, employees waste great amounts of time trying to locate files and information across complex directories and communication channels.

Centralizing access to files, with an easily searchable and flexible workspace would have the potential to save hours of lost productivity and seemingly duplicate efforts per knowledge worker per week. More so, presenting relevant context around each file and message including other file-versions, related files, discussions, activity events, etc. can help workers with better version control and a better understanding of how projects/ideas unfold.

In their Phase I project, Comake will seek to develop a novel method to address the need stated above. They will develop a software that can automatically map the relationships between digital workflow components, and store them in discrete private databases controlled by the users. Overall, they will construct a method for users to contextually and unobtrusively access all relevant files and information associated with their work. The outcome will ultimately be a new type of software platform that can be hosted in private instances and improves the productivity of its users.

Zymtronix Catalytic Systems, Inc. Awarded NIH Grant

InteliSpark client, Zymtonix Catalytic Systems, has been awarded a Phase I SBIR grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) for their project “A High-Throughput Cell-Free Profiling Platform Integrating High Metabolic Diversity for Chemical Safety Assessment”.

Each year, there are roughly 2,000 new drugs and chemicals that meet the safety requirements of regulators (e.g. the U.S. Food and Drug Administration), and are commercialized. Early screening for unsafe compounds to “fail fast” are essential to research and development programs, prior to animal or human testing. In vitro toxicity assays are the primary method of screening, yet they are unable to assess the contribution of potentially toxic metabolites that the body produces from otherwise safe parent chemicals. Therefore, the integration of metabolic profiling into toxicity screening is crucial to chemical risk, exposure and drug safety assessments.

The cytochrome P450 (CYP) family is one of the most important families of enzymes for human metabolism. About 75% of all xenobiotics and drugs are metabolized in the liver. Using the function of CYPs and other metabolic families in drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics are crucial to increasing the safety of drugs and increasing their development. Current methods mimic liver physiology, yet there are drawbacks such as limited incubation time and metabolite production, the need to statistically evaluate significant background metabolomes, and complex quality control challenges in cell handling techniques.

With their grant funding, Zymtronix will be able to develop a novel, cell-free technology that offers increased metabolite production, enzyme specific metabolomes with little background, and improved quality control, allowing for reduced cost and ease-of-use. They will then move onto Phase II research to explore a larger number of chemical substrates with an expanded set of CYPs/UGTs to determine a critical set of metabolic enzymes that produce a diverse and physiologically relevant metabolome.

Quadrant Biosciences Inc. awarded $2 million Phase II grant

InteliSpark client, Quadrant Biosciences, Inc. has been awarded a Phase II Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant for $2 million from the National Institute of Health (NIH). Their project will continue work from their phase I project, on the refinement and commercialization of an epigenetic autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnostics test, that has been claimed by one NIH proposal reviewer to be “game changing”.

Currently, it is found that approximately 1 out of 59 American children are diagnosed with ASD. This disorder affects their communication and social skills. It also is often seen to cause repetitive patterns and a narrow range of interests in the person. Though a cause for ASD has yet to be determined, early detection can help to significantly improve the lives of those affected. Therefore, Quadrant Biosciences has addressed this by developing an epigenetic test to facilitate early diagnosis, and furthermore accelerating access to treatment.

Quadrant Biosciences’ Phase I study found their diagnostic technology to surpass 85% accuracy; which was found studying more than 500 children ages 18 months – 6 years old utilizing RNA features to differentiate children with ASD from peers with typical development or development delay. The phase II project will expand the study to 5 different academic medical center locations, and involve the recruitment of 750 additional children.

Senti Biosciences, Inc. awarded NIH grant

InteliSpark client, Senti Biosciences Inc. has been awarded an SBIR Phase I grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for their project, “engineering cell therapies to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)”.

IBD affects an estimated 1.5-3 million Americans and costs an estimated $14.6 billion each year, only doubling every decade. IBD is due to dysfunction of the immune system and affects the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, causing patients to experience painful conditions such as diarrhea, abdominal pain and rectal bleeding. It can also lead to extraintestinal complications which include osteoporosis, kidney stones, joint pain, and various soft-tissue ailments. Depression and stress can also contribute to IBD flares. The complications of IBD can become serious and more than 1 out of 10 patients will require surgery within five years of diagnosis. There is no cure for IBD, and a majority of the current treatments have been seen to cause terrible side effects, and found to be not very effective.

Senti Biosciences plans to address the complications of inflammatory bowel disease by the use of their proprietary cell engineering technologies to develop a safer and more efficacious IBD therapy treatment. The technology is engineer to accelerate speed and precision of genetic control circuits implemented into living cells. These gene circuit technologies have the ability to turn mammalian cells into adaptive medicines that can sense disease states and respond by producing combinatorial therapies, offering the right amount of treatment at the right place and time. With unprecedented control over cellular function, Senti’s cell circuit technology has the capability to address diseases that are difficult to treat with existing drugs, especially beneficial for the control of immune-mediated diseases. Senti Biosciences is able to combat the challenges current immunotherapies experience such as keeping the efforts localized, spatially and temporally, by the ability to use the cell circuits and target multiple systemic components.

With the awarded funds, Senti will be able to develop a proof-of-concept data for novel technology in which an engineered genetic circuit will enable mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to sense the activation of a nuclear transcription factor that plays a key role in autoimmune disorders and responds by delivering anti-inflammatory therapeutics. Then proof-of-concept data will be collected from mouse studies of an autoimmune disease. Lastly, Senti will be able to shift efforts towards the completion of the preclinical pharmacokinetics, safety and efficacy studies allowing for an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the FDA.

Wicked Device awarded Phase I SBIR grant from NIH

InteliSpark client, Wicked Device LLC, has been awarded a phase I grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Their project, “a collaborative data collection and analysis for inquiry-based experiential learning for health sciences related STEM education” will focus on developing an engaging, flexible, low-cost and inclusive cloud-based data sharing system for schools, fostering scientific discovery and literacy.

The STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) job opportunity market is expected to grow 8.9% from 2014-2024 and offer wages 29% higher than compared the non-STEM job market, which is only expected to grow 6.4% according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. However, STEM education has failed in keeping up with this growth. It was found that in 2016 of the 64% U.S. high school students that underwent American College Testing, only 20% scored the benchmark or higher for STEM scores. Along with this, an even considerably lower rate was determined for those students in underrepresented racial/ethnic minority groups. The lack of racial/ethnic diversity feeds directly into higher education as well.

Wicked Device’s project will address the need to provide educational opportunities to enhance STEM literacy, with a goal of increasing the likelihood that students of diverse backgrounds will pursue scientific careers. Wicked Device will use their innovation of a shared, cloud-based data collection and analysis platform for collaborative STEM and big data research and education, and adapt it to experiential learning opportunities in health sciences that use survey collection data. The result of this approach will allow for Wicked Device to create a fuller, real time, highly collaborative and highly engaging scientific experience that aligns with how scientific research is conducted in the real world. The technology will allow users/students to collaborate on a global multi-school network, developing innovative experiments and share findings tailored to their personal interests in health sciences.

DexMat, Inc. wins NASA grant

InteliSpark client, DexMat Inc. has been awarded an SBIR Phase I grant from NASA for their project “Robust Lightweight CNT Wiring for Space Systems”. DexMAt has addressed the NASA need for a way of effectively shielding sensitive electronic equipment form electromagnetic interference (EMI) without adding significant weight to space flight vehicles and satellites. With this grant, they will be able to continue their efforts towards developing a novel and highly conductive Carbon nanotube (CNT) electromagnetic interference (EMI) shield product. CNTs are becoming a more popular solution for reducing the weight of the spacecraft, and further reducing the amount of fuel needed to achieve orbit. These CNTs offer 6 times higher strength, 6 times lower density, and at least 25 times higher flexure tolerance than the traditional copper wires used.

During this Phase I project, DexMat will use their CNT yarn to develop a CNT shielding braid that will have the potential to increase the mechanical strength of CNT tape used as a primary EMI shield. They will enhance the potential by producing these braids of different thicknesses and area coverage to augment performance and product appeal of CNT tapes. Through this project, they will also begin conducting accelerated aging tests to determine the impact on mechanical strength of shields made with CNT tapes, CNT yarn braids, and hybrid CNT tape/braid combinations.

PK Biosciences Corporation awarded grant from NIH

InteliSpark client, PK Biosciences Corporation has been awarded a grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) for their project “Development of novel metformin analog for treatment of Parkinson’s Disease”. Parkinson’s disease (PD) affects more than a million Americans. Patients suffer from severe neurological deficits which become incapacitating within 10-20 years of diagnosis. Current treatments fall short in that they fail to stop the progression of the disease, rather, the existing PD treatments focus on alleviating motor symptoms by compensating for neurochemical deficits.  The lack of effective neuroprotective drugs is primarily attributed to a limited understanding of the mechanisms underlying the degeneration of the nigral dopaminergic system. Furthermore, although mitochondrial dysfunction is recognized as the overriding pathophysiological hallmark of PD, no effective treatment options are available to improve mitochondrial function.

Metformin (Met) is an FDA-approved anti-diabetic drug with a remarkable safety profile. This drug was recently found to influence metabolic and cellular processes associated with aging and the development of neurodegenerative disease. However, the usage of Met as a mitochondria-targeting therapeutic is limited by its chemical properties. PK Biosciences found a way to enhance the chemical properties by increasing the mitochondrial concentration of Met from 100 to 100-fold by attaching a lipophilic cation, triphenyl phosphonium (TPP+). The newfound compound, a mitochondria-targeted metformin called MitoMet, is seen as a promising candidate for a drug development program, focusing on generating treatments for aging-related disorders and diseases attributed to mitochondrial dysfunction.

PK Biosciences has been able to study MitoMet and found two exciting properties of the compound; it is brain bioavailable, and leads to substantially higher mitochondrial biogenesis than unmodified Met in cell culture and animal model studies. Therefore, with this grant PK Biosciences will be able to further their studies of MitoMet, and determine its beneficial ability for treatment of Parkinson’s disease.

Advanced Cytometry Instrumentation Systems, LLC awarded NIH Grant

InteliSpark client, Advanced Cytometry Instrumentation Systems LLC has been awarded a Phase I grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) for their project, “novel optical dental imaging technology utilizing targeted upconversion nanoparticles for noninvasive detection of dental caries”. ACIS’ goal is to develop a novel optical dental imaging technology that utilized targeted upconversion nanoparticles for noninvasive detection of dental caries and assess its ability to improve the limit of detection (sensitivity) of dental caries and the specificity (decrease false positive detection rates), compared to currently technology. Dental caries is noted as the most prevalent chronic disease worldwide, affecting almost 100% of adults and 60-90% school-aged children. Current technology and techniques related to dental caries have been found to produce high false-positive detection rates. 

Upconversion materials are excited with nonvisible 980 nm light which has deep tissue penetration and emit light in the visible region. Using this process, ACIS will be able to greatly reduce background autofluorescence of biological samples, resulting in high signal to noise rations to enhance the sensitivity of detection. With this grant, ACIS will be able to address their dual-aim proposal by first assessing the limit of dental caries detection using a peptide-targeted UCNP that adheres to hydroxyapatite in extracted human tooth specimen, and then assess the limit of dental caries detection of a peptide-targeted UCNP that adheres to S. Mutans in cultured bacteria and extracted tooth specimen with carries. ACIS also plans to move forward to a Phase II grant application, in efforts to develop a device, acute and chronic in vivo toxicity of the UCNPs, and in vivo studies for detection of dental caries in animals pertinent for translation to human trials.

N8 Medical, Inc. wins Grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

InteliSpark client, N8 Medical Inc. has been awarded a grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for their Phase I SBIR project “a 3D printed resorbable antimicrobial envelope to prevent infection of implanted cardiac devices”. With this award, N8 Medical will be focusing on using 3D printing to fabricate a biodegradable polycaprolactone (PCL)-based antimicrobial envelope to be fitted outside of cardiac rhythm devices, and ultimately prevent infections after surgical implantation.

Surgery to deliver cardiovascular implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) such as pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, can lead to serious and potentially life-threatening complications such as infection. Untreated device-related infection has been seen to cause mortality rates as high as 66%. There is currently only one antibiotic-impregnated mesh that has been FDA-approved for placement in surgical incisions to reduce infections associated with the implantation of CIEDs. Yet, studies have shown that staphylococci bacteria, which are commonly found in VIED infections, has built resistance to the combination antibiotics used in the mesh.  Also, the antibacterials can promote the growth of fungi, which is a source of rare but highly fatal CIED infections. The bulky implantable mesh envelopes that are currently used increase the surgical pocket size, which not only restricts a patient from physical activities, it also increases the chance of infection. Moreover, the mesh contributes to space constraints of the surgical pocket, which reduces the size of CEIDs that can be emplaced; even though the majority of patients would prefer larger devices that last longer.

N8 Medical has seen a need to address this issue, in efforts of increasing the length of time between device retrievals and reimplantations, improving the allover quality of life for patients, while directly decreasing the risk of infections associated with surgery. To do so, they plan to use 3D printing to develop a biodegradable polycaprolactone (PCL)-based antimicrobial envelop for the outside of cardiac rhythm devices after surgical implantation. Their idea is that a slow degradation (hydrolysis) of the PCL envelope will gradually release a novel antimicrobial compound (CSA-131, a ceragenin) for antimicrobial and anti-fungal activity. N8 Medical’s device will be the first of its kind in preventing fungal colonization of cardiac devices, while still providing superior and longer lasting inhibition of bacterial growth. By using 3D printing techniques, they will also be able to produce more customized devices which will minimize surgical pocket space constraints. With the help of this award, N8 Medicals will be able to move forward to their next efforts, to compose the antibiotic-loaded filament, demonstrate, and evaluate its effectiveness.

Excelsior Biofilms, LLC wins NIH Grant

InteliSpark client Excelsior Biofilms has been awarded a grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), for their project titled “Incorporation of a biofilm dispersion autoinducer into an antimicrobial ointment for the treatment of topical wounds”. Their project will directly address critical or high priority pathogens such as Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus which were recently identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) for which new antibiotics or antimicrobial treatments urgently needed.

Excelsior Biofilms will overcome this by using a biofilm dispersal signal as an adjunctive to conventional antimicrobial therapies. Their previous studies have shown that P. aeruginosa produces a quorum sensing molecule, cis-2-decenoic acids (cis-DA), that is responsible for auto-induction of the native dispersion response in biofilm bacteria. This signaling molecule has been shown to create a change in the physiologic of the bacteria, causing them to disaggregate from a biofilm and alter their physiology, rendering them to more susceptible to antibiotics. Furthermore, the cis-DA has been shown to induce biofilm dispersion in a wide range of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria as well as fungi.

In Excelsior Biofilm’s project, they propose to determine the degree to which cis-DA can improve the anti-biofilm activity of a petroleum jelly-based ointment with embedded antimicrobials. After determining the effectiveness and the non-toxicity to human keratinocytes, they will go onto test the effect in vitro models of wounded and infected skins. Ultimately, their project will improve current treatment and prevention strategies against biofilm infections in topical wounds.