Award-Winning Technology May Improve Infant Formula

InteliSpark client, Zymtronix, is awarded $2.9 million from the National Institutes of Health via the Small Business Innovation Research program. Researchers will have the opportunity to accelerate their work in the production of complex human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) based on their innovative immobilized enzyme technology.

HMOs, the third largest component found in human breast milk, lead to stronger immune systems in breast-fed babies compared to formula-fed babies. HMOs feed good bacteria in the gut and are also absorbed into the baby’s blood stream to support the developing immune system. Broader research is also investigating the possibility of prebiotic, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, antimicrobial, and even antiviral properties in HMOs.

According to the Centers of Disease Control, 60% of mothers reported not breastfeeding for as long as they intended to and had to rely on formula. Factors contributing to stopping breastfeeding early include, but are not limited to, issues with lactation and latching, concerns about infant nutrition and weight, unsupportive work policies or lack of maternal leave. For some mothers, breastfeeding is not an option even from the time of birth of their child. Researchers have attempted to introduce HMOs into infant formula, but the biggest challenge is accessibility and affordability of complex synthetic glycans.  

As a recipient of this competitive award, Zymtronix has the potential to advance their work in the production of HMOs to improve infant formula. The company’s unique technology in enzyme immobilization significantly improves HMO production efficiency while also establishes substantial cost savings.

Federal Funding May Advance the Development of a Safer MRI

InteliSpark client, Ferric Contrast, Inc., wins a Small Business Technology Transfer grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for phase II of their project to develop safer compounds used in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) that will be particularly beneficial for patients who have frequent scans or suffer from chronic kidney disease.

Recent studies indicate that patients with kidney disease that have accumulated gadolinium, a chemical substance commonly used in contrast agents for a MRI, developed nephrogenic systemic fibrosis, a disease of fibrosis of the skin and internal organs. Also, further research shows that patients with normal kidney function are also at risk for accumulating gadolinium in the brain during MRI scans.

To address this health risk, Ferric Contrast began developing new iron-based compounds as safer contrast agents for MRI through their phase I NSF funding. In successfully advancing to phase II funding, Ferric Contrast will further develop their new compounds and prepare for toxicity studies in mice, imaging studies in rats, as well as histology and metabolic panels.

Dr. Patrick Burns, Lead Chemist at Ferric Contrast, and Dr. Janet Morrow, Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of Ferric Contrast, will work in partnership with the University of Buffalo in this project that has the potential to develop safer medical imaging.

How Increased Environmental Health Literacy May Improve Quality of Life

InteliSpark client, ArchieMD, is awarded a Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop an educational environmental health literacy toolkit in the form of a smartphone app for secondary and post-secondary students.

Every adult should have the skills and confidence to use data to make decisions or solve problems in the real world. But that is not always the case, particularly when it comes to making decisions about maintaining or improving health. Low levels of numerical and analytical skills and science literacy in individuals may prevent them from understanding environmental data and quantitative risk information. This may lead to exposure to unfavorable environmental conditions that contribute to poorer health outcomes and decreased quality of life.  

ArchieMD, a company that provides visually-based health science education, is addressing this issue by developing a multimedia toolkit to teach environmental health literacy topics related to superfund sites. Superfund sites are polluted areas in the United States where hazardous waste was dumped or improperly managed such as manufacturing facilities, processing plants, landfills and mining sites. ArchieMD believes that building literacy around environmental health risks will enable individuals and communities to make informed decisions to maintain or improve quality of life.

In phase I of this federally-funded project, researchers will develop an interactive multimedia smart phone app as an education tool. The aim is to instill foundational environmental health content knowledge in secondary and post-secondary students as well as help them acquire written, numerical and analytical skills. Students will select a polluted site in their vicinity and will learn how to assess and then manage the health risks associated with the environmental exposures of that site. Researchers expect that increased awareness will lead to changes in behavior, ultimately improving quality of life.

Federal Funding Enables Potential Advances in 5G wireless applications

InteliSpark client, Mosaic Microsystems LLC.,  is awarded a research grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for Phase II of their project to develop a packaging platform for the next generation communications electronics such as 5G wireless applications.

The tech industry is constantly evolving to produce higher performance technologies. In particular, the microelectronics industry is always looking for innovative technologies to create devices that are smaller, more power efficient, and lightweight. With the emergence of 5G, power loss is a major concern.

Mosaic Microsystems is addressing this issue through their innovative packaging technology based on their novel thin glass technology. Researchers have successfully advanced to Phase II NSF funding, demonstrating great promise in their technology to improve power efficiency and enable faster communications. The new packaging platform has the possibility for broad commercial and defense applications such as, but not limited to, mobile devices and infrastructure, automotive radar, and internet of things.

Biotech Start-up Receives a Grant to Develop an Antidote to a Silent Killer

InteliSpark client, Globin Solutions, Inc. receives a research grant of $249,993 from the National Institutes of Health for their project to develop a novel antidote in the treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning.

In the US, around 50,000 people visit the emergency room and at least 430 people die annually due to carbon monoxide poisoning. Those who survive often experience long-term neurocognitive impairments. The current treatment methods are either breathing pure oxygen or spending time in a pressurized oxygen chamber known as hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Yet, only 300 hyperbaric oxygen centers exist in the US which greatly reduces access and efficacy of this therapy. 

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have spent years trying to find a better treatment method for this silent killer. Their recent discovery that high affinity heme-based molecules can remove CO from red blood cells to reverse CO poisoning led them to engineer an even better mutant version of the protein. In animal studies, the researchers found that their protein was significantly better and faster than pure oxygen treatment at removing CO.  Their antidote removed CO in only 23 seconds compared to oxygen therapy which removed CO in 25 minutes.

This lab breakthrough led to the founding of the biotech start-up, Globin Solutions, Inc. in 2017. In the following year, the company raised $5 million in funding, which they plan to leverage as cost-share for project expenses in this recently awarded Small Business Technology Transfer grant.  Funding will enable the research team led by Dr. Jesus Tejero Bravo, Chief Scientific Officer at Globin Solutions, to submit an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the U.S. FDA and begin clinical trials. This novel antidotal therapy has the potential to significantly decrease the fatality rates and neurocognitive impairments caused from CO poisoning.  

TCPoly Researchers Will Develop New Materials to Cool Electronic Devices

InteliSpark client, TCPoly, Inc., wins a phase I SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) grant from NSF (National Science Foundation) to develop thermally conductive 3D printing materials for cooling of high-performance electronic devices.

Overheating of compact, energy-dense electronic devices is a growing challenge that results in poor performance and device failure, particularly in the transportation and energy related technologies industries. Standard thermally conductive plastic composites tend to have poor mechanical properties, are high in costs, are unable to 3D print reliably, and have limited thermal conductivity. Dr. Thomas Bougher, Co-Founder and CTO at the start-up TCPoly, will lead a team of researchers in developing 3D printing composite materials that will conduct heat 1000 times higher than standard plastics and will have the ability to be printed on low cost 3D printers.

This project may aid in the creation of a new market for lightweight, corrosion-resistant, and high-performance heat transfer technologies that can significantly increase the performance of electronic devices. Drs. Matt Smith and Thomas Bougher, Co-Founders of TCPoly, were conducting materials research as PhD students at Georgia Tech before launching their start-up in 2017 to develop their novel materials for 3D printing.

Researchers are Developing a Novel Battery for High-Powered Vehicles and Systems

InteliSpark client, Vishwa Robotics and Automation, LLC, secures research funding from the Department of Defense – US Navy for their project, “Advanced Non-Electrochemical Energy Storage Technology.”

Battery systems power unmanned undersea and surface vehicles, marine sensors, propulsion systems, electronics and back-up power systems in support of the United States Naval operations across the globe. The challenge is that current technology is struggling to meet the need for a battery that has both high specific energy and high energy density, two features required for high-powered systems. The US Navy must also consider safety risks, such as fires and environmental and operating risks, and performance across environments with varying temperature and pressure, in powering their vehicles and systems.

Vishwa Robotics, a Massachusetts-based startup, is attempting to address these significant technical challenges through the creation of a novel, non-electrochemical battery that has much higher specific power and energy density than lithium-ion batteries. The US Navy acknowledges the great promise in this new technology by funding phase I of this research project through the competitive Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.

Vishwa Robotics’ mission in “engineering robotic systems to create a better future for mankind” aligns to the SBIR’s program goal to stimulate technological innovation in the private sector for broad societal benefits.

Researchers Are Developing Bio-Nano-Chip Technology to Improve Treatment for Opioid Misuse

InteliSpark client SensoDX, LLC, was awarded $760,245 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for phase II of their project, “Next Generation Tools for Onsite Monitoring and Treatment of Drug Abuse-Dependent Persons.”

Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) is an enormous economic burden in the U.S. The overall associated costs for OUD have risen from $11.8 billion in 2001 to $78.5 billion in 2016. Even more devastating is the loss of life; over ten million people in the U.S. misused opioids in 2018, and on average, 130 Americans die every day of opioid overdose.

What differentiates OUD from other substance use disorders is the physical dependence on opioids within a very short period of time. Also, people have difficulty quitting due to extreme withdrawal symptoms which only encourages continued use.

Medications that reduce withdrawal systems such as methadone, buprenorphine or naltrexone show promise in treating addiction, but current drug testing tools that practitioners use to monitor patient progress have significant limitations. Existing drug tests are slow in yielding results, require tedious sample processing, are non-quantitative, and have limited capacity in detecting multiple opioids at once.

To meet this need for improved drug testing as part of comprehensive services to support patient recovery, SensoDX has developed a drug of abuse testing-on-a chip technology that is highly sensitive and capable of detecting multiple drugs in one test. In this phase II funded Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) project, researchers will expand the test’s capability to detecting seven drugs and will validate its clinical efficacy in patients undergoing medication-assisted treatment.

Dr. Robert Mehalso, CEO of SensoDX and nanotechnology expert, is leading this research effort. If Mehalso and the research team are able to bring this drug screen platform to market successfully, it may have tremendous social and economic benefits on society.

Combatting the Opioid Overdose Crisis through Research on Innovative Pain Treatment

InteliSpark client, Young BioPharma, LLC, wins an award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct research on a novel drug to treat chronic pain.

Around 100 million Americans live with chronic pain and pay a high price for it in direct medical treatment costs and lost productivity. Chronic pain is linked to decreased mobility, dependence on opioids, anxiety and depression, and reduced quality of life. The use of opioids to treat chronic pain has amplified drug abuse and addiction, culminating in the drug overdose deaths of 70,237 Americans in 2017.  

To meet this critical need for alternative pain treatment, Young BioPharma, has explored safe and effective, nature product-based therapies for the treatment of chronic pain. Researchers have discovered a novel compound that can be employed at higher doses in clinical trials through more effective intravenous and oral administrations in comparison to other plant-derived medicines. 

In phase I of this Small Business Research Innovation (SBIR) project, the research team led by entrepreneur Dr. Young Shen, will test this revolutionary drug in animal studies. With the hope of eventual approval by the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration), Young BioPharma will potentially provide millions of patients with alternative, safe, and effective treatment of chronic pain. Bringing such a drug to market has profound implications not only on improved quality of life and health outcomes, but also on the drug abuse and addiction crisis that persists in the nation.

Pharmaceutical Startup Will Test Novel Drug Treatment for Pancreatic Cancer

InteliSpark client, Avenzoar Pharmaceuticals, wins a research grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a new drug for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Around 80% of the estimated 56,770 people that will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2019 will die within in a year.  Only 9% of patients survive past five years, making pancreatic cancer the fourth leading cause of cancer death in men and women. Chemotherapy, the standard treatment for pancreatic cancer, is costly and only delays death by an average of 8.5 months.  

To meet this critical need for improved treatment methods, the pharmaceutical startup, Avenzoar, has developed a new chemical compound that may inhibit metastasis and chemo-resistance signaling pathways. The low toxicity of the chemical compound and the potential to reverse immunodeficiency disorders caused by cancer could significantly improve prognosis of the disease.

Dr. Mouad Edderkaoui, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Avenzoar, will lead phase I of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) project to develop dosage levels and test the drug in combination with standard treatments in animal studies, to eventually inform the design of clinical trials.