15 NCBiotech Grants Put $683,854 To Work
The North Carolina Biotechnology Center awarded 15 grants totaling $683,854 to young life science companies and research institutions around the state during the last fiscal quarter running from April through June, 2014.
For the full year, NCBiotech awarded 78 loans and grants totaling $6,308,186.The Center's awards program supports life science entrepreneurship, technology commercialization and growth, and lays the groundwork for major add-on funding.
On average, every grant dollar awarded by NCBiotech is met with $28 in additional funding from outside sources such as federal health and defense agencies and disease foundations.
This latest round of awards includes:
$30,000 in one Presidential Initiative Award
Bent Creek Institute, based at The North Carolina Arboretum near Asheville, works to grow natural biotechnology products research, manufacturing, and farming jobs in North Carolina. Bent Creek Institute has previously launched the US Botanical Safety Laboratory, a non-profit botanical testing and formulation services network. Next, Bent Creek will spin off two for-profit companies to manufacture agriculturally-derived value-added nutraceutical and biopharma products for export to global markets, including China. Funds awarded will be used to establish these new companies, providing resources for the initial early stage activities that are necessary to move forward. These synergistic endeavors are expected to grow jobs and revenue in the North Carolina natural products sector.
$21,000 to sponsor seven Industrial Interns
The NCBiotech Industrial Internship Program provides three months of funding for students or recent graduates from North Carolina-based academic programs in business administration or the life sciences. These internships provide real-world work experience for the interns, critical to helping them transition from academia to careers in biotechnology. Each company is awarded $3,000 to help support its internship. The following companies participated in this program this quarter:
- Cempra (Chapel Hill) hired Ryan Le to support commercialization of its antibiotic products by researching the health economics associated with treating community acquired bacterial pneumonia.
- Chiesi USA (Cary) hired Jonathan Mitchell to support the company's marketing activities for a hospital cardiovascular product, including analysis of sales trends and development of promotional materials.
- Clinical Sensors (Durham) hired Haley Fowler to conduct market research and competitive analysis that will support commercialization of the company's point-of-care diagnostic test for sepsis, a potentially life-threatening condition resulting from bacterial infections.
- Galaxy Diagnostics (RTP) hired Natasha Pinto to develop physician and consumer education materials supporting the expansion of the company's infectious disease testing services.
- Gilero Biomedical (RTP) hired Jared Little to support the development and commercialization of novel medical devices, including 3D modeling, prototyping, testing, and preparation of regulatory documents.
- KeraNetics (Winston-Salem) hired Corrie Sapp to conduct laboratory testing to characterize the potential commercial applications of the company's product candidates.
- Panacea BioMatx (RTP) hired Michael Brown to assist with the development and standardization of the company's dietary supplement manufacturing process.
$200,000 in two Collaborative Funding Grants
These grants of up to $100,000 are jointly sponsored by NCBiotech and the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology and Science at North Carolina State University. They support university-company partnerships that help move the companies’ technology toward the marketplace. The grants pay for post-doctoral fellows or technicians in university labs to conduct research on a project of commercial interest. University investigators and companies first form the collaboration and then apply together through the university. This quarter’s grants were:
- $100,000 to Duke University -- A partnership between Duke School of Medicine Associate Professor Daniel Laskowitz, M.D., Ph.D., and Cerenova will investigate a small nerve protecting protein that shows promise for the treatment of stroke and brain hemorrhage.
- $100,000 to UNC Charlotte – University scientists led by Bao-Hua Song, Ph.D., assistant professor of biological sciences, will partner with those from Monsanto in a novel approach to identifying genes that could protect against soybean cyst nematode, a devastating soybean parasite. The goal is to develop soybeans that can withstand the infection.
$188,231 for two Biotechnology Research Grants
These grants of up to $100,000 support novel research projects that have the potential to strengthen biotechnology research and development at academic and non-profit research institutions in the early stages of building their research capacity. The grants this quarter were:
- $100,000 to UNC Greensboro to support research by Mitchell Croatt, Ph.D., assistant professor of organic chemistry, into a drug that might help protect nerve cells from being killed by oxidation after a stroke.
- $88,231 to the Wake Forest University Institute for Regenerative Medicine Translational Science Institute, to support work by Professor James Williams, D.V.M., in testing the effectiveness, safety and commercial potential for using a protein called a chemokine to treat bladder problems.
$160,283 for an Institutional Development Grant
The IDG program provides research equipment or core facilities that serve multiple investigators. Research-extensive universities must have at least six investigators involved, and non-research-extensive universities must have at least three.
This grant went to Duke University for an automated sample preparation workstation to maximize use of existing DNA sequencing equipment. Lead investigator Gregory Wray, Ph.D., professor of biology and evolutionary anthropology, said this will add to researchers’ productivity and scientific accomplishments in studies on conditions ranging from brain tumors and breast cancer to cholera resistance.
$84,340 for two Technology Enhancement Grants
This grant program grant provides awards of up to $50,000 to universities or other N.C. research institutions through their technology transfer offices. The grants fund commercially promising research studies to enhance the institution’s licensing position. These grants included:
- $50,000 to North Carolina State University to develop and demonstrate a novel, precise and state-of-the-art method for editing DNA in selected genes. This technology has applications in food safety, medical research, gene therapy and agricultural biotechnology.
- $34,340 to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to develop diagnostic blood test to identify cardiac surgery patients for whom surgery would increase their risk for developing acute kidney injury.
NCBiotech's life science award support for the quarter included: