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Vitatex Awarded NCI Contract

Vitatex, a Stony Brook-based biotechnology company located in the Long Island High Technology Incubator, has announced that it was awarded an SBIR Phase I/II Fast Track contract in September 2015 from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for its Vita-Cap™ CTC Capture and Preservation tubes. A modification to exercise the option for a two-year SBIR Phase II of the contract was executed on June 8, 2016.

Vitatex Inc. provides proprietary invasive circulating tumor cell (iCTC) enrichment technology and products to develop revolutionary cancer genetic and cell tests. These “liquid biopsies” focus on next generation sequencing (NGS) detection, gene expression profiling and flow cytometry and have recently been adopted by the clinical laboratory community to characterize cancer cells and/or their RNA/DNA in blood samples non-invasively and serially, and to acquire genetic alternations and drug resistance information, which have the potential to replace tests run on surgical biopsies.

Clinical metastasis of solid tumors is linked to blood-borne dissemination of viable tumor cells in the circulation and clinical instrumentation is now available to isolate, enumerate, culture, generate metastatic mouse models and perform molecular analyses on these circulating tumor cells (CTCs). However, CTCs are fragile and tend to degrade within a few days when collected in standard blood collection tubes.

“The functional CTC preparation tube is designed to collect, enrich and preserve the viability/functionality of cancer cells in blood all within a closed system” said Wen-Tien Chen, PhD., Chief Scientific Officer of Vitatex. “The goal is to define conditions of Vitatex CTC preparation tubes for capturing and preserving cancer cells in the blood of patients with breast, ovarian and other types for up to 96 hours of transit.”

Specific terms of the contract were not disclosed.

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CFB Client, IAMBIC has been awarded approximately $1M in grant funding from the National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research program. IAMBIC is an innovative shoe company disrupting the centuries-old footwear industry with their sizeless, precision-fit footwear driven by proprietary AI algorithms. This substantial funding from NSF enables IAMBIC to scale its cutting-edge precision-fit shoe design and manufacturing.

The Center for Biotechnology and its accelerator programs have been instrumental in assisting IAMBIC with their SBIR pursuits and commercialization development.

Read more about IAMBIC and their recent funding here.

[post_title] => CFB Client IAMBIC Receives $1 Million NSF SBIR Phase II Grant [post_excerpt] => This substantial funding from NSF enables IAMBIC to scale its operations. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => iambic-receives-1-million-nsf-sbir-phase-ii-grant [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2024-11-19 10:50:15 [post_modified_gmt] => 2024-11-19 15:50:15 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://centerforbiotechnology.org/?p=4439 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [1] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 2041 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2016-03-11 19:35:25 [post_date_gmt] => 2016-03-11 19:35:25 [post_content] => Taking place on two days over the course of two weeks at the beginning of March, the 2016 Long Island Innovation Boot Camp/Pre-Seed Workshop was held at the Long Island High Technology Incubator. The annual event, co-organized by the CFB and Stony Brook Universities Clean Energy Business Incubator Program (CEBIP), featured eight technologies emerging from the region’s top research institutions. The event rallies community talent and resources to investigate and transform commercially promising technologies into pre-seed stage companies. Dr. Carol Carter, a molecular Genetics and Microbiology Profession at Stony Brook University, participated in the boot camp this year. About her experience in the boot camp, she noted to Innovate Long Island, “It’s given me an education of a type I’ve not gotten before, in all of my training. As an academician, you don’t usually get this kind of perspective on what you do.” Read additional articles on the event here and here. [post_title] => 2016 Long Island Innovation Boot Camp [post_excerpt] => Held at the Long Island High Technology incubator, this annual event, co-organized by the CFB and Stony Brook Universities Clean Energy Business Incubator Program (CEBIP), featured eight technologies emerging from the region’s top research institutions. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => 2016-long-island-innovation-boot-camp [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2016-03-29 20:30:14 [post_modified_gmt] => 2016-03-29 20:30:14 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://centerforbiotechnology.org/?p=2041 [menu_order] => 188 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [2] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 3991 [post_author] => 4 [post_date] => 2022-12-13 20:02:06 [post_date_gmt] => 2022-12-13 20:02:06 [post_content] =>

Christopher Ashdown, a Stony Brook University MD/PhD student and alumnus of the CFB’s Fundamentals of the Bioscience Industry Program, has won the Innovator Showcase Pitch Event at the 2022 Proof of Concept Network (POCN) Annual Meeting hosted by National Institutes of Health SEED (Small business Education and Entrepreneurial Development). Chris pitched on behalf of Lahara Bio.

Chris advanced through multiple rounds of pitching and was selected to present at the POCN Innovator Showcase with two other exceptional POCN innovators. Congratulations Chris!

[post_title] => SBU Student & CFB Fundamentals Program Alum
Wins NIH Pitch Competition [post_excerpt] => Christopher Ashdown has won the Innovator Showcase Pitch Event at the NIH's 2022 Proof of Concept Network (POCN) Annual Meeting. 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Led by the Center for Biotechnology at Stony Brook University and Accelerate Long Island, the LIBMI has been established on behalf of the Long Island Bioscience Hub - an NIH-designated Research, Evaluation, and Commercialization Hub. The LIBMI is a platform to bring highly qualified, volunteer mentors together with motivated, early-stage bioentrepreneurs to provide guidance and support as they advance their business strategy. The LIBMI is based on the successful mentoring model developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Venture Mentoring Service (VMS), and created in collaboration with Stony Brook University, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Hofstra University, and the Feinstein Institute at Northwell Health Systems. Through MIT VMS’s team mentoring approach, the LIBMI aims to provide objective and unbiased advice that will help entrepreneurs navigate the challenging landscape that growing bioscience ventures face. Mentors participating in the November 18th training session led by a MIT VMS Co-Director will benefit from curriculum and interactive teachings along with a mentoring session with one of the first entrepreneurs chosen to serve as mentee. “There is an abundance of innovation on Long Island as well as a growing pool of entrepreneurs looking to create ventures that will take root and grow in the region” said Mark Lesko, Board Member, Accelerate Long Island. Diane Fabel, Director of Operations for the Center for Biotechnology added “Establishing a formal mentoring program, specifically for the bioscience sector, is critical as these companies need diverse support in order for them to thrive.” The initiative employs the team mentoring approach and brings together experts with great depth and a range of experiences. The members of the founding mentor team include Dr. Linda Amper, Chief People Officer of Clever Devices; Dr. Gian Luca Araldi, founder and principal of US Pharma Services; Kara Cannon, Global Head of Sales & Marketing of Enzo Life Sciences, Inc.; Dr. Anil Dhundale, former Executive Director of the Long Island High Technology Incubator; Dr. Wayne Koff, President and CEO of Human Vaccines Project; Ric Overton, President of Overton Operations Advisors; Jeff Peacock, VP Global Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs at Henry Schein, Inc.; Dr. Saied Tousi, Managing Director for NW Advisors; and Edward Travaglianti, Market President of Long Island for TD Bank. The entire process is guided by a statement of principles to ensure confidentiality and a conflict free environment. The initiative will build upon a suite of services and resources provided by the NIH-designated Research, Evaluation, and Commercialization Hub (LI Bioscience Hub), Accelerate Long Island and the Emerging Technology Fund, the New York State Center for Advanced Technology in Medical Biotechnology. “It’s important to me to help support the entrepreneurial ecosystem on Long Island” founding mentor Ed Travaglianti stated, “and the team approach expands our capacity, allowing us to mentor more than one entrepreneur.” Learn more about the Long Island BioMentor Initiative here. [post_title] => Long Island Biomentoring Initiative Established [post_excerpt] => On Friday, November 18th at the Long Island High Technology Incubator, the Long Island BioMentor Initiative (LIBMI) will be hosting its first full-day mentor training session for the founding mentors of the new initiative. 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CFB Client, IAMBIC has been awarded approximately $1M in grant funding from the National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research program. IAMBIC is an innovative shoe company disrupting the centuries-old footwear industry with their sizeless, precision-fit footwear driven by proprietary AI algorithms. This substantial funding from NSF enables IAMBIC to scale its cutting-edge precision-fit shoe design and manufacturing.

The Center for Biotechnology and its accelerator programs have been instrumental in assisting IAMBIC with their SBIR pursuits and commercialization development.

Read more about IAMBIC and their recent funding here.

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CFB Client IAMBIC Receives $1 Million NSF SBIR Phase II Grant

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2016 Long Island Innovation Boot Camp

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SBU Student & CFB Fundamentals Program Alum
Wins NIH Pitch Competition

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Long Island Biomentoring Initiative Established

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