Tag Archives: feinstein institute

NIH-REACH: Lowering the Barriers that Slow Translation Research

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The Center for Biotechnology’s Clint Rubin and Diane Fabel recently co-authored a STAT article on the NIH-REACH proof-of-concept program. In 2015, The Center for Biotechnology received one of three national NIH-REACH designations, through which the Long Island Bioscience Hub was established.

The article, co-authored by all of the REACH center directors, discusses the importance of REACH-type programs and the impact REACH has been able have in a relatively short amount of time. In just over two years, the three REACH institutions have evaluated over 400 promising product development projects, funding more than 60 experimental treatments and tests that target a wide range of health issues.

Read the full text here: https://www.statnews.com/2017/04/17/nih-reach-biomedicine-treatments/

Long Island Bioscience Hub Announces Additional Funded Projects

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Third round of grants awarded for the development of commercially promising biomedical innovations

The Center for Biotechnology at Stony Brook University, on behalf of the Long Island Bioscience Hub (LIBH), announced the recipients of the third round of funded projects under the Hub’s technology development and commercialization initiative. Funding for ten projects totaling $550,000 has been awarded to applicants from the Hub’s partner institutions. Partner institutions include Stony Brook University, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research at Northwell Health. Eighteen months after its establishment, the LIBH has already awarded more than $2M to faculty innovators.

The technology development awards made available by the LIBH are specifically aimed at growing a pipeline of commercially promising biomedical technologies that can be out-licensed for further development or serve as the foundation for new company formations in the region. There are two tiers of funding, each with the goal of accelerating technology development to reach a critical development inflection point. Feasibility awards ($50,000) are designed to rapidly test the feasibility of new ideas in a “fail-fast-or-proceed” format, or to add value to existing intellectual property leading to new market applications. Proof-of-Concept Awards ($100,000) provide targeted, milestone driven support for further development, testing, and analysis of existing intellectual property.

A wide range of disciplines are represented in the project awards this cycle including radiology, quantitative biology, biomedical engineering, chemistry, neurosurgery and cancer research. Nine Feasibility awards and one Proof of Concepts award have been funded this cycle. Projects awarded funding in this round include the development of radiotracers for use with PET scans to detect bacterial infections, specifically infective endocarditis (IE); a non-immune-based drug targeting amyloid ß-protein (Aß) for the treatment of mild Alzheimer’s disease; DNA nano-carrier platform technology for targeted anti-thrombotic drug delivery in prosthetic heart valve and mechanical circulatory support patients; A medical device utilizing electrical and software engineering in order to detect congenital heart disease in newborn children, and profiling the human immune system through machine learning and bioinformatics. The full list of funded projects can be found on the LIBH webpage.

“The latest announcement of funded project for the LIBH demonstrates the volume of innovation housed within partner institutes that is primed to be moved out of the academic lab and into the commercial sector in order to help patients” said Clinton T. Rubin, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor, Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Director, Center for Biotechnology. “It is exciting to witness our region’s innovators contemplating their research in ways they hadn’t before, and to see the vibrancy of the bioscience cluster on Long Island growing with each new project proposed.”

“Putting CSHL scientists together with HUB biotech entrepreneurs and industry reviewers is key to the successful translation of early stage ideas resulting from the basic research of Dr. Lingbo Zhang and Mickey Atwal, said Teri Willey, CSHL Vice President Business Development and Technology Transfer. “Zhang’s genetic research on myelodysplastic syndrome will be complimented by experience in medicinal chemistry. Similarly, Atwal’s work on developing therapeutics using physics and math to profile to the immune system will benefit from industry reviewers to guide it toward patient benefit.”

“The success of the Long Island Bioscience Hub demonstrates the value of creative partnerships in bringing medical solutions that help address patients’ needs from the research lab to the doctor’s office and the medical clinic. We are proud to be part of the Bioscience Hub’s success,” said Kevin J. Tracey, M.D., President and CEO of the Feinstein Institute.

The main goal of the LIBH is to foster the development of therapeutics, preventatives, diagnostics, devices and research tools emerging from LIBH partner institutions that address diseases within the NIH’s mission.

Download a PDF of the press release here.

Long Island Biomentoring Initiative Established

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Program Established to Foster Vibrant Bioscience Cluster in the Region

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. 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.

TheraSource LLC receives $3M SBIR Grant

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TheraSource LLC, a Feinstein Institute for Medical Research spin-out, has received a $3 million three-year Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant will support the development of human ghrelin as an innovative treatment to alleviate health damage caused by unintentional radiation exposure.

TheraSource has been a client of the Center for Biotechnology and the organization is proud to have played an integral role in the helping the company advance their business and technology strategy. As noted by Diane Fabel, Director of Operations for the Center for Biotechnology, “The Phase II award for TheraSource is a significant landmark for the company and an important milestone for the region.”

Ping Wang, MD, founder of TheraSource and Chief of Scientific Officer (CSO) of the Feinstein Institute has stated “Human ghrelin has been investigated in clinical trials of other indications.  With our new findings, we will soon be able to file an Investigational New Drug application to US Food and Drug Administration,” said Dr. Wang. “TheraSource has received investments to fund its various projects and is seeking strategic partnerships towards the goal of clinical development and commercialization.”

For more details, read the company’s press release here.

Long Island Bioscience Hub Announces Next Funded Projects

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Accelerating the development of biomedical technologies

The Center for Biotechnology at Stony Brook University, on behalf of the Long Island Bioscience Hub (LIBH), has announced the recipients of the second round of funded projects under the Hub’s technology development and commercialization initiative. Funding for ten projects totaling $600,000 was awarded to applicants from the Hub’s partner institutions. Partner institutions include Stony Brook University, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the Feinstein Institute at Northwell Health Systems.

The technology development awards made available by the LIBH are specifically aimed at growing a pipeline of commercially promising biomedical technologies that can be out-licensed for further development or serve as the foundation for new company formations in the region. There are two tiers of funding, each with the goal of accelerating technology development to reach a critical development inflection point. Feasibility awards ($50,000) are designed to rapidly test the feasibility of new ideas in a “fail-fast-or-proceed” format, or to add value to existing intellectual property leading to new market applications. Proof-of-Concept Awards ($100,000) provide targeted, milestone driven support for further development, testing, and analysis of existing intellectual property.

A wide range of disciplines are represented in the project awards this cycle including biomedical engineering, chemistry, biochemistry, psychiatry, molecular genetics and microbiology, and pathology and dermatology.  Eight Feasibility awards and two Proof of Concepts awards have been funded this cycle. The recipients of this round of awards are:

Feasibility Awards

Therapeutic for Clostridium difficile antibiotic-associated diarrheal disease – Dr. James Bliska

Device for rapid, simple and highly parallel single-cell processing – Dr. Eric Brouzes

Developing a small molecule drug to treat systemic C. albicans infections – Dr. Nick Carpino

Next generation hedgehog inhibitor for invasive basal cell carcinoma – Dr. Jiang Chen

A Novel Strategy for Recombinant AAV Vector Production for Gene Therapy – Dr. Patrick Hearing

A tandem-integration-based multi-barcode method for high-throughput combinatorial screening – Dr. Sasha Levy

Novel CAIX Targeted Combination Inhibitor/PET tracer to treat patients with solid tumors – Dr. Peter Smith-Jones

Substrate-Assisted Tethered Inhibitors of LigA to Treat MDR Gonorrhea – Dr. Peter Tonge

Proof of Concept Awards

fMRI Dynamic Phantom for Improved Detection of Resting-State Brain Networks – Dr. Lilianne Mujica-Parodi

Development of SMASH technology as a next-gen sequencing diagnostic for congenital heart disease – Dr. Michael Ronemus

​“The announcement of this second cycle of awards from the Long Island Bioscience Hub under the NIH-REACH program is exemplary of the increasing commercially relevant research taking place in the region” said Clinton T. Rubin, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor, Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Director, Center for Biotechnology. “Coupled with the recent expansion of the Hub to include the Feinstein Institute and the announcement of our third “request for proposals,” the LIBH is steadily working toward its goal of accelerating the translation of these technologies from the bench to the bed side.”

The main goal of the LIBH is to foster the development of therapeutics, preventatives, diagnostics, devices and research tools emerging from LIBH partner institutions that address diseases within the NIH’s mission.

Download a PDF of the press release here.