Tag Archives: NIH

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.

 

 

Long Island Bioscience Hub Welcomes Feinstein Institute

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Stony Brook University-led initiative to accelerate commercialization of biomedical discoveries

STONY BROOK, AND MANHASSET, N.Y. – April 21, 2016 – The Center for Biotechnology at Stony Brook University and the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, the research arm of Northwell Health, announced that the Feinstein Institute will be joining the Long Island Bioscience Hub (LIBH).

Established with a National Institutes of Health grant in 2015, Stony Brook’s Center for Biotechnology is the lead administrative institution for the LIBH, an NIH-designated Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (REACH). It is one of three such Hubs in the country, the mission of which is to accelerate the translation of biomedical discoveries into new drugs, devices, and diagnostics to enhance health and improve patient care. The Feinstein Institute joins LIBH members Stony Brook University, Brookhaven National Laboratory and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The addition of the Feinstein Institute fulfills one of the Hub’s goals of coordinating comprehensive technology commercialization efforts across all four major bioscience research institutions on Long Island.

“We look forward to working with the Feinstein Institute, and their involvement in the Long Island Bioscience Hub further enriches the region’s burgeoning innovation economy and entrepreneurial ecosystem,” said Clinton Rubin, PhD, Director of the Center for Biotechnology. “The Feinstein Institute is a world leader in multiple areas of biomedical research, and their expertise will complement the groundbreaking work being done at Stony Brook, Brookhaven Lab, and Cold Spring Harbor.”

“The Feinstein Institute’s focus is on advancing science, treating disease, and bringing healthcare innovations to patients,” stated Dr. Kevin Tracey, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Feinstein Institute. “Our partnership in the Long Island Bioscience Hub will help ensure that scientific breakthroughs emerging from our research enterprise progress into the commercial sector where they can ultimately impact patient care. We see the Long Island Bioscience Hub as a great opportunity to accomplish our mission.”

The LIBH is connected to a network of National Institutes of Health-designated “proof of concept” centers that include the three REACH centers and three additional National Centers for Accelerated Innovation. Collectively, they are developing best practices for the commercialization of academic innovations. The Hubs & Centers also have access to resources at the federal level including the US Patent & Trademark Office, Food & Drug Administration, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to provide guidance at the earliest stages of technology development.

The LIBH will provide funding for feasibility and proof of concept studies at the four Long Island partner institutions, and coordinate access to expertise in areas required for early stage technology development, including scientific, regulatory, business, legal, and project management. The Hub will also facilitate introductions to strategic industry partners and early stage investors.  The LIBH announced its first round of technology development awards in December 2015, committing approximately $900,000 to thirteen projects. The second round of funded projects is expected to be announced in April 2016.

In addition to the Long Island Bioscience Hub’s institutional partners, support for the initiative has been provided by the Research Foundation of SUNY and Empire State Development. Total investment in the Hub over the next three years exceeds $8 million.

Download a PDF of the press release here.

 

 

 

 

Long Island Bioscience Hub Announces Funded Projects

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Accelerating Biomedical Discoveries for Commercialization

STONY BROOK, N.Y. – December 7, 2015 – The Center for Biotechnology at Stony Brook University, on behalf of the Long Island Bioscience Hub (LIBH), announced today the recipients of the first technology development grants awarded by the Hub. Thirteen awards totaling $900,000 were granted to applicants from Stony Brook University, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and Brookhaven National Laboratory.

The LIBH technology development grants are a multi-tiered funding initiative aimed at collectively contributing to a pipeline of commercially promising biomedical technology in the region. The three funding initiatives include Feasibility, Proof of Concept and Commercialization awards.

Feasibility awards 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 of an existing technology.  Proof of Concept Awards provide targeted, milestone driven support for proof of concept research, development, testing, and analysis of existing intellectual property. The final tier, Commercialization Awards, provide targeted, milestone-driven support for a subset of projects with existing intellectual property where additional investment will clearly advance the technology to a major value inflection point for commercialization.

The grants awarded this cycle will support technologies developed across multiple disciplines including pharmacology, biomedical engineering, chemistry, and microbiology. Among the award recipients were two post-doctoral researchers. Of the thirteen grants awarded, eight were Feasibility awards and five were Proof of Concept Awards. The recipients of this round of awards are:

Feasibility awards

  • Targeting Pathogenic Viral Infections with First-In-Class Viral Budding Inhibitors – Dr. Carol Carter
  • Development of Small Molecule Inhibitors for PLD6 as Therapeutics for Triple Negative Breast Cancer – Dr. Michael Frohman
  • Novel miR-129 Based Therapeutics for Colon Cancer – Dr. Jingfang Ju
  • Fast Hybrid Approach For Determination of Structure of Therapeutic Protein Complexes – Dr. Dima Kosakov
  • Enhancement of Protein Yields Using Mechanical Signals: Augmenting Biotech Production to Reduce Drug Costs – Dr. Gabriel Pagnotti
  • Non-invasive Acoustic Radiation Force Therapy for OA Induced Pain and Cartilage Regeneration – Dr. Yixian Qin
  • LDL as Biomarker for Childhood Tuberculosis (TB) – Dr. Xinxin Yang

Proof of Concept awards

  • A New Standard of Care for Implant Bed Preparation Utilizing an Innovative Drill Bit Technology – Dr. Marcous Abboud
  • Orthovoltage X-Ray Minibeams: Brain Tumor Therapy with Tissue-sparing Incident Beams – Dr. Avraham Dilmanian
  • NEW‐HARP: A Highly Sensitive Avalanche Selenium Detector for Time‐of‐Flight (TOF) Positron Emission Tomography (PET) – Dr. Amirhossein Goldan
  • Azasteroids for Combination Anti-TB Therapy – Dr. Nicole Sampson
  • A Novel Glioblastoma Drug – Oncolytic Virus PV1-Mono-Cre – Dr. Eckard Wimmer

​“We are excited to see such a robust and diverse portfolio of early stage technologies supported through the LIBH and NIH-REACH consortium,” said Clinton T. Rubin, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor, Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Director, Center for Biotechnology. “We are hopeful that this investment by the federal and state government, as well as SBU, CSHL and BNL, will foster and accelerate the translation of these technologies from the bench to the bed side, and help attract further investment from the industrial and financial sectors.”

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.

Center for Biotech Receives NIH Award to Develop a Bioscience Hub

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STONY BROOK, N.Y., April 8, 2015 The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has granted Stony Brook University’s Center for Biotechnology a three-year $3 million award through the SUNY Research Foundation to establish the Long Island Bioscience Hub (LIBH). The award is part of the NIH’s Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (REACH) program and one of only three granted nationwide.The hub will be a collaboration between Stony Brook University, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory and is designed to help accelerate the translation of biomedical discoveries into new drugs, devices, and diagnostics to improve patient care and enhance health.

Stony Brook’s Center for Biotechnology will lead the efforts of the LIBH, coordinating its comprehensive technology commercialization efforts across the three partner institutions. Such activities include technology development programs, establishing strategic partnerships, recruiting experienced entrepreneurs to provided experienced company management, and providing services such as education and mentoring that will help faculty innovators move their academic innovations into the commercial sector via a start-up company, licensing opportunity, and/or a strategic partnership.

The Long Island Bioscience Hub will build upon Stony Brook’s existing strengths in translational research and commercialization to develop an infrastructure across partner institutions, which will accelerate the yield of new healthcare innovations, said Samuel Stanley Jr., MD, President of Stony Brook University. This partnership will advance New York State’s ever-expanding bio-based entrepreneurial ecosystem with new discoveries that fuel new company formation and jobs in biotechnology.

With this award, the NIH recognized the great potential for translational research and technology development that resides in our region, says Clinton T. Rubin, PhD, Principal Investigator, Distinguished Professor, Chair of the Department Biomedical Engineering, and Director of the Center for Biotechnology. We’re looking forward to the opportunity to enhance what is already a bourgeoning innovation economy and entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The REACH program is based on the NIH Center for Advanced Innovations (NCAI) initiative created the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI). The three hubs established under the REACH program will work collaboratively with the NCAIs to develop best practices and share resources where appropriate. REACHs will also be able to take advantage of unique partnerships with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the United States Patent Office, and the Center for Medicare & Medicade Services.

Each NIH REACH hub will provide funding for feasibility studies and coordinate access to expertise in areas required for early stage technology development, including scientific, regulatory, business, legal, and project management. Skill development and providing hands-on experience in entrepreneurism are also aims of the hubs.

The Greatest Hits How Success Breeds Success

Stony Brook University, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory have a demonstrated capacity for bioscience innovation that has advanced the course of biomedical science and contributed to improved healthcare through FDA approved therapies including ReoPro&reg, SAFHS, Xiaflex&reg, Periostat® and Oracea&reg, new medical devices including 3Dvirtual colonoscopy and LivMD$reg, and new company formation including New England BioLabs, OSI Pharmaceuticals, Collagenex, Pharmacopeia, and Exogen.