Cooperative Agreement 5866044003F0

Silvec Biologics Inc. was awarded a $174,964 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Project Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop a proprietary process to control fungi using RNA interference. The SBIR program aims to support scientific innovation to build a strong national economy. Under the award, Silvec will pursue four key objectives through January 2023. The company will identify small interfering RNAs compatible with...

This three-year, $714,447 project grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program (CFDA 10.310) will fund the development of RNA interference (RNAi)-based sprayable formulations and baits for insect pest management. The grantee, Kansas State University, will work to overcome major challenges to widespread application of small interfering RNA (siRNA) for insect pest control by...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Biological Sciences program provides $500,000 from March 2024 through February 2027 to researchers at the University of Maryland and Silvec Biologics, Inc. to develop methods to stabilize RNA genomes in viruses that can be used as therapies to treat plant diseases. The project aims to use computational approaches, including artificial intelligence, to design RNA structures that can be inserted into virus genomes to increase...

Silvec Biologics Inc. received a $650,000 Project Grant award from the Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (CFDA 10.212 - Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program / Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program) to develop RNA interference (RNAi) technologies for controlling fungal diseases in agricultural crops. The company is leveraging its proprietary internally-delivered virus-like RNA (iRNA) vector system to generate small interfering RNAs...

The Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded a $590,542.68 Project Grant to the University of Georgia Research Foundation under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grants program (CFDA 10.310). The four-year project aims to develop peanut varieties with enhanced pest and disease resistance by utilizing wild peanut relatives from South America as a source of valuable genetic traits. Researchers will analyze wild species to identify...

This $500,000 three-year Project Grant from the Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program will fund research to develop peanut cultivars resilient to climate change impacts. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) will lead efforts to evaluate peanut lines within the established Peanut Variety and Quality Evaluation (PVQE) multi-state program. This will include new...

The Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded a $494,581 Project Grant under the Biotechnology Risk Assessment Research program to Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. The three-year award beginning September 1, 2022 will support research investigating the environmental persistence and target specificity of minicells-encapsulated RNAi biofungicides. The Biotechnology Risk Assessment Research program aims to generate information assisting...

Nanosur LLC, a minority-owned biotechnology company, received a $649,999 project grant from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture's (NIFA) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) / Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program to develop RNA interference (RNAi)-based insecticides for controlling invasive insect pests in agriculture and forests. The grant, awarded on September 1, 2023, supports Nanosur's work to create selective,...

This Project Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program provides $299,754 to support research examining irrigation and harvest strategies for peanut production in Georgia. The University of Georgia Research Foundation will develop irrigation and split harvest threshold tools to improve seed quality and mitigate aflatoxin contamination in peanuts. The research aims to evaluate the...

This $315,000 federal Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Integrative Activities (IA) program supports research at Auburn University on the use of branched amphiphilic peptide capsules (BAPCs) for delivering double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) as a targeted biopesticide. The goal is to explore how variations in the size, charge, and composition of these BAPC nanomaterials can optimize the effectiveness, stability, and environmental safety of dsRNA-based pesticides. The project...