Cooperative Agreement R43FD005693

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Partnerships for Innovation - Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) project grant, CFDA #47.084, provides $549,649 to the University of Rochester to advance the development of a novel membrane-based sensor technology for the rapid and specific detection of infectious pathogens in biofluids. The project aims to integrate the membrane sensor into a hand-operated microfluidic device with a colorimetric readout, and demonstrate the generalizability of the approach...

The federal Project Grant award from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), part of the 93.350 CFDA program, will support the development of a novel biosensor for the detection of bacterial endotoxins. Through this $290,066 award, the awardee Monod Bio, Inc. will focus on (I) computational design and experimental selection of functional lipopolysaccharide (LPS) bioluminescent biosensors, (II) in vitro evolution of these biosensors to optimize sensitivity and stability,...

L2 Diagnostics LLC received a $293,142 Project Grant award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), effective September 21, 2025, with a completion date of August 31, 2027. The award supports development of a rapid diagnostic test (RDT) in lateral flow assay (LFA) format for detecting Babesia microti infection. The test targets BMGPI12 (BMSA1), a secreted protein released into the...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Biological Sciences grant award provides $2,225,964 to the Georgia Tech Research Corporation (Georgia Tech) to develop a novel biosensing platform called "protocell communities" that can be used for rapid, low-cost medical diagnostics. The project aims to create a tool that can diagnose medical conditions by detecting and integrating multiple indicator molecules, addressing limitations of single-analyte diagnostics. The protocell technology uses...

This $275,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) program supports the development of a label-free, high-resolution, high-throughput protein screening platform called Vibrational Spectroscopy with Metasurface Optics (VISMO). The technology aims to enable simultaneous, minute-scale measurement of millions of protein samples, which would dramatically improve the lengthy and costly cycles...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Grant award for $380,074, awarded on September 1, 2024, aims to develop a platform for instrument-free, easy-to-interpret quantitative analysis of molecular biomarkers. The project will produce a general methodology adaptable to a range of molecular targets, including potential new agents. The key products to be delivered include: A "yes/no" output for quantitative measurement, enabled through stoichiometry and negative cooperativity-based...

This $960,000 National Science Foundation project grant supports the development of a multiplexed plasmon-enhanced lateral flow assay for point-of-care detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA and antigens. Funded under the NSF Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), the grantee, Washington University, will design, validate and build a novel diagnostic platform with sensitivity exceeding standard laboratory tests. Key deliverables include an ultrasensitive multiplexed lateral flow assay for simultaneous...

Microsensor Labs, LLC received a $181,500 Phase I Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program (CFDA 10.212), awarded on September 30, 2025. The company will develop and validate MagiCyte MB, a fully automated, high-speed, and cost-effective system designed to rapidly detect, isolate, and enumerate Salmonella from poultry products. The research leverages novel biological...

This $256,000 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Industrial Innovation, under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), funds the development of a rapid, simple, and low-cost Salmonella detection and quantification test. Secure Food Solutions, Incorporated will optimize a multi-layer 96-well microplate method to demonstrate 90% sensitivity and specificity for Salmonella in raw poultry and processing environment samples within 15 hours without pre-enrichment. They...

Cellbae Inc. received a $174,992 Small Business Innovation Research Project Grant from the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop rapid test kits for the detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enterica. The goal of the six-month project beginning July 1, 2023 is to verify the sensitivity and specificity of Cellbae's rapid test kit platform, which uses enzymatic amplification to increase detection sensitivity over conventional methods....