Project Grant R43TR002701

This Project Grant award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837) provides $814,209 to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, Washington to develop CD90-targeted nanoparticles for in vivo hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy. The goal is to enable safe and efficient genetic modification of blood stem cells directly in patients, overcoming limitations of current ex vivo gene therapy approaches. The project...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084) provides $275,000 to Targeting Systems to develop a novel intramuscular gene delivery platform capable of sustained expression and endogenous secretion of bispecific natural killer cell engager (BIKE) therapeutics to treat solid tumors like hepatocellular carcinoma. The platform aims to deliver BIKEs in a less invasive manner than current immunotherapies,...

This Project Grant award from the National Cancer Institute (CFDA 93.395 Cancer Treatment Research) aims to establish the feasibility of commercializing a personalized and multi-targeted adoptive T cell therapy (ATCT) for glioblastoma (GBM), the most common and deadly primary brain tumor. The $399,669 grant, awarded on September 3, 2024, will support the development of an autologous ATCT that targets multiple GBM-specific antigens unique to each patient. The key innovation is the use of Prussian...

This federal Project Grant award from the National Cancer Institute (CFDA 93.395 - Cancer Treatment Research) provides $513,859 to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Inc. (DFCI) to develop a novel adoptive cellular therapy platform using hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) engineered with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) technology. The goal is to generate a long-term, continuously renewing "HSC CAR-NK cell factory" that can provide durable anti-tumor immunity. The project will leverage...

This Project Grant award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837), is supporting the development of a novel magnetic rotational atherectomy platform to address coronary lesions. The $413,595 award to Unandup, LLC will fund the refinement of a prototype over-the-wire atherectomy device that uses magnetic fields instead of high-speed driveshafts to safely and effectively debulk severely calcified coronary...

This Project Grant award from the National Cancer Institute under the Cancer Treatment Research program (CFDA 93.395) provides $780,389 to Boston Children's Hospital to develop novel immunotherapy approaches for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The research aims to generate "stealth" versions of key AML target genes like FLT3, KIT, and IL3RA that are resistant to CAR-T cell and monoclonal antibody therapies, allowing the targeting of essential leukemia genes without damaging healthy blood...

This $295,924 Project Grant awarded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) aims to develop and demonstrate a high-yield microfluidic device for the enrichment and capture of CD3+ T cells. This device is intended to improve the manufacturing of autologous and allogenic engineered cell therapies such as CAR-T, which currently have time-consuming and costly production processes. The key objectives are to (1)...

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), through its CFDA 93.350 Federal Grant Program, awarded a $294,541 Project Grant to Cellular Vehicles Inc. on June 1, 2024. The purpose of this award is to develop an automated system for producing and delivering cell-laden hydrogel therapies. The project aims to create a novel, standardized process for formulating, encapsulating, and directly injecting cell-laden hydrogels into diseased tissues. This is intended to improve the...

This Project Grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, provides $914,900 to Ship Of Theseus LLC under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837). The funding supports preclinical development of a nuclear-targeting biologic to safely increase stem cell expansion in vivo and accelerate recovery from neutropenia following chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant. Specifically, the grant will advance a patented mutant...

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) awarded a $350,000 Project Grant (CFDA 93.859 - Biomedical Research and Research Training) to Dragonase LLC in Minneapolis, MN to develop a fully autonomous robotic wet lab for optimizing hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) culture media. The project, running from June 2025 to February 2026, aims to build a "machine biologist" system consisting of a robotic wet lab and machine learning computer vision models to rapidly and...