Biomesense Inc. received a $255,658 National Science Foundation SBIR Phase I Project Grant to develop a novel biosensor to accelerate investigations of COVID-19 and the gut microbiome. Funded under the NSF Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), this six-month award beginning January 15, 2021 supports the company's work to design a portable, low-cost biosensor device capable of rapidly detecting SARS-CoV-2 and analyzing gut microbiome composition directly from patient samples. The NSF Directorate for...
This $976,771 Cooperative Agreement awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) program will support Biomesense Inc., a for-profit biotechnology company, in the development of a novel measurement platform to enable large-scale, longitudinal studies of the gut microbiome. The key products to be delivered through this project include: (1) refinement of processes for capturing and storing microbial RNA from gut samples, (2)...
This federal Project Grant award from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), under the Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health program (CFDA 93.286), will support the development of an innovative "DNA Recorder" system. The project aims to create living biosensors that can traverse the gut and record extracellular DNA, preserving information about the internal microbial composition and spatial structure of...
This $257,807 Project Grant awarded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) under the Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health program (CFDA 93.286) will develop living biosensors capable of detecting and analyzing DNA at the single-base level without requiring sample purification or specialized equipment. The biosensors will pull in DNA from raw samples, analyze it using their CRISPR-Cas systems, and produce a...
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) awarded a $591,530 Project Grant (CFDA 93.859 Biomedical Research and Research Training) to Smart Information Flow Technologies LLC (Sift) to develop "Gut Grief!", a web-based educational game that teaches high school students about the gut microbiome and its connection to human health. The game aims to increase students' interest in biomedical science and develop their quantitative and computational problem-solving skills. The...
The National Science Foundation awarded Integrated Medical Sensors Inc. a $256,000 Project Grant under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084) to develop a novel multi-analyte microsensor platform for continuous wireless monitoring applications. The grant aims to create a unique monolithic semiconductor platform capable of wirelessly monitoring multiple biochemical and physiological markers simultaneously in a sub-cubic millimeter footprint. This miniature,...
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) awarded a 5-year, $388,135 Project Grant (CFDA 93.859 Biomedical Research and Research Training) to the Trustees of Indiana University, Indianapolis (IU Indianapolis) to characterize bioelectrical signaling between the gut microbiota and the host. The primary objectives are to investigate the production and functional implications of conductive nanowires in human gut microbes, and explore the bidirectional interactions between the gut...
This federal Project Grant award from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), under the Research and Training in Complementary and Integrative Health program (CFDA 93.213), will support the development of a high-throughput in vivo screening platform using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to identify novel probiotic and postbiotic bacterial strains. The $295,780 award to Nemalife Inc., a for-profit biotechnology company, will fund the establishment of a...
The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a three-year, $449,999 Project Grant under their Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) to the University of Cincinnati to develop an implantable biosensor platform that can continuously monitor various biomarkers in the body for over a year. The project aims to create a new class of long-lasting aptamer-based sensors protected by robust porous oxide coatings, which would enable the first practical implantable monitoring system for managing chronic...
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,...
Biomesense Inc. received a $883,212 Project Grant award from the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences to develop a novel biosensor to accelerate investigations of the gut microbiome. The grant will support validating the microbial lysis and DNA isolation functions of a prototype biosensor over a 6-month period ending December 31, 2021. The biosensor is intended to enable dense, time-longitudinal sampling of participants' gut microbiomes in their homes at low cost, which could dramatically accelerate microbiome research by capturing daily variations in microbial communities linked to factors like diet, medical interventions, and disease states. If validated, the biosensor would offer a unique tool applicable to any human subjects research involving the microbiome.