Federal Project Grant Award Summary

Ichor Biologics LLC received a $305,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I award from the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) program (CFDA 47.084) for the period July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. The company will develop an integrated technology platform designed to identify and measure disease-specific immune responses, specifically targeting the challenge of linking antigen-specific B cell responses to functional antibody activity. The proposed system will selectively activate and expand antigen-specific B cells through controlled antigen presentation and programmable co-stimulation, addressing a significant gap in existing immunological tools that either measure antibody binding without identifying producing cells or sequence immune cells without determining their antigenic targets.

This innovation is intended to accelerate drug discovery and clinical decision-making by enabling researchers to distinguish protective from harmful immune responses across individuals and disease conditions. The technology platform has commercial applications in vaccine development, therapeutic discovery, and personalized medicine approaches for treating chronic and infectious diseases, while addressing an unmet market need for improved immune monitoring tools in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors.