Project Grant R43AI120313

Vcreate, Inc. was awarded a $256,000 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084) to develop a high-throughput platform for discovering T-cell receptor (TCR) based immunotherapies for late-stage cancer patients. The platform aims to screen thousands of TCRs against thousands of cancer antigens to identify clinically relevant TCRs that could serve as the basis for new treatments against currently incurable cancers....

Pumpkinseed Technologies Inc. received a $353,204 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Project Grant award from the National Cancer Institute under the Cancer Biology Research program (CFDA 93.396) on June 19, 2025, with completion targeted for April 30, 2026. The award funds development and proof-of-concept demonstration of Cell-MAPP (Cell Monitoring Against Presented Peptides), a novel technology that enables dynamic, real-time monitoring of individual T cell states during antigen...

This $399,499 Project Grant award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), under the Cancer Detection and Diagnosis Research program (CFDA 93.394), supports the development of Liquid Biotech's TELOMESCAN circulating tumor cell (CTC) assay for monitoring non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients undergoing radiation and immunotherapy. The key products and services to be delivered through this funding include: 1) Developing a clinical prototype of the TELOMESCAN assay with automated analysis to...

Rattan Life Science Inc. received a $275,000 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084) to develop a platform for generating induced pluripotent stem cell-derived naïve CD4+ and CD8+ T cells with fidelity, reproducibility and scalability. The platform employs proprietary induced thymic epithelial cells to provide biologically relevant thymic positive selection signals during T cell differentiation,...

Partillion Bioscience Corp. was awarded a $659,037 Project Grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of General Medical Sciences to develop reagent products enabling high-throughput screening and selection of single cells based on secreted bio-products. Under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859), Partillion plans to transition its lab-on-a-particle technology—highlighted as a 2020 SLAS Innovation Award winner—into the first reagent product...

Grant Award Summary Capienda Biotech, LLC received a $329,272 Project Grant from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS, CFDA 93.350) awarded August 1, 2025, with a completion date of January 31, 2027. The company is developing a high-throughput kinetic analysis instrument designed to accelerate small-molecule drug discovery by enabling rapid characterization of binding kinetics for competitive inhibitors. Building on a prior NSF Small Business Innovation Research...

This Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084) provides $275,000 to Dcan Biosciences LLC to develop an advanced microfluidic system for cancer diagnosis and monitoring. The system aims to isolate and assess circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and CTC clusters (CTCCs) from patient blood samples to enable highly sensitive and accurate liquid biopsies. Key objectives include designing a hybrid microfluidic device for...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) program (CFDA 47.084) provides $305,000 to Cellecho, Inc. to develop a microchip-based technology for advanced cell engineering. The goal is to create a miniaturized liquid and cell handling platform that leverages acoustic-electric micro-vortices to precisely and sequentially deliver genetic molecules. This innovation aims to make complex cell reprogramming more...

Federal Project Grant Summary: Toro Bio, Inc. The National Science Foundation (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084) awarded Toro Bio, Inc. a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant of $304,870 to develop an automated bioreactor system for point-of-care manufacturing of tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) cell therapies. The 12-month project, initiated October 1, 2025 and concluding September 30, 2026, is being performed in Palo Alto, California. The...

Federal Grant Award Summary Cellfe, Inc. received a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant of $314,000 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) for the period of September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2026. The company will conduct proof-of-concept research and development to optimize and validate the CellFE platform, a microfluidic transfection technology designed to enable...