Project Grant R43HL123809

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837), awarded a $265,347 Project Grant to Functional Fluidics Inc., a minority-owned, for-profit company in Detroit, Michigan. The grant funding supports the development and initial validation of a point-of-care device for assessing red blood cell sickling in sickle cell disease patients. The goal is to create a standalone, potentially CLIA-waived diagnostic system that can be...

This $163,698 Project Grant awarded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) aims to develop a novel point-of-care (POC) molecular diagnostic assay for syphilis detection. The primary goals are to: 1) Develop a multiplexed PCR/giant magnetoresistive (GMR) biosensor-based assay to detect Treponema pallidum (the syphilis pathogen) and other genital ulcer disease (GUD) pathogens, and 2) Clinically...

This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) under the Mental Health Research Grants (CFDA 93.242) program provides $898,186 to Spotted TECH LLC in New Orleans, Louisiana to develop an innovative home-based dried blood spot CD4 count test called the "CD4-LINK Kit". The primary objective is to improve access to HIV care and monitoring in underserved areas by allowing individuals to self-collect a blood sample and mail it to a lab for CD4 count analysis,...

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) awarded a $172,176 Project Grant to Albert Einstein College of Medicine to conduct a pilot study titled "Reducing Morbidity in Sickle Cell Disease-PREVENT Acute Chest Syndrome System (PACSYSTEM) Pilot Study." This 5-year grant, awarded on June 1, 2024, aims to improve health outcomes for children and youth with sickle cell disease by using implementation science methods to address barriers and enablers faced by healthcare...

This Project Grant award, provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), supports the development of a novel electrochemical lateral flow assay (ELFA) for diagnosing active tuberculosis (TB) from a single drop of blood. The $238,500 award will enable the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) to determine the operating characteristics of the ELFA using contrived samples and bio-banked...

This $299,790 Project Grant award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837) supports the development of novel allosteric modulators of the thrombin receptor, protease-activated receptor 1 (PAR1), called Parmodulins, for the treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD). The project aims to identify optimized Parmodulins with improved potency and oral activity, and confirm their efficacy in mouse models of SCD, including...

This Project Grant award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837), provides $300,000 in funding to Gigamune, Inc. to develop an in vivo gene therapy for the treatment of sickle cell disease. The project aims to test a novel lentiviral vector technology for editing hematopoietic stem cells to knockout the BCL11A enhancer or express an anti-sickling beta-globin gene. This Phase I SBIR project will evaluate the...

This 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), aims to develop a novel split enzyme diagnostic platform for rapid, sensitive detection of biomarkers at the point of care. The $249,000 award to Clemson University will fund the development and validation of a split adenylate cyclase-based system that can detect clinically...

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) awarded Tufts University a $487,350 Project Grant under the "Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health" program (CFDA 93.286). The funding supports the development of paper-based microsampling devices designed to provide stable and metered samples of dried blood and plasma to enable patient-centric diagnostic testing and remote healthcare access. The proposed innovations...

This federal Project Grant award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837), provides $637,526 to Duke University to conduct research on the effects of sickle red blood cells (RBCs) on neutrophil activation and phenotypes in sickle cell disease. The research aims to delineate the specific characteristics of sickle RBCs that induce neutrophil activation, as well as the downstream consequences of these sickle...