Project Grant R43HL152887

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)...

This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), under the federal grant program "Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health" (CFDA 93.286), provides funding of $481,438 to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) to develop a novel therapeutic delivery system called "Cargocytes." Cargocytes are derived from mesenchymal stem cells that have been genetically engineered to...

This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), under the CFDA program "Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health", aims to develop a novel biomimetic hydrogel scaffold that can program and expand T cells directly in living systems. The $231,934 award to the Trustees of Columbia University will leverage DNA origami and supramolecular hydrogel technologies to create a platform that...

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 of $305,000 was made by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) program (CFDA 47.084). The award is funding the development of a microchip-based technology that leverages sound waves and electric fields to manipulate cells and sequentially deliver customizable combinations of genetic coding molecules. This innovation aims to make advanced cell engineering processes more accessible and streamlined, with the...

This Project Grant award from the Trans-NIH Research Support program, CFDA #93.310, provides $1,350,770 to The Leland Stanford Junior University to develop a novel class of synthetic RNA-based receptors to enhance the targeting precision of mRNA-mediated adoptive cell therapies. The project aims to create a modular, programmable receptor system that can convert ligand-induced dimerization events into the expression of desired output proteins, enabling improved specificity for ablating target...

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Biomedical Research and Research Training Program (CFDA 93.859) awarded a $488,753 project grant to Georgia Tech Research Corp and the University of Wisconsin-Madison to develop a novel "Precise Area Introduction and Transfection" (PAINT) technology. This technology aims to enable highly localized, versatile, and efficient delivery of biomolecules like nucleic acids, proteins, and viruses into cells, with the goal of...

This $500,000 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, under the Biological Sciences federal grant program (CFDA 47.074), will support research to develop an end-to-end continuous manufacturing process for cell therapies using robotics and microfluidic technologies. The Georgia Tech Research Corporation will receive funding to create a more integrated workflow based on microfluidic device-enabled genetic engineering, cell expansion, and...

This Project Grant award of $814,209 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837) supports research to develop in vivo hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) gene therapy using CD90-targeted nanoparticles. The goal is to overcome limitations of current ex vivo HSC gene therapy approaches by enabling direct gene editing of HSCs within the patient's bone marrow. The key objectives are to: 1) optimize nanoparticle formulations...

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...