Award Data

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In a novel technological breakthrough in neural stimulation, our collaborators at Vanderbilt University have developed a new modality that uses low intensity pulsed infrared laser light instead of electrical energy to elicit compound nerve and muscle potentials. Optical stimulation can induce spatially precise, highly controlled and artifact-free action potenti ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Keratoconjunctivitus sicca (KCS), or dry eye, is a prevalent disease affecting an estimated one in five adults to varying degrees. Of Americans over the age of 65, some 4.3 million persons report tear film deficiencies, and certain diseases put patients at increased risk for the disease, including diabetes, lupus, arthritis, leukemia, fibromyalgia, acne rosace ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Science apathy is growing at the K-12 education level, and represents an alarming development with potentially devastating consequences at individual, societal and economic levels. Surprisingly, this student apathy is increasing while the general public reads record numbers of popular science books and watches increasing amounts of science TV programming. In sp ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Founded in 1998, Altea Therapeutics is developing its PassPort(tm) system to deliver proteins and peptides, small-molecule drugs, genes and vaccines from a skin patch, eliminating the need for invasive needle injection. This breakthrough technology, currently undergoing Phase 1 clinical trials for basal insulin delivery, revolutionizes the way in which medicine ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Founded in 1998, Altea Therapeutics is developing its PassPort(tm) transdermal drug delivery system to deliver proteins and peptides, small-molecule drugs, genes and vaccines from a skin patch, eliminating the need for invasive needle injection. This breakthrough technology, currently undergoing Phase 1 clinical trials for transdermal delivery of insulin and ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Celiac disease is an autoimmune digestive disorder in which intestinal lesions develop in genetically susceptible individuals in response to the ingestion of specific seed storage proteins found in cereal grains. The only treatment is strict adherence to a diet from which the offending grains have been eliminated. Therefore, considerable research has been devot ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Apeliotus Technologies proposes to develop a commercial diagnostic for the early detection of age-related macular degeneration (ARMD). It relies on a functional test of dark adaptation kinetics (the transition from being light-adapted to being dark-adapted) that has been shown in previous work to detect the onset of ARMD at least four years before it is clinic ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Approximately 10 million people in the U.S. are estimated to have osteoporosis, a disease that results in over 1.5 million bone fractures a year. It is now known that the accumulation of fat cells (adipocytes) in bone marrow is a major factor contributing to age-related bone loss. Women with osteoporosis have higher numbers of marrow adipocytes than those wome ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Neurons send instructions to other cells in the form of electrical signals that allow movement, sensation, memory, learning and countless other activities that are taken for granted in daily life. Loss of neural cell function results from traumatic injuries such as gunshots wounds or car accidents and from neurodegenerative diseases. The scale of this health p ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Luciferases have become invaluable detection tools in molecular biology and other fields. Their utility is imited by their physical liability. The currently available luciferases are sensitive to extremes of temperature and pH, which precludes their use as detectors in applications such as the polymerase chain reaction. Recently, a luciferase from the jellyfis ...