Award Data

While CAR-T therapies have advanced in the clinic, there are still two specific issues using these breakthrough therapies for blood cancers: Durable responses in patients are only at 30-50% and Cytokine Release Syndrome occurs in 60-90% of treated patients. These limitations, for a drug that costs as much as $500,000, may cost an additional $250,000+ for treating adverse events leading to caution ...

Current standard-of-care antiviral regimens rely on direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) possessing inherent liabilities. DAAs are generally active against only one virus or a closely related, family of viruses. Because a viral protein is targeted, the virus can readily develop resistance mutations. To address the shortcomings of DAAs, FORGE Life Science is developing host-targeted antivirals (HTAs). H ...

PROJECT SUMMARY Novel therapies for the treatment of chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infections are urgently needed to address the alarming spread of this pathogen across the Americas. We have identified three distinct series of potent, selective, and orally bioavailable inhibitors of CHIKV replication. In this Phase II renewal SBIR project, we will optimize these series of CHIKV inhibitors to Pre-Devel ...

We have discovered the first-ever inhibitors of PF4, a platelet protein central to the pathophysiology of heparin induced thrombocytopenia (HIT). Heparin is a naturally-occurring anticoagulant that prevents the formation of clots and extension of existing clots within the vasculature, and major medical applications of heparin include dialysis, cardiac catheterization, and cardiopulmonary bypass su ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Diabetes remains the leading cause of non-traumatic lower extremity amputations. Most amputations are preceded by a foot ulcer, so that successfully treating, or better still preventing, foot ulcers should reduce the n umber of diabetes related amputations. The majority of foot ulcers in diabetic patients are the result of loss of protective sensation (LOPS) s ...

Project summary: This project is designed to evaluate a new class of anti-cancer agents for treatment of invasive melanoma, pancreas, lung, and colon carcinomas. The study compounds are small, synthetic molecules that have not previously been used in people, and bind to a surface receptor, G protein- coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) on tumor cells that has not previously been targeted in cancer. S ...

IsoPlexis proposes to deliver a novel multi-omic method for targeted profiling of both the TCR sequence and proteome from an array of 1000+ single cells. Specifically, we will deliver a single-cell, TCR sequencing and protein capture assay for identifying responsive antigen specific TCRs, and concurrently evaluate these T-cells for functional response to that antigen. The challenge remains to link ...

Although signal transduction inhibitors occasionally offer clinical benefit for cancer patients, signal flux emanating from oncogenes is often distributed through multiple pathways, potentially underlying the resistance which causes failure of most such inhibitors. Measuring signal flux through multiple pathways, in response to signal transduction inhibitors, may help uncover network inter- action ...

Tools are needed to establish the etiology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), whose signatures appear before the disease presents. Early in AD is ubiquitylation of misfolded proteins; those not degraded by the proteasome can form neurofibrillary tangles such as β-amyloid or tau protein aggregates. Ubiquitin (Ub)-mediated signaling plays a central role in protein degradation, and a first step in neuro ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Many oxygenators clinically available for pediatric (and adult) extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) utilize heparin coatings such as Carmeda BioActive Surface on device surfaces, including the microporous hollow fibers, to improve biocompatibility. Despite application of these coatings, significant inflammatory and coagulation-related complications, as ...