Award Data

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Signal transduction systems regulate the majority of cellular activities including the metabolism, development, host-recognition, biofilm production, virulence, and antibiotic resistance of human pathogens. Thus, knowle dge of the proteins and interactions that comprise these communication networks is an essential component to furthering biomedical discovery. T ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): BCR Diagnostics, Inc. (BCR) has recently developed and patented a technology platform for engineering fluorogenic functionality into living Bacillus spores. Fluorogenic spores (F-spores) produced at BCR appear to be phy siologically identical to normal spores except for performing as self reporters of initial germination events. Considering the unique features ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long term goal is the development of better, longer hypothermic storage conditions for liver transplants than currently possible in clinical practice using novel insect antifreeze proteins. Hypothermic injury result s in vascular dysfunction during liver storage, therefore vascular tissue models will be employed in this Phase I SBIR proposal. Blood vessel r ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): More than 43,000 Americans die each year from liver disease, making it the 10th leading disease- related cause of death in the US. Cirrhosis with irreversible injury and scarring of the liver, is the most prevalent caus e of liver failure and is attributable to alcohol abuse as well as hepatitis. Although alcohol has been the primary cause of cirrhosis, the Cen ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Compared to current practice with whole-body-gradient coils, an advanced head gradient coil promises over twice the gradient strength (for higher resolution) and at least three times higher slew rates (for faster imagi ng sequences), with an order of magnitude reduction in nerve stimulation and greatly reduced acoustic noise. The potential usefulness of a high ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in the cannabis plant, has a wide range of pharmacological properties of therapeutic value. The drug has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (Marinol(r) soft gelatin capsules) for the treatment of nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy and for appetite stimulation in AIDS p ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Type 1 (juvenile) diabetes is an organ-specific autoimmune disease resulting from destruction of insulinproducing pancreatic beta-cells. In non-diabetics, islet cell antigen-specific T cells are either deleted in thymic development or are converted to T regulatory cells that actively suppress effector responses to islet cell antigens. In juvenile diabetics and ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): As recently as 2005-2006, a massive chikungunya (CHIK) outbreak occurred in the French Island of R union, infecting 35% of its 785,000 inhabitants and killing 237. Additionally, this disease is currently endemic in Indi a, in which 1.4 to 6.5 million cases are estimated to occur in 2006-2007. The name Chikungunya comes from Swahili for the bent walker, reflec ...

Developing alternatives to fossil fuels is a major issue for the United States, as well as for the entire global economy. One alternative being aggressively pursued is the use of ethanol produced from renewable plant fiber. Plant fiber ,cellulose, which is contained in abundant resources such as wood pulp, agricultural wastes, and non-food crops such as switch grass and corn stover ¿ represent ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Myomics, Inc. has developed High Content Drug Screening (HCS) technology for in vitro testing of compounds which alter contractile forces generated by miniaturized tissue engineered organs (Myo-Force Assay SystemTM, MFA STM). Myomics' 3-D tissue/force sensor composite is capable of long term studies (1-4 weeks) and provides force as well as electrophysiological ...