Award Data

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Two million Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs) occur per year in the US, killing andgt;90,000 patients and costing ~$50-100 billion (adjusted by CPI to 2020 dollars). HAIs are the 6th leading cause of death in the US, ahead of diabetes and kidney disease. Reducing HAIs is a top priority of the US Department of Health and Human Services1 and experts have called for nov ...

ABSTRACT Infection of the eye by Herpes Simplex Virus-1 (HSV-1) can result in Herpes Keratitis (HK), which is the leading cause of infectious corneal blindness worldwide. In the U.S., nearly 500,000 individuals experience ocular herpes infections that are often recurrent and culminate in progressive corneal scarring and loss of vision. The gold standard treatment is Acyclovir (ACV) that targets HS ...

AbstractIn an SBIR Phase II, we developed an improved polio vaccine candidate, primarily for use in the post-eradication era. We call the candidate, ultraIPVTM, because it is produced using a UVC- inactivation method. UltraIPVTM has major improvements compared to existing IPV products, such as IPOL (Sanofi) and VeroPol (Staten Serum Institute). The ultraIPVTM technology is compatible with attenuat ...

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACTCochlear implant (CI) users are typically able to maintain conversations in quiet environments. However, when multiple people are talking simultaneously, such as at a large family dinner or in a restaurant, CI users have great difficulty participating in conversations and frequently withdraw or avoid the situation. Ideally, CI algorithms to remove background talkers (“b ...

It is estimated that Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases causing dementia will surpass cancer as the second leading cause of death by the year 2040. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia, followed by synucleinopathies, including dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), Parkinson’s disease with dementia (PDD), and Fronto-temporal dementia. There is an urgent, unmet ne ...

Project SummaryTendinopathy is a tendon disorder that is highly prevalent in the aged population. It is characterized by tendon deterioration that often leads to tendon rupture, and is associated with pain, swelling and impaired performance. There is currently no cure for tendinopathy and an urgent need for effective treatments for tendinopathy. The technology to be developed is microRNA (miR)-221 ...

Project Summary:We propose in this SBIR effort to develop a direct 3D mobile imaging based foot orthotics optimization system for clinicians to treat and prevent chronic conditions such as diabetic ulceration and malalignment. The proposed system leaps beyond the traditional orthotics production process, as it allows clinicians to directly and conveniently acquire patients' 3D foot structure from ...

Among the interventions targeting driving while intoxicated (DWI) by alcohol, Responsible Beverage Service (RBS) training of alcohol servers has shown promise. RBS training is currently required or incentivized by 36 U.S. states and California will require it starting in 2022. Our team has shown that an online RBS training, named WayToServe®, was effective in two randomized trials. These results ...

In this SBIR program, Q-Peak will develop a continuous manufacturing process to facilitate deterministic cross coupling between optical fibers.  The process will allow managing mode coupling in two-fiber sensor architectures, coupling of power from pump fibers to gain fibers for fiber lasers in a distributed length methodology and formation of unique signal add/drop functionality for optical netw ...

Influenza A viruses belong to the orthomyxoviridae family, and have a negative-sense, segmented RNA genome, which can cause seasonal or pandemic flu with high morbidity and significant mortality. Vaccination is the most prevalent prophylactic means for controlling influenza infections. However, an effective vaccine usually takes at least six months to develop. Furthermore, vaccination has limited ...