Date: Jul 01, 2012 Source: Press Release (
click here to go to the source)
Seattle, WA - July 2012 -- Immusoft recently announced receipt of a prestigious STTR research
grant from the National Institutes of Health.
The $300,000 grant will be used in collaboration with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research
Center (FHCRC), a world leader in cancer prevention, detection and treatment research, to test
the ability of Immusoft's proprietary ISP™ platform to deliver a potent HIV antibody in a mouse
model.
Eric Herbig, Immusoft's Chief Science Officer, explained, "The goal of this study is to use
Immusoft's ISP™ platform to make human cells produce VRC01, an antibody that neutralizes
many strains of HIV, in a mouse. Once we can demonstrate that the mouse cells can produce
VRC01, we'll move on to primates, and then human trials."
For this study, Immusoft will program B cells to deliver VRC01, and the FHCRC will conduct the
mouse work and analysis.
"I am thrilled that we secured this grant and that we will be working with Fred Hutch on this
project," commented Immusoft founder and CEO, Matthew Scholz. "They have a wealth of
resources and a great deal of experience with these models. Collaborating with them will be key
to our success in this phase of our research and development."
The STTR is part of a federal grant program that aims to increase small business participation in
federal research and development, and encourage the private sector commercialization of
innovation that comes out of this research. To be eligible for the grant, small businesses must
work in collaboration with universities or established non-profit research institutions for the first
two phases of research -- with at least 40% of the research completed by the small business,
and 30% by the collaborating institution.
The grants are quite competitive, with only a small percentage of applicants receiving funding.
Immusoft is a Seattle-based biotech start-up whose mission is to develop a completely new
platform for delivering medicines by programming patients' own cells to constantly secrete
therapeutic proteins.
