Birmingham-based CerFlux has been awarded a $275,000 grant, which it has big plans for.
The grant is a Small Business Innovation Research Phase I grant from the National Science Foundation. CerFlux Inc., a creator of personalized medicine technology for cancer treatment, will use the funds to support the development of its ChipMux technology, aimed at revolutionizing the approach to cancer treatment.
CerFlux's ChipMux technology aims to address a critical and unmet need for "accessible and affordable predictive technologies that identify optimal therapy regimens and strategically eliminate ineffective options."
"This project represents a major departure from the generalized one-size-fits-none approach to cancer treatment," a news release stated.
If successful, CerFlux's patented biopsy chip multiplexer technology will screen multiple anticancer regimens simultaneously on intact core biopsy tissue from each patient’s own tumor – before treatment – to identify the right treatment for that patient. The ultimate aim of the technology is to eliminate ineffective treatment regimens and identify the most effective regimens for each patient on an individualized basis.
“During this SBIR Phase I project, we will address several key objectives from bioprinting 3-D tumor proxies to demonstrating the predictive capacity of this platform for personalized cancer treatment,” said Karim Budhwani, CEO of CerFlux. “If successful, this personalized approach will not only reduce the cost of cancer treatment but, more importantly, it will substantially lighten the emotional, physical and financial burden suffered by patients.”
The endeavor is further enhanced by a commercial-academic collaboration between CerFlux and the James Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Ohio State University.
"For patients with advanced or metastatic cancer, team efforts of multidisciplinary care and multimodal therapies provide the most optimal outcomes," said Alex Kim, an assistant professor of surgical oncology, specializing in HIPEC and PI of Tumor Biorepository at OSU. "The collaborative efforts of our research and clinical teams at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and the James Cancer Hospital with CerFlux Inc. and their innovative ChipMux platform will bring precision-based cancer care to our patients with advanced cancer, while upholding our philosophy that 'there is no routine cancer.'”
In an era where precision and personalization are becoming increasingly vital in medicine, CerFlux's leaders want ChipMux technology to set a new standard in cancer treatment that results in the right treatment at the right time for each patient on an individualized basis.
The NSF's SBIR program focuses on transforming scientific discovery into both social and economic benefit. The receipt of this grant highlights the potential impact of ChipMux on improving cancer treatment and patient outcomes. The grant will fund research and development activities over the next year at CerFlux.
