This week's Lab Notes has details on the latest research projects to get funding support from the Eagles Autism Foundation, a big milestone for Innovation Park and a digital pathology company's latest partnership and more.
Here's the roundup:
Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles Autism Foundation is providing $4.1 million to 20 projects focused on autism research, education and care.
The grants represent the proceeds raised by participants from the 2022 Eagles Autism Challenge along with other foundation-related fundraising initiatives throughout the year.
The foundation received 41 proposals for grant funding.
Among the nine recipients for research funding were three pilot research studies submitted by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
CHOP and Drexel University also received funding for post-doctoral fellowships in an effort by the foundation to attract researchers to specialize in the field of autism.
In addition, eight of the nine community projects to receive foundation funding involved local organizations addressing topics such as neurodiverse employment, speech-language pathology, community inclusion, and behavioral health.
The local recipients of community grants were CHOP's Center for Autism Research, Salus University's Speech Language Institute; the Kinney Center for Autism Education and Support at St. Joseph University, KenCrest, the Evidence-Based Practice & Innovation Center, Special Olympics Pennsylvania, The Arc Alliance, and Variety – The Children’s Charity of the Delaware Valley.
Since launching the Eagles Autism Challenge in 2018, the organization has raised more than $20 million and funded 83 research projects and community grants.
"In many ways, 2022 was a record-setting year for the Eagles Autism Foundation, but we know there is more work to be done," said Jeffrey Lurie, the Eagles chairman and CEO. "We look forward to expanding on our mission and assisting even more families with the help of our community, fans, partners, and supporters.”
Innovation Space
The Wilmington-based incubator for life sciences and technology companies achieved a big milestone hitting the 100-company mark after accepting 12 companies for its spring 2023 Science Inc. Accelerator Program.
The virtual program is an accelerator for early-stage, science-based startups that provides participants with access to industry and investment experts.
Innovation Space now has 100 portfolio companies from 15 states and four countries.
The eight life sciences companies participating in the spring 2023 cohort are:
- A.I. Whoo, a movement analytics company that provides gait assessment software to physical therapists through a mobile application;
- CaperRX, a therapeutics company developing a proprietary peptide therapy to treat residual glioblastoma (a type of brain cancer);
- Cellergy Pharma, a developer of cellular therapies and bispecific antibodies for treating severe allergic disease;
- Chiima Therapeutics, a biotech company developing easy-to-use therapeutic compounds for acute and chronic pain;
- Nitro Biosciences, a company working on retraining the immune system to target antigens for vaccination that are inaccessible via common immunization methods;
- Ren Bioscience, the developer of retinal disease treatment that preserves retinal cells by inhibiting pro-inflammatory molecules.
- SingleTime Microneedles, a medical device company that has developed a removable microneedle platform that can deliver single, multi-dose, and longitudinal dose vaccines in one patch; and
- Sonogen Medical, a developer of an ultrasonic bone fracture healing device with built-in diagnostic fracture healing capability.
The Science Inc. Accelerator program is one of several Innovation Space programs funded by a $1.5 million U.S. Department of Commerce grant. Innovation Space, part of the Experimental Station campus in Wilmington, features 130,000 square feet of lab and office space.
Earlier this month, the Innovation Space joined The Fourth Floor as a “Greater Impact Partner” to help address gender wealth and funding gaps by advancing for-profit board careers for women and supporting women founders in science, technology, engineering, math and medicine, or STEM.
Proscia
The Philadelphia digital and computational pathology services provider was selected by Spectrum Healthcare Partners of South Portland, Maine, to modernize the physician-owned practice's pathology operations.
Terms of the deal are being kept confidential.
Proscia's Concentriq Dx AI-powered digital pathology platform is used by reference laboratories, hospitals and health systems to advance the standard of care in diagnoses disease such as cancer from the limitations of glass slides used with traditional pathology. Digital pathology, Proscia said, shifts the 150-year-old standard of care from microscope to digitized specimen slides.
According to Proscia, 14 of top 20 pharmaceutical companies in the country use its software.
Quick Hits:
King of Prussia-based Greenphire, which specializes in financial lifecycle management for clinical trials, said it has extended its agreement with Merck (NYSE: MRK). The expanded agreement makes Greenphire's ClinCard with rideshare integration available to study participants across Merck's clinical development network. ClinCard, which is designed to help alleviate financial and logistical burdens on participants, does not impose costs on sites and helps ensure patients are reimbursed quickly so research sites can focus on conducting clinical trials. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.… Windtree Therapeutics (NASDAQ: WINT), a Warrington biotechnology company focused on advancing late-stage interventions for cardiovascular disorders, regained compliance with NASDAQ's $1 per share minimum bid price requirement.… Fujirebio Holdings Inc., its wholly-owned subsidiary Fujirebio Diagnostics of Malvern, and San Diego-based AriBio USA have formed a strategic partnership to advance the development of biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
