Surromed, Inc. Awarded SBIR Grant From the NIH to Develop Nanobarcode Identification Tag Technologies for Mouse Phenotyping
Mountain View, Calif., August 2, 2001 /PRNewswire/ SurroMed, Inc. today announced that it has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health. The funding will support development of SurroMed's Nanobarcode[TM] identification tag technologies for use with multiplexed immunoassays for mouse phenotyping.
Phenotyping involves quantifying the vast array of molecular components that make up complex organisms in order to understand interactions between genetic and environmental factors in diseases. SurroMed is developing an integrated set of phenotyping technologies to enable more precise diagnosis and treatment of human disease. Existing gene knock-out and knock-in mouse strains serve as models of human disease and facilitate study of disease progression and monitoring of therapeutic response in preclinical drug testing. SurroMed's phenotyping technologies are applicable for mice and other small animals, as well as humans.
SurroMed's Nanobarcode technology uses cylindrically-shaped colloidal metal nanoparticles, in which the metal composition can be alternated along the length and the size of each metal segment can be controlled. Intrinsic differences in reflectivity between the metal segments allow individual particles to be identified by conventional optical microscopy.
"Various capture chemistries can be attached to Nanobarcode identification tags to bind specifically to target molecules that can be interrogated in solution and on surfaces using conventional bioanalytical techniques," said Michael N. Natan, Ph.D., SurroMed's Chief Technology Officer and the inventor of the Nanobarcode identification tag technology.
"We believe our Nanobarcode identification tag technology is uniquely applicable for mouse phenotyping because the nanometer-scale tags allow for high level multiplexing of assays even with small volumes of mouse blood," said SurroMed CEO and Chairman Gordon Ringold, Ph.D. "We are pleased to receive this grant which will support the development of software for Nanobarcode identification and multiplexed immunoassays."
The SBIR program is designed to support small businesses conducting innovative research focused on the commercialization of novel technologies. Innovation and the potential for commercialization are among the important criteria used by the NIH in its scientific and technical merit evaluation process.
About SurroMed, Inc.
Headquartered in Mountain View, California, SurroMed uses its integrated phenotyping and biological marker discovery platform to better understand the root causes of disease and the factors underlying patient-to-patient variations in disease presentation, progression and response to therapy. Discoveries arising from its research will enable improved, cost-efficient discovery and development of therapeutic and diagnostic products. SurroMed's phenotyping and biological marker discovery platform incorporates advanced proprietary technologies for profiling and analysis of hundreds of immune cell populations, proteins and low-molecular-weight organic molecules (such as sugars, peptides or lipids) in small volumes of blood and/or other biological samples, while maintaining complete patient confidentiality. By capturing and analyzing enormous amounts of clinical and biological information in a massively parallel fashion to identify useful biological markers, SurroMed plans to enable the precise diagnosis and effective treatment of disease.
Contacts:
SurroMed, Inc.
August J. Moretti
CFO and General Counsel
(650) 230-1564
email: [email protected]
Noonan/Russo Communications, Inc.
Talya Gould
Account Executive
(415) 677-4455 ext.284
email: [email protected]
Phenotyping involves quantifying the vast array of molecular components that make up complex organisms in order to understand interactions between genetic and environmental factors in diseases. SurroMed is developing an integrated set of phenotyping technologies to enable more precise diagnosis and treatment of human disease. Existing gene knock-out and knock-in mouse strains serve as models of human disease and facilitate study of disease progression and monitoring of therapeutic response in preclinical drug testing. SurroMed's phenotyping technologies are applicable for mice and other small animals, as well as humans.
SurroMed's Nanobarcode technology uses cylindrically-shaped colloidal metal nanoparticles, in which the metal composition can be alternated along the length and the size of each metal segment can be controlled. Intrinsic differences in reflectivity between the metal segments allow individual particles to be identified by conventional optical microscopy.
"Various capture chemistries can be attached to Nanobarcode identification tags to bind specifically to target molecules that can be interrogated in solution and on surfaces using conventional bioanalytical techniques," said Michael N. Natan, Ph.D., SurroMed's Chief Technology Officer and the inventor of the Nanobarcode identification tag technology.
"We believe our Nanobarcode identification tag technology is uniquely applicable for mouse phenotyping because the nanometer-scale tags allow for high level multiplexing of assays even with small volumes of mouse blood," said SurroMed CEO and Chairman Gordon Ringold, Ph.D. "We are pleased to receive this grant which will support the development of software for Nanobarcode identification and multiplexed immunoassays."
The SBIR program is designed to support small businesses conducting innovative research focused on the commercialization of novel technologies. Innovation and the potential for commercialization are among the important criteria used by the NIH in its scientific and technical merit evaluation process.
About SurroMed, Inc.
Headquartered in Mountain View, California, SurroMed uses its integrated phenotyping and biological marker discovery platform to better understand the root causes of disease and the factors underlying patient-to-patient variations in disease presentation, progression and response to therapy. Discoveries arising from its research will enable improved, cost-efficient discovery and development of therapeutic and diagnostic products. SurroMed's phenotyping and biological marker discovery platform incorporates advanced proprietary technologies for profiling and analysis of hundreds of immune cell populations, proteins and low-molecular-weight organic molecules (such as sugars, peptides or lipids) in small volumes of blood and/or other biological samples, while maintaining complete patient confidentiality. By capturing and analyzing enormous amounts of clinical and biological information in a massively parallel fashion to identify useful biological markers, SurroMed plans to enable the precise diagnosis and effective treatment of disease.
Contacts:
SurroMed, Inc.
August J. Moretti
CFO and General Counsel
(650) 230-1564
email: [email protected]
Noonan/Russo Communications, Inc.
Talya Gould
Account Executive
(415) 677-4455 ext.284
email: [email protected]