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Seattle, WA (January 5, 2021)鈥擳he Washington Entrepreneurial Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (WE-REACH) is pleased to announce three new awards to expedite early-stage product development for promising biomedical innovations. WE-REACH invests up to $200,000 for each project with added resources and support. Project funding is made possible by public-private partnerships including the NIH, 91爆料 (91爆料) Office of Research, CoMotion, and the Institute for Protein Design, with matching support from our partners at the Institute of Translational Health Sciences and the 91爆料 School of Pharmacy.

The recipients and awards are as follows:

 

Randall Bly, MD, Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery at 91爆料 and Seattle Children鈥檚: His team is designing a device that enables endoscopy to be viewed, archived, and analyzed on a smartphone. This smart and portable endoscopy device will improve access to specialty care for patients. Once developed, this innovative product will facilitate collaboration and information exchange between physicians.

 

Wes Van Voorhis, MD, PhD and Stephen Plymate MD, Professors of Medicine at 91爆料: Their team is developing a small molecule therapeutic drug to treat castrate-resistant prostate cancer, a form of prostate cancer for which current therapies have limited efficacy. Success in developing this small molecule inhibitor of prostate cancer could lead to a first-in-class therapeutic for this indication.

 

Taylor Sawyer, DO, M. Ed, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at 91爆料 and Seattle Children鈥檚: His team plans to design a device for neonatal intubation without blocking airflow. This innovative design includes built in video capability, making the procedure easier and safer.

 

All three projects have received invaluable input from experts at the NIH, Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, third-party payers, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office, as well as an entrepreneurial committee of local experts in the Seattle area.

The next round of WE-REACH projects will begin in January 2021.

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WE-REACH is an NIH-designated entrepreneurial product innovation hub for the Pacific Northwest. WE-REACH is supported by public-private partnerships accelerating the transformation of biomedical discoveries into innovative products intended to improve patient care, access, and health. Learn more at /we-reach/.

Partners and contributors to WE-REACH include:

In addition to providing funding, CoMotion helps with sourcing, selecting, and ongoing guidance of the projects teams. CoMotion partners with the 91爆料 community on their innovation journey, providing tools, connections, and acumen to transform ideas into economic and societal impact. Learn more at .

The Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS) is dedicated to speeding scientific discovery to clinical practice for the benefit of communities throughout Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho and beyond. ITHS promotes this mission by fostering innovative research, cultivating multi-disciplinary research partnerships, and ensuring a pipeline of next generation researchers through educational and career development programs. Learn more at聽.

The Institute for Protein Design at the 91爆料 School of Medicine is creating a new world of synthetic proteins to address 21st-century challenges in medicine, energy, and technology. Learn more about our research at .

The 91爆料 School of Pharmacy: .

WE-REACH is supported by NIH Grant 1 U01 HL152401-01.

 

Funding Opportunity Notification

ITHS/Primate Center Pilot Ignition Award

Deadline:聽 January 18, 2021

Letter of Intent DUE: December 18, 2020

The Washington National Primate Research Center (WaNPRC) and the Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS) are pleased to sponsor the Ignition Award, which focuses on the use of non-human primate models of human disease.

The purpose of this Ignition Award is to explore innovative areas of nonhuman primate research and generate preliminary data to serve as a basis for submission of new research grant applications.

Details

Number of Awards: up to two (2)

Award amount: up to $75,000 each

Eligibility: Any research scientist or research faculty can apply except those who have received an ITHS/Primate Center Pilot Ignition Award within the previous three (3) years.

 

The Center particularly encourages applications from early-stage investigators and junior faculty.聽 WaNPRC encourages these individuals to take advantage of this opportunity to pursue innovative research projects or collect preliminary data that can provide proof of concept and lead into future funding

 

More information is available at the links below.

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The Washington Entrepreneurial Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (WE-REACH) is honored to announce that WE-REACH Executive Director and 91爆料SOP Professor of Pharmaceutics Rodney JY Ho has been elected to the rank of NAI Fellow by the 2020 National Academy of Inventors Fellows Selection Committee and Board of Directors.

鈥淒r. Ho has demonstrated a highly prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society,鈥� said NAI President Paul R. Sanberg. 鈥淥ur sincere congratulations on this well-deserved recognition of his accomplishments, and it is an honor to welcome him as a Fellow. I look forward to working with Dr. Ho in support of NAI鈥檚 mission to promote the importance of innovation and celebration of academic invention.鈥�

Dr. Ho will be officially welcomed as an NAI fellow at the organization鈥檚 10th Anniversary Annual Meeting event in Tampa, Florida, June 7-9, 2021.

鈥淚 am honored to be elected as a fellow of the National Academy of Innovators and cited for translating biomedical innovations into products making an impact on the quality of life,鈥� said Dr. Ho. 鈥淚 am truly blessed to work with great people 鈥� colleagues, students, post-docs and staff members 鈥� who are committed daily to contributing creatively and collectively toward economic development and the welfare of society. I could not have done this without their commitment and support.鈥�

Dr. Ho is also the founder and director of the Targeted Long-acting Combination Anti-Retroviral Therapeutic (TLC-ART) program. A public-private partnership, TLC-ART features the support of NIH and WHO鈥檚 UNITAID and helps determine which long-lasting drug combinations will most effectively treat HIV in adults and children globally.

For more information about WE-REACH, visit us at聽/we-reach/聽or contact us at聽wereach@uw.edu.

Dr. Rodney Ho, Executive Director of WE-REACH, discussed the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine and the challenges of distributing a treatment that requires -80 degree Celsius freezer storage with KOMO News last Friday. While “it is logistically challenging,” Dr. Ho believes that “we have prepared the best as we can.”

For the full story, follow the to KOMO News 4.

Seattle, WA (November 13, 2020)鈥擳he Washington Entrepreneurial Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (WE-REACH) is pleased to announce two awards to develop rapid point-of-care diagnostic tests for COVID-19. By securing about $500k in additional funding from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), WE-REACH is investing in the development of rapid, portable COVID-19 testing to enable contact tracing and curtail the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The first award is with Jae-Hyun Chung, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the 91爆料. His team is developing a portable and sensitive viral antigen detector using an innovative nanotube sensor-based technology. The test will be portable for point-of-care diagnostics and should provide results within minutes.

The second award is with Barry Lutz, Associate Professor of Bioengineering at the 91爆料. His team is developing a novel point-of-care device called 鈥淎scensio鈩�.鈥� It will be a low-cost, moderate-throughput viral genetic sequence test for COVID-19. If successful, it can serve as a platform to detect SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses (such as the flu) within minutes.

Unlike current COVID-19 tests that have to be sent to central laboratories and take days to get results, these two innovative point-of-care tests should be able to provide prompt readouts onsite in local communities, field clinics, and businesses.

鈥淲e are honored that our Center can play a role in helping solve the COVID-19 pandemic,鈥� said Dr. Rodney Ho, the executive director of WE-REACH. By bringing innovative, sensitive, and specific diagnostic tests to the market, we can help overcome a disease that has cost hundreds of thousands of lives and disrupted schools and businesses.鈥�

Beyond funding, WE-REACH provides value-added product development, regulatory strategy, market analysis, and follow-on grant development to help ensure the success of life-changing technologies. Both projects have been reviewed and supported by experts at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

WE-REACH is part of an NIH supported network of public-private partnerships accelerating the translation of biomedical discoveries into commercially viable products to improve patient care and enhance health.

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For more information, visit us at /we-reach/ or contact us at wereach@uw.edu.

WE-REACH is supported by NIH Grant 1 U01 HL152401.

WE-REACH is announcing fast track funding for early-stage projects aimed at developing biosensors for COVID-19 open to researchers in the Pacific Northwest. This one-time opportunity through the NIH is part of the to detect the virus or other biomarkers in nasal and oral cavities or skin.

This funding is intended to support innovators with promising technologies for research and early development (R&D) by providing support and project tracking. Each applicant may request up to $434K for 2 years.

More information about RADx-Rad funding opportunities for other groups: “Novel Biosensing for Screening, Diagnosis and Monitoring of COVID-19 from Skin and the Oral Cavity”

• /we-reach/ (Pre-SBIR institutional researchers)
• (U18 for cooperative submissions)
• (R44 SBIR Phase II)
• (R42 STTR Phase II)

For more information and submission information follow this link. Given the rapid nature of this funding opportunity, there will be additional updates on how to apply soon.

On August 21st, Declarations of Intent (DOIs) are due for WE-REACH Project Funding and Support. The call is open for projects led by 91爆料 PIs or collaborators with 91爆料 Co-PIs. The intent is to assist investigators in completing proof of product concept validation and securing follow-on funding. For more information, see our request for proposals.

*Via CoMotion’s CAS System

 

Seattle, WA (July 14, 2020)鈥擳he Washington Entrepreneurial Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (WE-REACH) is pleased to announce its first awards to facilitate early-stage product development for two biomedical innovations. WE-REACH invests up to $200,000 per awarded project. Funding comes from the with matching support from our partners at the , , the , the , and the 91爆料 Office of Research.

The first award is with Stephanie Berger, PhD, a Translational Investigator at the Institute for Protein Design, who is developing a novel peptide to treat Inflammatory Bowel Disease. She intends to block an inflammatory cytokine receptor called IL-23R with an oral, locally active peptide, thus providing a safe, convenient, and cost-effective therapy for a disease with few good treatments.

The second award supports Christopher Allan, MD, Associate Professor of Orthopedics at the 91爆料, who is designing a healing glove for patients with burns, wounds, infections, and other traumas to their hands. The device uses negative pressure wound therapy to accelerate recovery.

鈥淲e鈥檙e excited to help these two innovations on their developmental path toward breaking into the marketplace,鈥� said Dr. Rodney Ho, the executive director of WE-REACH. 鈥淚n addition to funding, WE-REACH provides value-added product development, regulatory strategy, intellectual property protection, market analysis, and follow-on grant development to help ensure the success of these potentially life-changing technologies.鈥�

Both projects have been reviewed by experts at the NIH, Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, third-party payers, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office, as well as an entrepreneurial committee of local experts in the Seattle area.

WE-REACH has received an additional 26 project applications, of which 7 have been selected for consideration of further support.

The call for our next round of projects will be in Fall of 2020.

WE-REACH is an NIH supported network of public-private partnerships accelerating the translation of biomedical discoveries into commercially viable products to improve patient care and enhance health.

###

For more information, visit us at /we-reach/ or contact us at wereach@uw.edu.

WE-REACH is supported by NIH Grant 1 U01 HL152401-01.

Engineering Innovations in Health (EIH), a collaborator with WE-REACH, is opening up a call for submissions for its yearlong program to develop working, cost-effective solutions to health challenges that are positioned to make a clinical impact in a wide range of specializations. Applications, due on August 1st can be found at the following . For additional information, please visit the .

The Entrepreneurial Law Clinic (ELC) at the 91爆料 (a WE-REACH collaborator) is now offering a series of Virtual Office Hours in partnership with the Seattle Public Library to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on business and commercialization.

The ELC’s resources are as follows:

Tuesday, May 19, 2020, 4聽鈥撀�6聽p.m.

Tuesday, May 26, 2020, 4聽鈥撀�6聽p.m.

Tuesday, June 2, 2020, 4聽鈥撀�6聽p.m.