SBIR Phase II: Industrial-Scale Technology for Drug Development

The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to expand the scale of novel technology to enable the discovery and development of next-generation therapeutics. The proposed project will scale and test the technology to meet the expressed needs of research scientists in the pharmaceutical industry that are working to cure various diseases. The technology has the potential to accelerate the development of drugs by more accurately predicting their effectiveness at an earlier, more cost-effective stage than existing options. The proposed project will enable drug development at a previously unattainable quality and scale. For the last 50 years, the first stage of drug development has been limited by the lack of a tractable system that faithfully reproduces the clinical features of mature cells. The technology in this proposal will be used to enhance efficiency and accelerate maturation time periods relative to conventional methods. Outcomes generated by this new technology will be assessed to determine how closely they match the cellular shape and size, gene expression profile, and function of mature cells in adults. Scaling the technology will require development of novel devices for automation and the design and testing of customized protocols. Success will be determined by measures of manufacturing quality control and other specific properties. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.