SBIR Phase I: Nano-scale Engineering via Grid-scale Computing: Designing, Optimizing and Manufacturing Cancer Therapeutics

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will demonstrate the feasibility of engineering a new class of cancer therapeutics. They will be constructed from DNA nanostructures that can be functionalized with both molecular systems for targeting tumor cells and therapeutic payloads for their destruction. This project focuses on a CAD (computer-aided design) application, powered by a grid of several thousand computers, that solves what had been the major impediment to progress in the field of DNA nanotechnology: the intractable task of calculating the sequences of DNA required for self-assembly and functionalization of target nanostructures. The development platform, if successful, will provide a novel ability to rapidly engineer and re-engineer multi-functional macromolecules from molecular subcomponents. The company will use this capability in an attempt to create high value nano-products and related intellectual property for select vertical market segment. Inspired by early validation from the pharmaceutical industry, management has chosen to first pursue the cancer therapeutics market. However, the domains to which this CAD technology can apply are broader. For example, the research team has also created designs for detergent additives to improve the laundering of polyester and nanoarrays for detecting the presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms for a hand-held biometric device. If proven feasible, this CAD platform will address a wide array of commercial opportunities in many industrial sectors.