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Syntrix Biosystems announces the award
of a Fast-Track grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to
develop a high-resolution optical system for the analysis of cancer
tissues
Auburn, WA, September 1,
2005. Syntrix Biosystems announced today the receipt of a
Fast-Track grant from the National Institute of Cancer (NCI, IMAT
Program) totaling $2,300,000 over four years. The grant was
awarded under the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program,
and will be used to fund the development of optical instrumentation
for the high-resolution analysis of cancer tissues. The
awarded grant will significantly leverage off ongoing developments
by the company of genomic and proteomic research platforms.
The NCI supported
research will involve the development of the Company's novel and
proprietary
Photoblaster™
instrument, a microdisplay-based optical instrument and accompanying
consumables that employs photosensitive thin-films to analyze
selected cell groups from normal and pathologic tissue sections at
high-resolution.
These proprietary methods
will be applied to the development of a complete system capable of
capturing specific cancer cells from a tissue section at
high-resolution.
The instrumentation and
consumables being developed are based on proprietary Biolithography™
technology as described in the Company's U.S. Patent 6,159,681. In
addition to high-resolution tissue analysis, the Company is seeking to
use the Photoblaster™
as a facile
system to generate high-density antibody arrays directly on
two-dimensional tissue sections, suitable for direct proteomic analysis
of normal and pathologic tissue sections.
Dr. John Zebala,
President and CEO of Syntrix Biosystems, commented that "the new
support from the NCI is an important step towards developing
powerful new research platforms much needed by the scientific
community, and will strengthen the company's technology and
intellectual property portfolios." The grants also provide
recognition of the utility and strength of the company's
technologies by the leading government agency responsible for
funding biotechnology and healthcare, the NIH.
Syntrix Biosystems is a
privately held biotechnology company founded in 1999 with research
and development facilities located in Auburn, WA. The company
is developing products that meet the needs of the pharmaceutical,
biotechnology, and academic research markets. The Syntrix
Biosystems website is located at
www.syntrixbio.com. For more
information contact:
John A. Zebala, M.D.,
Ph.D.
President and CEO
jzebala@syntrixbio.com
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