A University of Washington (UW) start-up has secured a $225,000 Small Business Technology Transfer (SBTT) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to further develop its tests for infectious diseases that can return results in as little as 10 minutes.
The first phase of the grant to Vie Diagnostics will examine the commercial potential of its first product, a point-of-care test for chlamydia that produces a diagnosis without sending samples to a lab. It would allow patients to be tested and then treated in the same visit, as opposed to waiting days, sometimes weeks.
According to Vie Diagnostics co-founder Charlie Corredor, the start-up aims to apply its technology to other infections, including throat and respiratory.
If its current research and development efforts prove successful, Vie Diagnostics can advance to Phase II of the SBTT grant, which supports continued research and development of commercial products, providing up to $1 million in funding. “The NSF grant is a reflection of all the progress we have made as a company so far,” says Corredor. “And it’s going to keep us moving forward.”
Mark Borysiak, Coerredor’s co-founder and a PhD candidate in chemical engineering at WU, comments, “We’re confident that we’ll meet the conditions to get the second phase of funding.”
Source: GeekWire
