SEATTLE, Washington, July 20, 2010—The Life Sciences Discovery Fund (LSDF) today announced $600,000 in awards to four Washington state-based research teams to support commercial development of health-related technologies. The funded projects will concentrate on improving the success rate of lumbar punctures (spinal taps) in children; developing a safer and more effective magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent; enhancing a DNA sequencing technology to profile T cells within the immune system; and developing a device to detect early stages of tooth decay.
The LSDF awardees are: Julie Brown, Seattle Children's Hospital; Rodney Ho, University of Washington; Harlan Robins, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; and Eric Seibel, University of Washington. (See Backgrounder Information.)
LSDF's commercialization grant competition, which debuted in 2009, promotes the translation of promising ideas or technologies from Washington's non-profit research sector into marketable products and services having the power to improve health, foster economic growth, and enhance life sciences competitiveness in the state.
"LSDF is pleased to make these awards. This new cohort aligns well with our current portfolio strengths in immunology, genomics, and medical imaging, yet also represents an expansion of our investments to the critical areas of dental health and pediatric emergency care," said executive director Lee Huntsman.
The four awards were selected from the 12 proposals received. A panel of national experts convened by the American Association for the Advancement of Science evaluated the scientific and technical merit of the proposals, while a panel of commercialization experts assessed each proposal's commercial potential and possible health and economic benefits. The LSDF Board of Trustees made the final award selections.
In the competition for these commercialization grants, LSDF instituted a hands-on process in which applicants were interviewed by commercialization experts at an early stage of the review process. The experts critiqued the proposed ideas and provided insight about their commercial viability. John DesRosier, director of programs, indicated his belief that the interaction between scientists and commercialization experts during the review process enhanced applicants' ability to present more competitive proposals. "Applicants told us that the feedback and advice provided by the commercialization experts was very helpful. We believe that the interviews both enhanced reviewers' understanding of the applicants' work and markedly improved the quality of the proposals."
In light of this improvement, LSDF is launching a second round of the 2010 Commercialization Grant Competition. Visit the LSDF website, http://www.lsdfa.org/, for more information.
Funding for the latest set of awards comes from donations to LSDF by Amgen, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Group Health Cooperative, Microsoft Corporation, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Regence BlueShield, and Safeco Insurance Foundation; and from Washington's allocation of payments under the Master Tobacco Settlement Agreement of 1998, revenues arising from multi-state litigation with tobacco product manufacturers.
The Life Sciences Discovery Fund, a Washington state agency established in May 2005, makes grant investments in innovative life sciences research to benefit Washington and its citizens.