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SBIR Phase II: Near Infrared Substrates for Imaging Autotaxin Activity In Vivo

Award Information
Agency: National Science Foundation
Branch: N/A
Contract: 1127467
Agency Tracking Number: 1127467
Amount: $487,812.00
Phase: Phase II
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: BC
Solicitation Number: N/A
Timeline
Solicitation Year: 2012
Award Year: 2012
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): 2011-11-01
Award End Date (Contract End Date): 2013-10-31
Small Business Information
675 Arapeen Dr Suite 302
Salt Lake City, UT 84108-1228
United States
DUNS: 179151188
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 Damian Madan
 (801) 588-0455
 dmadan@echelon-inc.com
Business Contact
 Damian Madan
Phone: (801) 588-0455
Email: dmadan@echelon-inc.com
Research Institution
 Stub
Abstract

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to further develop ATX-Red, an in vivo imaging agent that becomes fluorescent in the presence of the enzyme autotaxin. Autotaxin and its product LPA are involved in numerous biological functions that generally involve cell movement, and their dysregulation is associated with many diseases including cancer, fibroses, cardiovascular disease, and others. In Phase I ATX-Red generated highly informative images in living organisms, essentially ?lighting up? tumors. In Phase II ATX-Red metabolic stability will be improved and increased performance will be demonstrated. Then ATX-Red will be used to monitor progression and treatment of breast cancer and pulmonary fibrosis in mice. The broader impacts of this research are improvements to basic research, drug discovery, clinical diagnosis and disease treatment, with the ultimate result being an improvement to human health. ATXRed will be an indispensible tool to the many basic research fields associated with autotaxin and LPA, where questions regarding autotaxin in vivo were essentially unanswerable prior to the development of this tool. In addition to its usage in the research arena, ATX-Red will aid development of therapeutics. Currently significant efforts are underway to develop drugs targeting autotaxin pathways. ATX-Red will likely be employed in the extensive in vivo experimentation needed to develop these compounds. Human patients also stands to benefit from this research, since ATX-Red could act as a companion diagnostic for pharmaceuticals targeting diseases associated with autotaxin dysregulation. Further clinical applications might include diagnosing disease and even directing surgical resection of tumors.

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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