QuantumBio Inc., headquartered in State College, PA, has been selected to receive a FastTrack Small Business Innovation Research Grant (SBIR) totaling over $865,000 from the National Institutes of Health.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--QuantumBio Inc., headquartered in State College, PA, has been selected to receive a FastTrack Small Business Innovation Research Grant (SBIR) totaling over $865,000 from the National Institutes of Health. The project, under the direction of QuantumBio’s General Manager, Dr. Lance M. Westerhoff, will focus on research and development of novel, quantum mechanics-based methods for the study of protein/drug interactions. These methods, derived from those recently explored in the academic laboratory of Professor Kenneth M. Merz, Jr. of the University of Florida, will ultimately lead to next generation molecular modeling tools used to aid pharmaceutical companies in developing more potent, less expensive drugs and drug-like compounds.
Dr. Westerhoff notes, “We are very excited to have won further support for the development of this technology, which we feel confident will open a new world of possibilities for those interested in the search for new and more potent drug candidates.”
The Phase I SBIR project, which began this past fall, expanded on the early academic development through the implementation of novel interaction determination methods, followed by validation of these methods against a number of enzyme targets of interest to industry. In addition, a joint research and development collaboration with Discovery Machine, Inc, (DMI) based in Williamsport, PA, was undertaken to extend and deploy workflow capture and cognitive modeling capabilities to automate best practices for computational biochemistry. Dr. Todd Griffith, DMI’s President, comments, “DMI is thrilled to see technology originally developed for the Department of Defense providing differentiation in the computational biochemistry market.”
Beginning immediately, the two-year phase II effort will build on this solid foundation and the project will see the technology validated against real-life problems through QuantumBio’s relationships with its pharmaceutical industry partners. In addition to this scientific validation, the support will also be utilized to build a user-friendly, quantum mechanics-based application for drug discovery through integration of QuantumBio’s key products &ndash QM-PWD, QMScore, and QM/SE-COMBINE &ndash with both DMI’s workflow capture, replication, and automation technology; and CHEMIX, QuantumBio’s molecular modeling platform.
About QuantumBio Inc.
QuantumBio Inc. is accelerating drug discovery efforts by providing pharmaceutical, biotechnology companies, and life science research organizations with a next generation of Computer-Assisted Drug Design (CADD) and Computer-Assisted Molecular Modeling (CAMM) solutions based on the increased accuracy and power of quantum mechanics. These solutions include a number of options tailored to each customer’s specific requirements including software licensing, services, and customization. Additional information is available at http://www.quantumbioinc.com or by email sales@quantumbioinc.com.
About Discovery Machine, Inc.
Discovery Machine Inc. is a privately-held woman-owned firm, with headquarters in Williamsport, PA, and offices in Raleigh, NC. DMI provides software, methodology, and consulting services that enable knowledge capture and replication. Discovery Machine products and services give “knowledge experts”—strategists, scientists, researchers, and others—the ability to build working process models, simulations, and intelligent agents without the need for scripting languages or complex rule-based systems. Discovery Machine has a successful history in the defense, aerospace, and biomedical research industries including work with the Navy, DARPA, ONR, NASA, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and many others. Additional information is available at http://www.discoverymachine.com or by email sales@discoverymachine.com.
