The Virginia Catalyst, also known as the Virginia Biosciences Health Research Corporation (VBHRC), announced that it has awarded $1.9 million in grants to three life and bioscience projects in the Commonwealth of Virginia. These grants, which will be met with significant matching funds from partner companies, were awarded through Grant Round 12 of Virginia Catalyst’s ongoing mission to stimulate economic development by promoting collaborative projects that address large, unmet needs for improving human health, and that can create high-paying jobs in the Commonwealth.
“We are excited to continue our mission of supporting collaborations and fostering economic growth in Virginia’s life sciences, enabling the Commonwealth to compete on a national and global scale,” said Mike Grisham, CEO, Virginia Catalyst. “The critical mass achieved by these collaborations provides Virginia with competitive advantages over other states and has resulted in significant outside capital being invested to finance the commercialization of Virginia’s innovations and create significant high-paying jobs for the Commonwealth.”
Through this 12th round of funding, Virginia Catalyst has awarded 49 grants totaling $24 million, resulting in over $44 million in matching funds and an additional $250 million in follow-on funding to date.
The awards, which range from $200,000 to $800,000, help fund collaborative efforts between industry and Virginia research universities with the goal of:
- Funding innovative, collaborative, translational research projects that elevate the level of sponsored research at Virginia’s universities and have the potential to significantly improve human health and create high value jobs in the Commonwealth
- Accelerating commercialization of Virginia research university inventions and discoveries and to achieve competitive critical mass through robust collaborations of Virginia research universities and industry
Grant Round 12 project awardees:
Project: Optimization and commercialization of environmentally-sustainable biofungicides
- Company: AgroSpheres, Inc. (Charlottesville, VA)
- University collaborators: Virginia Tech and University of Virginia
- Funding amount: $600,000
Project: Design automation for scaled manufacturing of advanced custom orthopedic braces
- Company: Icarus Medical Innovations (Charlottesville, VA)
- University collaborators: University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University
- Funding amount: $600,000
Project: Pilot study to evaluate a nonsurgical gel patch for eardrum repair in human patients
- Company: Tympanogen (Richmond, VA)
- University collaborators: Eastern Virginia Medical School and Virginia Commonwealth University
- Funding amount: $737,369