Date: Jun 21, 2013 Author: press release Source: BioSpace (
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6/21/2013 9:42:18 AM
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LEXINGTON, Ky., June 21, 2013 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Transposagen Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., based in Lexington, KY, has announced today that it is the recipient of over $2,975,426 in additional Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding; $1,975,426 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and $1,000,000 from the KY Cabinet for Economic Development (CED). Transposagen's project titled: Creation of Hyperactive Transposons for Mutagenesis in Rodents will further develop Transposagen's piggyback(TM) DNA Modification System. The piggyBac(TM) technology and other Transposagen technologies, such as site-specific nucleases called XTN(TM) TALENs, are genome modification tools used for the creation of custom cell lines and rat and mouse models.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130621/CG36249)
The NIH performs comprehensive external peer review using experts from academia and industry to assess the scientific merit, technical merit, and commercial application of the proposed technology. The following was stated in the NIH's Project Summary Statement, "Transposon mediated mutagenesis has the potential to generate knockout embryonic stem cells and rats for a large number of genes. These are likely to become powerful tools in the researchers' toolkit. Impact on a broad spectrum of research areas is likely to be huge and sustained."
"This most recent award from the NIH and the CED further validates the importance of Transposagen's core technologies," said Dr. Eric Ostertag, CEO of Transposagen Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. "The focus of this grant is the creation of genetically modified rat models for studying human disease. However, Transposagen also provides these technologies to researchers for the creation of nearly any type of genetic modification in any model organism or cell line."
As part of the conditions of the award from the CED, Transposagen was required to match the $1,000,000 grant with at least $1,000,000 in investment money. Transposagen raised over $1.3 million in its Series A investment round, mostly from local angel investors. Transposagen has received grant funding and investments of over $8.0 million since 2005.
About Transposagen Biopharmaceuticals:
Transposagen Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. is a worldwide leader in technologies and services for genetic modification. Transposagen is dedicated to providing better disease models through genetic modification. Transposagen specializes in custom and off-the-shelf XTN(TM) site-specific nucleases, animal models, cell lines, stem cells and cutting-edge research tools and technologies to improve drug discovery and development research.
Contact:
Jack Crawford
535 W. Second Street
Lexington, KY 40508
(315) 351-9115
Media Contact:Jack Crawford, Transposagen Biopharmaceuticals, (315) 351-9115, jcrawford@transposagenbio.com
