Three researchers receive $112,000 in University 'GAP' awards

For the past five years, the Florida State University Research Foundation has funded a highly competitive grant program designed to support Florida State researchers as they seek to transfer their technology out of the laboratory and into the marketplace.

The winners of these Grant Assistance Program (GAP) awards, selected twice a year, are those researchers who can most clearly identify the commercial viability of a product, process or license that they believe will result from their collaboration with a corporate partner.

“One of the most important contributions that large research universities can make is to nurture the scientific and technological expertise that our society depends on to generate breakthroughs in medicine, computer technology, energy generation and so many other areas,” said Kirby Kemper, Florida State’s vice president for Research. “With this ninth round of GAP awards, we are able to support researchers who may be on the brink of significant breakthroughs.”

In April, the GAP Selection Committee made its recommendation for awards for the final round of GAP funding for fiscal year 2010, and the Research Foundation granted a total of $112,000 in GAP awards to three research projects currently under way at Florida State. The projects selected to receive GAP funding in this spring’s competition are:

• A New Type of Wound Dressing: A $50,000 award goes to Joseph Schlenoff, the Mandelkern Professor of Polymer Science and chairman of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, for the project “Saloplastic Wound Dressing.” Schlenoff has developed an entirely new material that can be molded and stretched over a wound and hardens into a cast. His material has the added advantage of being producible in a variety of different formats (spools, tubes, pellets, etc.), so conceivably the new material could be easily carried into the battlefield or with first-responder medics. The GAP project plans for Schlenoff and his team to optimize the invention and determine a packaging strategy to show the commercial viability of the invention in a product developed by a corporate partner.
• Virus Detection Kit: A $47,000 award goes to Hengli Tang, an associate professor in the Department of Biological Science, for the project “Development of an Infectious Virus Kit.” Tang and his team are working to develop a portable “lab on a chip”-type kit that can be used to detect the presence of the hepatitis C virus in humans in a more cost-effective manner than is currently available. The GAP project plan calls for Tang and his lab to optimize the kit with animal testing to increase its viability and competitiveness. A new start-up company is under consideration.
• Preparation of Vitamin D Derivatives: A $15,000 award goes to Jack Saltiel, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, for the project “Preparation of Vitamin D Derivatives.” Saltiel has developed a novel way to produce vitamin D, which is an essential vitamin important for maintaining bone density and is thought to play a role in cancer prevention. Florida State has obtained a patent for Saltiel’s method that uses a simple photosynthesis method to convert provitamin Ds to vitamin D. The GAP project plan calls for Saltiel to scale up the quantities of vitamin D to provide an alternative, cost-effective method for commercial production by a corporate partner.

The researchers will work with a mentoring team consisting of members of the GAP selection committee and local business leaders. This group will meet on a quarterly basis to provide insight and assistance to the GAP winners in the area of product development.

“I’d like to express my great appreciation to the members of the selection committee, who give so generously of their time and knowledge because they believe that this process is important,” Kemper said. “I’d especially like to recognize Kay Stephenson, president of the Datamaxx Group, for her continuing leadership of this accomplished group of individuals.”

Visit www.research.fsu.edu/foundation/gap for more on the GAP awards.