| NSF Org: |
TI Translational Impacts |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | November 1, 2017 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | November 1, 2017 |
| Award Number: | 1754235 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Andre Marshall
TI Translational Impacts TIP Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships |
| Start Date: | November 1, 2017 |
| End Date: | April 30, 2019 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $50,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $50,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1400 TOWNSEND DR HOUGHTON MI US 49931-1200 (906)487-1885 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
1400 Townsend Drive Houghton MI US 49931-1295 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | I-Corps |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): | |
| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.084 |
ABSTRACT
The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project includes the commercial availability of affordable monodisperse short and long polyethylene glycols (PEGs). Areas that will benefit from their commercialization include organic synthesis, bioconjugation, nanotechnology, pharmaceutical chemistry and more. Currently, monodisperse short PEGs can be prohibitively expensive. Many scientists have to devote significant time to synthesize them or have to use less ideal alternative materials. More seriously, there is no technology to synthesize monodisperse long PEGs and scientists in the pharmaceutical industry often use impure PEGs for drug PEGylation (i.e. tagging with PEG). Commercialization of affordable monodisperse PEGs and their derivatives may transform the ways researchers and manufacturers conduct their projects.
This I-Corps project explores the market potential of novel technologies that can be used to synthesize polyethylene glycols (PEG) and derivatives in monodisperse form and with much lower costs. Short PEGs are widely used as linkers in areas including organic synthesis, and pharmaceutical chemistry. Long PEGs are used for PEGylating pharmaceuticals to increase water solubility and bio-stability, and to reduce undesirable immune responses and dosing frequency. Currently monodisperse short PEGs can be synthesized via stepwise organic synthesis. However, the process requires chromatography to purify intermediates and product, which consumes large volumes of solvents and silica gel. The waste to product ratio can be over 1000 to 1. For long PEGs, they are made by random polymerization, and there is no technology to make them monodisperse. Therefore, impure PEGs are often used for drug PEGylation. To overcome the challenges in monodisperse PEG production, novel technologies based on solid phase stepwise synthesis will be developed.
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The goal of the I-Corps project is to train a graduate student and the principal investigator in the area of entrepreneurship, and to explore the financial viability of a business specializing on production and marketing polyethylene glycols (PEGs) and their derivatives.
During the I-Corps program, the team consisting the Entrepreneur Lead (EL) – graduate student Mr. Shahien (Shawn) Shahsavari, Industrial Mentor (IM) – Mr. John Diebel, and Principle Investigator (PI) – faculty member Dr. Shiyue Fang participated in the intensive kickoff and closing workshops in Houston. The EL and PI for the first time learned the fundamental knowledge of technology commercialization. The team interviewed 104 potential customers, partners and investors. After the I-Corps program, customer discovery continued. In one instance, the team with an additional IM – Mr. Steve Tokarz partnered with a team of four students (Feiran Li, Mingxiao Zhang, Kimberly Frauhammer, Zhonghao Zhao) from the Project Management & Consulting Class of University of Michigan to explore additional market segments for the PEG synthesis technology.
We found that our originally hypothesized market segment of PEGs for organic synthesis in academic laboratories alone is not sufficient for a profitable and sustainable business. We discovered that the new market segments of PEGs for stabilizing nanoparticles for drug delivery and for disease diagnosis are more suitable to serve as our initial target markets. If our PEG synthesis technology could be advanced to the level of long PEG synthesis, the market segment of drug PEGylation of protein, peptide and nucleic acid-based medicines would provide larger market and higher profit margin. We also found that the market segments of cosmetic and beauty industries are challenging for our PEG synthesis technology to enter.
With the findings in the I-Corps award period, we prepared an NSF proposal with the aim to optimize the reaction conditions and to scale up the technology, and submitted to the Partnership for Innovation (PFI) Program in January 2019. The proposal was funded in July 2019. Once satisfactory results are obtained, we will timely apply for funding from the NSF SBIR program. We anticipate that at or before the end of the SBIR Phase II award, our PEG commercialization business will achieve financial even, which will pave the foundation for a profitable and sustainable business.
In May 2019, the EL graduated with a PhD in chemistry. His dissertation is in the area of chemical synthesis of oligonucleotides (i.e. short DNAs). Upon graduation, he was employed by the startup company – Molecular Assemblies, Inc., where he became a member of a team including outstanding nucleic acid chemists and experienced entrepreneurs to commercialize technologies suitable for long oligonucleotide synthesis. The PI, two other graduate students and our Industrial Mentors are continuing to work on our mission to commercialize the PEG synthesis technology.
Last Modified: 08/09/2019
Modified by: Shiyue Fang
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