NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — The National Science Foundation has given Protelica a $500,000 grant to continue developing its DNA mutagenesis technologies in a bioinformatics-based project aimed at developing protein therapies, the company said today.
Protelica will use the two-year, Phase II Small Business Innovation Research funding to develop "a bioinformatics-based understanding of nature’s evolutionary rules, and utilizes Protelica's proprietary DNA mutagenesis technologies to develop small, specific and potent protein blockers," the company said.
This grant is part of a project that began two years ago called "Bioinformatics knowledge-based, universal library design for a non-immunoglobulin, protein-scaffold," according to the Hayward, Calif.-based company.
Protelica CEO and CSO Roberto Crea said in a statement that the firm expects the project to lead to the discovery and development of "new protein therapeutics that may replace the first generation monoclonal antibody drugs."