NEW YORK – Single-cell analysis company CellChorus announced on Wednesday that it has been awarded a $274,000 Phase I National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research grant to support further development of its Time-lapse Imaging Microscopy In Nanowell Grids, or TIMING, platform for single-cell analysis.
The grant will specifically be used to develop novel microscale arrays to support scaling dynamic single-cell analysis, CellChorus said in a statement.
The TIMING platform helps researchers understand how immune cells move, interact, kill, survive, and secrete biomolecules, the firm said. Data and insights from the TIMING platform may enable development, manufacturing, and delivery of novel therapies faster, at less expense, and with higher rates of success and could potentially benefit patients in oncology, infectious diseases, and other diseases and disorders, according to the Houston-based firm.
"This project will support scaling the only platform that can evaluate migration, contact dynamics, killing, survival, subcellular activity, and biomolecule secretion for the same individual cell over time and in high throughput to improve development and delivery of novel therapies," said Mohsen Fathi, head of technology at CellChorus.
The award builds on recent funding from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to advance development of a dedicated instrument platform for TIMING.
The firm also noted that an NSF Phase I SBIR grantee is eligible to apply for Phase II funding and additional supplements totaling up to $2 million.