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Phase II
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3DEO, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: An Affordable Metal Additive Manufacturing Machine
Contact
14000 Van Ness Ave Ste C
Gardena, CA 90249–2942
NSF Award
1757478 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$899,999
Start / end date
03/01/2018 – 02/29/2020
Abstract
This SBIR Phase II Project aims to tackle the two greatest barriers to technology adoption associated with metal additive manufacturing (AM) - cost and quantities. Current metal AM platforms use expensive core components and consumable materials in high-priced machines that produce 99.9% dense parts. The proposed project calls into question the performance requirements that most American manufacturers have for industrial grade stainless steel parts. While these manufacturers require high performance, they cannot currently afford to take advantage of AM benefits due to the high capital expenditure, maintenance, and operating costs associated with current commercial technologies. This proposal re-examines the material performance, machine cost and reliability requirements necessary for a novel metal AM system to satisfy most American manufacturers' needs. In developing a low-cost AM alternative, the goal of the proposal is to allow an estimated over 50,000 American manufacturers to capitalize on the benefits of AM and simultaneously compete in an ultra-competitive, highly globalized manufacturing industry. In addition, procurement for low to medium volume order quantities (1000 - 20,000 pieces) is incredibly challenging with respect to high cost and long lead times. The proposed invention of a low-cost machine allows for never seen scalability in metal AM, allowing for smaller manufacturers to scale by taking advantage of meaningful order quantities and compete with the resources of large conglomerates. This research has broad implications in many industries and could be fundamentally enabling for the growth and prosperity of American manufacturing. The proposed project re-examines the need for high technology, high cost core components in currently available commercial metallic AM machines. Through an innovative deconstruction of the inkjet print head-based, binder jetting process, a method for producing metal end-use parts has been created. The 3DEO process is based on a novel combination of two low-tech and low cost, established technologies. The creation of a robust prototype with this novel method is a highly challenging, multi-faceted project involving key advances in materials science trough the development of a novel binder system compatible with the new process as well as a fundamental evaluation and improvement of material properties of the as-built parts. In addition, completely re-designed sintering cycles and a lengthy evaluation of shrinkage characteristics will be core challenges to overcome to achieve the tight tolerances manufacturing partners require. As such, these challenges will require tight cross-disciplinary collaboration for a meaningful outcome. The goal of the proposed research is to fabricate powder metallurgy parts of adequate structural integrity to satisfy industrial end-use requirements. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Errata
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4 D Technology Corporation
SBIR Phase II: High-Resolution Shop Floor Video-Rate Surface Metrology System
Contact
3280 E Hemisphere Loop, Ste 146
Tucson, AZ 85706–5024
NSF Award
1556049 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,348,048
Start / end date
03/01/2016 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop and produce a robust, hand-held, video-rate three-dimensional surface metrology system with vertical and lateral resolution of several micrometers, in order to bridge a critical existing metrology gap for precision-machined surfaces. Many modern manufactured parts, such as turbine blades, drive shafts, orthopedics, and various additive manufactured components require in-situ metrology with high resolution for accurate characterization during manufacturing and/or maintenance operations. Current high-resolution surface measurement systems are slow, vibration-sensitive and laboratory-based and thus are impractical for everyday use by manufacturing technicians. Meanwhile, shop-floor inspection is often only visual, and thus qualitative rather than quantitative, leading both to rejections of acceptable components as well as potential acceptance of failing ones. The absence of high-precision, in-situ metrology has hindered manufacturers from applying real-time data analysis and closed-loop process controls that can improve yields and reduce manufacturing costs. This research program will yield a hand-held, easy-to-use, robust, and quantitative shop-floor measurement system, allowing manufacturers to improve lifetimes, performance, and yield as they rapidly assess the features under test and feed the results back to improve process control. During Phase I, a breadboard system was designed and implemented using a polarization-based fringe projection method and micropolarizer phase-mask technology to achieve vibration insensitive measurement in a compact package. This Phase II program leverages that research to design a video-rate, compact, robust and portable system for handheld surface measurements in shop-floor environments. This will first involve improvements to measurement resolution with an improved optical design and new self-calibrating measurement modes; new optical elements will lower noise artifacts caused by imperfections in the earlier design and to reduce system size. Once performance of the new design is verified, an ergonomic, compact, robust, wireless housing for the instrument must be created to enable shop-floor use; the system must handle drops of over one meter onto concrete, have useful battery life for extended field operations, be light enough to not fatigue users and have intuitive controls and feedback. A final, critically important development effort will create automated software routines for measurement, analysis, and system diagnostics to enable adoption by unskilled personnel in manufacturing environments. Lastly, extensive applications testing in the field will allow optimization of the system to handle a wide range of potential use cases and environments.
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APPLIED LIFESCIENCES & SYSTEMS POULTRY, INC.
SBIR Phase II: Innovative High Throughput Automated System for Individualized Poultry Vaccination and Recognition and Removal of Unhealthy Chicks
Contact
2804 Glen Burnie Dr
Raleigh, NC 27607–3009
NSF Award
1758659 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
02/01/2018 – 01/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project has the potential to help enhance disease resistance in poultry and increase yields due to the delivery of only healthy, fully vaccinated chicks to farms. These healthier chicks will reduce the need for antibiotics in poultry, aiding to combat antimicrobial resistance. This technology has immediate applications in other food animal industries and fisheries, and allows for data capture on numbers of animals and types of treatments given. Broader applications would include any image capture and analysis that relies on analytics to identify target areas for delivery of substances to live animals or humans. This SBIR Phase II project will allow for the advancement and commercialization of imaging technologies for the use of screening and targeting live animals. This proposal brings innovation in the care of food animals allowing for producers to move away from flock health and focus on the care of individual animals. This will be a dramatic change for the poultry industry, but is necessary in the face of antibiotic removal to be able to improve the current vaccination efficiencies and screen chicks for health status. Individualized care is currently not possible due to the high throughput needed to keep pace with large scale commercial hatchery operation. The technical challenges this proposal will overcome include 1) the safe and effective handling of chicks in an automated system that can process 100,000 chicks per hour, 2) the development of imaging systems for health checks and target recognition, 3) the delivery of the appropriate dose of vaccine with the correct amount of agents (virus, bacteria, parasite, and other agents) while not damaging the agents during delivery, and 4) development of a system that is rugged and robust enough to survive in a hatchery environment.
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ARZEDA Corp.
SBIR Phase II: High-yield Fermentation of Sugars to Levulinic Acid
Contact
2715 W Fort St
Seattle, WA 98199–1224
NSF Award
1256625 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$613,014
Start / end date
04/15/2013 – 09/30/2016
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project focuses on the development of a high-yield fermentation route for the production of levulinic acid (LA). LA is one of the best-suited C5 building blocks for bio-refinery production due to higher value, broad applications, and likely quick adoption by the chemical industry. During Phase I, this project has designed and experimentally validated the concept of a novel fermentation pathway for the production of LA. The focus of this Phase II work will be to transition from this technical proof-of-concept to the development of a lab-scale fermentation process. The limiting enzymatic steps in the designed pathway will first be optimized to reach levels of activity consistent with the flux/yield required for economical production. Variants of the designed pathway incorporating the original and optimized enzymes will subsequently be cloned into suitable fermentation organism(s). Using computational and experimental metabolic engineering tools, knock-out and knock-down mutations will be performed to further optimize flux/yield in the pathway while optimizing for host cell growth. This work represents the first commercial application of enzyme design to rationally engineer novel metabolic pathway that do not have any natural counterpart, bringing us closer to the dream of designer cell factories. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the advancement of a U.S. green chemistry industry and to allow America to take the lead in the commercial production of a new renewable chemical building block. The lack of a high-yield alternative to costly thermo-chemical processes has been preventing widespread adoption of levulinic acid (LA). Because LA can be converted, chemically or biochemically, to synthetic rubber (through isoprene and butenes), bio-fuels (such as kerosene and HMF), polymers (for instance, nylons) and polymer additives (for changing polymer characteristics), the addressable market is in excess of $20B annually. When considered as the end product, LA trades at a considerable higher price than ethanol, the current product of most commercial bio-refineries, and thus can help diversify their product offering and considerably increase their margins.
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ARZEDA Corp.
SBIR Phase II: A computational and experimental platform for the automated design of organisms used in the production of biochemicals
Contact
3421 Thorndyke Ave W
Seattle, WA 98119–0000
NSF Award
1456372 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,260,814
Start / end date
03/01/2015 – 09/30/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to develop a platform to rapidly design synthetic organisms to produce biochemicals, which will replace environmentally harmful, ecologically inefficient industrial chemical processes. The technology developed in this proposal will provide a competitive edge in the rapid engineering of synthetic organisms to produce biochemicals by fermentation that are currently produced from oil (reducing our CO2 emissions) or extracted from natural species (reducing our taxing load on existing ecosystems). This technology also has the potential to be used for the manufacture of drugs, and to engineer novel organisms to improve crop production and therefore help address the mounting challenges of providing food to a growing world population without tapping too much in Earth's resources. Commercially, the chemicals that will be enabled by application of the technology developed during the Phase I program open up billion dollar markets that are currently inaccessible to the chemical industry. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to develop a platform that combines computational enzyme design with systems biology to create a fully integrated system for the design and testing of novel cell factories for the production of bulk and fine chemicals. During the Phase I project, the company, in collaboration with the University of Washington, has successfully developed a high-performance software code to rapidly design novel metabolic pathways to produce any target chemical from central metabolism. In Phase II, the company will further advance the concept by (1) developing a high-performance pathway prioritization module to estimate each designed pathway yield and impact on organism metabolism in the context of whole-genome models and (2) use the software platform to design libraries of pathways for the production of a variety of specialty chemical targets that are commercially valuable and not known to be produced by fermentation at scale. Then, (3) using an experimental screening setup, the DNA for all the proposed pathways will be assembled screened at high-throughput for detectable production of the target chemicals.
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Alchemie Solutions, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Game-Based Learning for Organic Chemistry Using Mechanisms
Contact
4735 Walnut Lake Road
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301–1328
NSF Award
1659983 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$717,355
Start / end date
03/01/2017 – 02/28/2019
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project answers the call that science students go beyond memorizing facts to understand content on a deeper, conceptual level. In chemistry, this goal is particularly difficult to achieve because the underlying concepts describe the behaviors of particles that are not directly observable to students. College instructors are also under added pressure to transform their teaching methods to help ensure student retention and success. In the subject area of organic chemistry, this transformation is even more important, due to the relatively high fail-rate in the course, especially for under-represented minorities and first generation students. The mobile learning tools and data collection platform in this project would help to solve both of these issues with an innovative method for intuitive learning and assessment which helps to make molecules and reactions come alive with game-based mobile applications. The game apps are playable by students of all ages, so the concepts of organic chemistry, as well as other science courses, become familiar and accessible as early as middle school. The broader vision is to open the pipeline for students to progress into STEM careers which have been difficult to reach in the past. This project makes the theoretical touchable for organic chemistry students by building mobile game-based learning tools based on mechanisms, a key underlying concept used to teaching the course. This project will produce the Mechanisms suite of game apps, and bring an intuitive, tactile interface to learning chemistry. The research and development of this phase of the project will expand the user interaction model from Phase I to multiple modules of content for students. The data from the mobile learning tools will be synthesized with machine learning techniques to create an adaptive method to ensure the applications provide the appropriate level of challenge to the student learner. Clinical and longitudinal efficacy studies will be part of the research effort as the game modules are developed and released. The data platform will be optimized to integrate with multiple learning management systems and to be readily expandable to subjects beyond organic chemistry. The dashboard of the platform will allow both instructors and students to access the data and inform learning processes to achieve greater comprehension and success in the course. Commercialization will be achieved through direct-to-student downloads, subscriptions of the data platform by institutions, and licensing the technology to courseware providers.
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Altaeros Energies, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Ultra-light,modular wind turbine
Contact
28 Dane St.
Somerville, MA 02143–0000
NSF Award
1430989 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,240,679
Start / end date
10/01/2014 – 02/28/2018
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop an ultra-light, modular wind turbine for use in buoyant airborne wind energy systems. Reduced turbine weight has a cascading effect on total airborne system mass, allowing a significantly smaller, lower cost buoyant structure to be used to access high altitude winds. At heights up to 2,000 feet winds are strong and consistent, allowing for the production of low-cost, reliable power at a broad array of sites. High altitude winds have over five times the energy potential of ground winds accessed by tower-mounted turbines, opening the potential for a major new renewable energy resource to be harnessed. In addition, the containerized deployment of airborne wind turbines has the potential to expand wind development to sites that are not feasible today, including sites that are remote or have weak ground-level winds. Overall, the technology holds the potential to significantly lower energy costs and improve reliability for remote industrial, community, and military customers and represents a major step forward in unlocking the abundant high-altitude wind resource to help in the global pursuit of greater adoption of renewable energy sources. This SBIR Phase II project will focus on reducing the total weight of the wind turbine system. Turbine weight is one of the most critical cost drivers of buoyant airborne wind energy systems. For each kilogram removed from the turbine, an additional kilogram can be removed from the inflatable shell and tethers, resulting in a significantly smaller and lower cost system. The lightest commercially available small- to medium-sized wind turbine weighs 31.1 kilograms per kilowatt of capacity, which is too heavy for an economically-viable airborne turbine. By incorporating a compact, modular architecture, a lightweight permanent magnet direct-drive (PMDD) generator and high-strength composite materials, the proposed Phase II research effort aims to double the power density of traditional medium size turbines, making the proposed system suitable for use in an airborne application, while maintaining a high level of reliability and cost performance.
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Antheia, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: A complete bioprocess for medicinal plant opioids
Contact
1505 OBrien Dr. Ste B1
Menlo Park, CA 94025–5222
NSF Award
1758423 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,233,952
Start / end date
03/01/2018 – 02/28/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to develop a manufacturing platform for opioid medicines. Opioids enable physicians to provide compassionate care to patients suffering from acute or chronic disease and trauma. The need for opioid analgesics is even more salient for surgeons anticipating the post-operative recovery of their patients and planning for end-of-life care. However, opioids are highly addictive medicines, a property that has been exploited for commercial gain by certain players in the pharmaceutical industry. The impact of this project will be to deliver a technology that transforms the existing supply chain for opioids by removing the need to grow opium poppy as a drug crop. Instead of sourcing poppy materials from poppy-growing countries, this new technology will allow for complete production of opioids in a secure industrial facility located in the United States where federal agencies can provide oversight and regulation. Additionally, investment in this technology will enable the development of many more existing and experimental medicines derived from plants, including greatly improved opioids with improved efficacy and safety, and cardiovascular and chemotherapeutic therapies that will extend and enhance human lives. This SBIR Phase II project will develop a bioprocess for opioid active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). To date, the only commercially-competitive method for manufacturing opioids and related alkaloids is to extract these molecules from plants. However, Baker's yeast was recently engineered to biosynthesize opioids, which is a technological advance that could enable opioid production by fermentation. However, many technical hurdles remain in developing a reliable and cost-effective, commercially-viable production system based on existing strains. The objective of this Phase II project is to provide a complete demonstration and pilot-scale operation of an API bioprocess that is ready for industrial scale up. The research employs four approaches: 1) Further development of the engineered yeast strains, 2) scale up of fermentation from laboratory scale to pilot scale, 3) optimization of downstream recovery and purification, and 4) evaluation of the resulting products to establish their validity as drop-in-replacements for existing opioid APIs. The outcome will be a process validated at pilot scale and ready for technology transfer to a secure industrial facility that will make and sell into the opioids API market. This research will replace opium poppies with a modern bioprocess that resembles established, standardized pharmaceutical industry methods for antibiotic and biologic APIs. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
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Arable Labs, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Advanced Bioeconomic Forecasting Enabled by Next-Generation Crop Monitoring
Contact
40 N Tulane St
Princeton, NJ 08542–0000
NSF Award
1660146 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$765,954
Start / end date
04/01/2017 – 03/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be to empower farmers to capture a greater share of revenue from the marketing of their crops. Agriculture is a significant engine to the U.S. economy, and farming itself is vital to creating economically vibrant rural areas. Farmers are often at a disadvantage when it comes to capturing good prices from their crops because there are significant information asymmetries in the marketing supply chain. We have developed a combination of hardware and analytics that greatly improves crop forecasts at dramatically more accessible prices, which allows farmers and their trusted buyers to make more informed marketing decisions. Whereas improved agronomy could raise yields by 5-10%, improved marketing could raise revenue >25%, especially for high value crops. In addition to the narrow application of sensing hardware and analytics for forecasting, the data collected by our platform can also be used by growers to make decisions that improve operational performance of complex agribusinesses and improve the agronomy of the farm. These tools make it easier to compare performance of crops to improve yields and reduce resource costs. Together this technology continues to raise productivity and profitability per farmer. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project integrates a completely novel plant and weather sensing platform with analytics that synthesizes data into actionable forms that can drive agribusiness decisions. We have bundled a suite of capabilities into a single hardware unit that includes sensing, communications, GPS, mounting, and solar power, which dramatically reduces the cost and increases the simplicity of collecting agricultural data. These data are uniquely designed to monitor crop performance and its sensitivity to weather and management. Data synthesis is a critical pain point in transforming raw numbers into insights for growers to act upon. By creating an integrated hardware platform, the data is poised to provide useful advice that allow a farmer to act on emerging situations, anticipate upcoming events, and even predict the future. Our research objective here will be to generate probabilistic forecasts that use the unique data from our hardware to estimate key crop growth parameters and project forward for an operational yield forecast. This coupling between highly informative quantitative in-field data and sophisticated parameter estimation and forecast techniques could dramatically improve marketing decisions and help farmers capture better prices for their products.
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Artaic LLC
SBIR Phase II: High-Throughput Agile Robotic Manufacturing System for Tile Mosaics
Contact
21 Drydock Avenue
Boston, MA 02210–2397
NSF Award
1230364 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,305,998
Start / end date
10/01/2012 – 03/31/2018
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will demonstrate a prototype of a high-throughput, agile, low-cost manufacturing system for tile mosaics. Mosaics have been a source of visual splendor for millennia, but they have always required arduous and painstaking hand assembly. Our Phase I proved the feasibility of a programmable, high-throughput robotic tile-assembly system to enhance the production of mosaic tilings. Phase II R&D will build upon Phase I success to further speed up, automate and scale the system, develop an effective agile manufacturing management system, and analyze the economic viability of robotic mosaic assembly for Phase III. We will accomplish this by enhancing the mechanical processes and reducing operator time - in addition to developing a productionflow information system. After Phase II system optimization, we will evaluate the commercial potential of the Artaic technology. The anticipated technical result will be providing a 5x faster manufacturing process with a 75% reduction in the price per square foot of customizable mosaic tilings produced. The intellectual merits of this SBIR project involve Artaic?s disruptive robotic technology, which transforms mosaic installation from its current, time-consuming manual labor processes to a rapid, robotically directed customizable process. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project expands the utilization of artisanal mosaic work while increasing the competitive advantage of U.S. manufacturing processes through increased automation and customization. Successful development of this technology will enable a breakthrough pricing structure that is 75% lower than the competition (based on manual and rudimentary automated processes), leading to broad market affordability and widespread commercial adoption. Our robotic system has the potential to revolutionize the $76B global tile industry, while creating numerous domestic job opportunities. Artaic expects that the 5x increase in manufacturing speed realized during Phase I will be maintained in Phase II during manufacturing scale-up without loss of placement accuracy. The increased understanding of robotic agile manufacturing-enabled mass customization processes will expand the scientific understanding of related robotic processes that utilize highthroughput flexible assemblies, such as for medical or pharmaceutical technologies, or for consumer products. In addition, classical mosaic techniques will become more accessible as an art form to all students, while undergraduate students will increase their understanding of STEM concepts through engineering courses utilizing this technology. Artists and designers will find the realization of their design work much more practical and affordable as a business enterprise.
Errata
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Artaic LLC
SBIR Phase II: Computer-Aided Mosaic Design and Construction
Contact
21 Drydock Avenue
Boston, MA 02210–2397
NSF Award
1152564 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,524,999
Start / end date
03/01/2012 – 11/30/2017
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a computer-aided mosaic design and robotic assembly system for automation of a centuries-old manual process. Despite their prominence in art and architecture, mosaics are arduous to design and assemble. Labor-intensive methods have stubbornly resisted automation, adding considerable cost and delay to projects. Artaic's Phase I research proved feasibility of computer-aided design software to create renderings and digital blueprints of artisanal mosaics by introducing a streamlined, procedural workflow for tile layout that closely mimicked the workflow of mosaic artists, and did so over 10x faster than manual methods. The goal of the Phase II research is to demonstrate the speed, effectiveness, utility, and artistic quality of this mosaic design and robotic assembly system. The key Phase II objectives are to: (1) demonstrate a prototype artisanal mosaic design system and; (2) demonstrate a robotic mosaic production system, that will be: (3) validated for accuracy, speed, and quality through user assessment, and; (4) evaluated for economic and commercial potential. Anticipated technical results will enable a revolutionary advancement from manual to automated processes in mosaic design and production, comparable to the displacement of film by digital camera technology. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project lies in art, design, construction, and architecture. Software and robotic automation will lower the cost of mosaics and increase its traditional societal impact of adorning public, commercial, and residential spaces. Artists, designers, and builders will have a significantly faster method to produce artisanal mosaics without the high cost and time associated with manual design and production. The efficiencies made possible by this proposed computer-aided mosaic design and manufacturing system will enable Artaic to expand into the global multi-billion dollar tile market and develop a domestic workforce to compete against global manufacturers of handcrafted mosaic artwork. Additionally, the computational demands of the rendering algorithms developed during Phase II will give impetus to further development of advanced GPUs and CPUs -- with companies such as Intel, Nvidia, and AMD providing solutions for increasingly more advanced rendering algorithms. Perhaps the most significant societal benefit from the development of this technology is its potential to make artisanal mosaic design and production accessible and affordable to the general public, and because this research enables any Photoshop artist to become a mosaic artist, it also hold significant promise as an educational tool in our nation's schools.
Errata
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Arytha Biosciences, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Manufacturing of Red Blood Cell Membrane-Coated Nanoparticles for detoxification
Contact
11575 Sorrento Valley Road
San Diego, CA 92121–1963
NSF Award
1456104 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$766,717
Start / end date
04/01/2015 – 12/31/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is enabling the large-scale manufacturing of a red blood cell membrane coated nanoparticle platform, which was previously demonstrated to be capable of absorbing and neutralizing a wide array of hemolytic pathogenic factors, such as bacterial toxins, animal venoms, and auto-reactive immunoglobulin. Comprised entirely of biocompatible and biodegradable materials and coated by cell membranes derived from natural red blood cells, the nanoparticles are able to circulate for an extended period of time in the circulation. Their biomimetic exterior allows them to serve as a decoy to scavenge virulence factors that attack cell membranes. The nanoformulation may be applied against multiple pressing and unmet medical needs, including animal envenoming, autoimmune hemolytic diseases, and bacterial infections. Successful development of the manufacturing process also has broader impact in the field of nanofabrication and nanomedicine development. The proposed project will enable the red blood cell membrane-coated nanoparticles to be manufactured efficiently and reliably at a large scale toward clinical translation. To ensure that the manufactured nanoformulations will have the optimal size, uniformity, biological activity, and performance, advanced fluidics, filtration, microscopy, and particle tracking techniques will be applied for precision nanoparticle preparation and characterization. Specifically, the proposed research activity will focus on the synthesis of uniform polymeric nanoparticles with consistent physicochemical properties, derivation of purified and undisrupted red blood cell membranes, and reliable cell membrane coating over the nanoparticle substrates. The resulting nanoparticles will be thoroughly examined to iteratively improve the preparation process. Optimized manufacturing protocol will be developed for large-scale production of high quality nanoformulations following good manufacturing practices (GMP). The project will facilitate the bench-to-bedside transition of the novel biomimetic nanoparticle platform, which has significant implications in addressing the many major diseases involving protein toxins.
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Astrapi Corporation
SBIR Phase II: Spiral Polynomial Division Multiplexing
Contact
100 Crescent Court
Dallas, TX 75201–2112
NSF Award
1738453 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$708,803
Start / end date
09/15/2017 – 08/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is that it addresses the bandwidth crisis, the problem of transmitting an exponentially growing amount of data through a fixed amount of increasingly congested spectrum. The bandwidth crisis limits economic growth by constraining communication, and also poses very serious challenges for national defense and disaster response. Making better use of limited spectrum is therefore of high societal and commercial importance. This project will study a new approach, called spiral modulation, for achieving much more spectrally efficient communication than previously thought possible and thereby directly addressing the bandwidth crisis. Commercially, this could facilitate much more rapid data transfer, enhancing existing business applications and enabling new ones. Spiral modulation is applicable to any form of electromagnetic communication, whether wireless or wire-based. It could lead to commercialization across a wide range of communication sectors including but not limited to wireless, mobile internet, unmanned vehicles, automotive, aviation, and Internet of Things. It is a dual use technology with both civilian and defense applications. Ultimately, spiral modulation could become the core technology for the worldwide telecommunications industry. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project applies new mathematics to the problem of encoding information into waveforms for telecommunication. In current digital communication, information is transmitted using symbol waveforms constructed from sinusoids which have constant amplitude over each symbol period. This approach is known to produce a sharp upper bound on the highest spectral efficiency that can be achieved. By instead constructing symbol waveforms from sinusoidal waveforms with continuously-varying amplitude, spiral modulation bypasses the theoretical limitation on spectral efficiency. Building on prior Phase I research, this project will build an end-to-end hardware prototype to establish the implementation path and performance characteristics of spiral modulation. The research will progress in stages from waveform design and spectral efficiency measurement experiments, through end-to-end radio design in software, the hardware prototype development and documentation of best practices. It is anticipated that this research will show significant spectral efficiency advantages over existing signal modulation techniques. Other possible advantages for spiral modulation may also appear, such as greater tolerance for interference and phase distortion.
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Astrileux Corporation
SBIR Phase II: Novel Technologies to Enable High Volume, Extreme Ultraviolet Manufacturing of Integrated Circuits
Contact
4225 Executive Sq Ste 490
La Jolla, CA 92037–8411
NSF Award
1457418 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,148,154
Start / end date
03/01/2015 – 01/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project are to accelerate the arrival of next generation computing technology creating faster, smaller more powerful mobile devices, renewing the expected technological pace of development set by Moore's law, and to enable global access to next generation electronics. The technology developed here will enable new extreme ultraviolet lithography in semiconductor manufacturing. The developments will promote learning, understanding and capability in commercialization and scalability of nanotechnology engineering. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to evaluate the feasibility of new extreme ultraviolet (EUV) technologies which enable high volume manufacture of Integrated Circuits at 14nm and smaller. Currently capital equipment manufacturers are facing significant challenges in meeting the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors requirements for high volume manufacturing of integrated circuit chips. This has caused severe ramifications to chipmakers on the success of next generation IC manufacturing and fabrication facility costs. Successful results from the work proposed would represent notable progress in high volume manufacturing using EUV capital equipment. The intellectual merit of this proposed work forms the basis of new state of the art industry architecture designed for volume manufacturing; a pursuit that would subsequently encourage new markets and applications using next generation technology overcoming cost challenges in high volume manufacturing processes.
Errata
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Azimuth1, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Envimetric - Soil and water contamination predictive modeling tools
Contact
501 Church St NE
Vienna, VA 22180–4711
NSF Award
1831137 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
09/15/2018 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase II project is a significant reduction in the cost and time to remove hazardous contaminants from the soils and groundwater impacting communities. Properties observed from thousands of contaminated sites serve as inputs to a computerized mathematical model of the site, forecasting the most likely shape and depth of a contaminant plume. This machine learning model gives remediation planners access to a fast delineation of volume to be remediated as well as the uncertainty of the modeled estimate. This saves time and money searching for these contaminants that are deep underground and in groundwater. This Phase II project will expand on the Phase I prototype, creating an operational product capable of reaching the needs of environmental engineers and scientists around the globe, providing the stimulus to cut remediation time and cost in half. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Errata
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Bay Labs, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Guided Positioning System for Ultrasound
Contact
1479 Folsom Street
San Francisco, CA 94103–3734
NSF Award
1556103 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,376,062
Start / end date
04/15/2016 – 03/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be in the field of healthcare. The United States spends approximately $9,000 per person per year on healthcare. Ultrasound medical imaging is a medical imaging technology that could lower costs by providing an alternative to higher-cost imaging techniques. The technology created during this Phase II project is expected to increase the quality, value, and accessibility of medical ultrasound, which would in turn reduce medical imaging costs in the US healthcare system. Furthermore, the company's technology is expected to bring ultrasound to more clinical settings and improve system-wide efficiencies in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. The technology also has commercial potential in the international market, with $5.8B spent annually on medical ultrasound devices worldwide. Finally, by improving the utility of ultrasound, the technology will lead to improved patient care and may ultimately save lives. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop deep learning technology for ultrasound imaging in medicine. Ultrasound imaging has numerous benefits including real-time image acquisition, non-invasive scanning, low-cost devices, and no known side-effects (it is non-ionizing). However, variability in quality has encumbered its adoption and utility. As a result, more expensive imaging is typically utilized, often exposing patients to ionizing radiation. Our objective is to develop, improve, and test machine learning techniques, based on deep learning, to improve ultrasound acquisition and interpretation. We expect this project will create novel technologies that make ultrasound easier to use and improve the quality of ultrasound examinations. The end result will improve the quality, value, and accessibility of medical ultrasound examinations, will result in cost savings to the healthcare system, will produce improvements in patient care, and will support a sustainable business opportunity.
Errata
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Big Blue Technologies LLC
STTR Phase II: Continuous Production and Collection of Magnesium via Carbothermal Reduction
Contact
6710 W 112TH PL
Westminster, CO 80020–3040
NSF Award
1738536 – STTR PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
09/15/2017 – 11/30/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase II project stems from addressing the problem of embedded energy in the manufacture of magnesium metal for use in vehicle light-weighting. Improving fuel economy by incorporation of the lightest structural metal, magnesium, does not save on total lifecycle energy consumed if the magnesium was produced using conventional methods. The most energy efficient and economical production method is known is a process technology that was commercially viable during World War II but not at any other time in history. The project innovation reinvestigates and reinvents this dated process, discovering the reasons for technical and economic failure. Domestic magnesium production using state-of-the-art energy-efficient practices will lead to opportunity and growth for downstream manufacturers that support a wide range of military, industrial, and consumer products such as car parts, electronic devices, titanium and steel production, and canned beverages. The economic and environmental benefits of the innovation in the long term will be ever more prescient given the unprecedented rise in use of magnesium metal over the past 100 years. This innovation creates a clean and economic route to magnesium production, helping to reinvigorate light metals industries within the U.S. The intellectual merit of this project is derived from a new paradigm in the condensation of magnesium metal gas produced by carbothermal reduction of magnesium oxide. Previously, shock cooling through a meta-stable temperature range was employed, generating pyrophoric powders that are dangerous and difficult to handle. This Phase II research uses both rapid cooling and controlled heterogeneous condensation for the formation of robust, oxidation resistance magnesium condensate. This process is executed in a novel and continuous condenser for high metal throughput. This effort is also made possible through the development of a reduction reactor technology that operates under milder conditions than previously used while maintaining high production rates. Total plant energy consumption will be at least 50% less than the dominant incumbent process. The Phase II project will result in a scaled ore-to-ingot pilot facility for the manufacture of magnesium metal as a raw material into manufacturing processes. Product quality, process feasibility, and proven scale-up will be demonstrated.
Errata
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Bioo Scientific Corporation
SBIR Phase II: Biomolecular Detection of microRNA
Contact
7050 Burleson Road
Austin, TX 78744–1057
NSF Award
1230440 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$516,000
Start / end date
09/01/2012 – 08/31/2014
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project examines high throughput methods to quantify intacellular microRNA (miRNA) concentrations in cells that have shown to be associated with normal physiological processes, as well as diseases, including cancer. Currently there are no rapid, quantitative methods available to measure miRNA expression in living cells or tumor tissue. All current in vitro approaches require extensive preparation involving extraction, reverse transcription of miRNA into cDNA and amplification. These methods are not only time consuming, but require that the low abundance miRNA be several fold greater than background to give a meaningful result. To meet the demand for a diagnostic/prognostic tool, development of a biomolecular detection device is proposed based on a single electron transistor to bind and measure the concentration of miRNAs. This will provide a researcher or clinician an accurate profile to make proper clinical assessments. Bringing this device to market will provide scientists with direct information on intracellular miRNA levels, enhancing predictions of miRNAs that are essential for tumor maintenance or metastasis, and creating new diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities. The broader impact of this project will be to enhance current diagnostic and prognostic tools for early detection of disease. Today, early cancer detection and treatment offers the best outcome for patients. This has driven the search for effective diagnostics. The identification of a universal tumor specific epitope or marker has remained elusive. While many types of serological and serum markers have included enzymes, proteins, hormones, mucin, and blood group substances, at this time there are no effective diagnostic tests for cancer that are highly specific, sensitive, economical and rapid. This deficiency means that many cases of malignancy go undetected long past the time of effective treatment. The goal of this research is to bring a device to market for the research market and a device that can examine miRNA profiles from patient samples immediately in a hospital or clinical setting. The current size of the in vitro diagnostic market was over $40 billion in 2008. Unique diagnostic kits developed from this technology will likely fulfill an unmet market opportunity with the potential to exceed $100 million in the first 3 - 5 years.
Errata
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Bioo Scientific Corporation
SBIR Phase II: Improved in Vivo Delivery of SiRNA
Contact
7050 Burleson Road
Austin, TX 78744–1057
NSF Award
0923854 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$802,117
Start / end date
08/01/2009 – 06/30/2013
Abstract
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop technologies that optimize the use of RNA interference (RNAi) in animals. RNAi is an invaluable tool for characterizing gene function and is a promising candidate for gene therapy. The use of RNAi in tissue culture is well developed but is of limited use in experimental animals. RNAi agents must enter cells to exert their effects but this has proven to be challenging in animals. The current lack of such technologies is holding back the majority of important RNAi animal experiments. To open this bottleneck, kits and reagents will be developed based on Bioo Scientific?s Targeted Transport Technology (T3). Easy-to-use RNAi delivery products will be manufactured, validated and commercialized for use in animal experiments. The broader impacts of this research are twofold. First, researchers will gain ready access to products that greatly simplify the use of RNAi in animals, thereby, stimulating a burst of validation experiments in animals to try to replicate prior results derived from tissue culture experiments. Animals are more complex than their tissue culture counterparts and it is uncertain that results can be duplicated in an animal. Second, T3 has the potential to be used for the therapeutic delivery of RNAi agents. In sum, this project will propel the validation of tissue culture results via T3 enabled animal experimentation, leading to a better understanding of cellular pathways, the identification of novel drug targets, and the potential to deliver RNAi agents as drugs.
Errata
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Bioo Scientific Corporation
SBIR Phase II: High-throughput Small RNA Sequencing
Contact
7050 Burleson Road
Austin, TX 78744–1057
NSF Award
1431020 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$899,999
Start / end date
11/15/2014 – 04/30/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is the development of a technology to accurately measure small RNA expression. This is an enabling life science research tool. Small RNAs are ubiquitous gene regulators found in the body. Products of the same microRNA gene that vary in length by one or two nucleotides may be involved in a host of diseases, including cancer. The value for developing a method to measure the true profile of microRNAs in a sample would be immense for the research community studying transcriptional regulation, and would open the doors to those interested in drug development and diagnostics. The goal of this proposal is to develop a library preparation kit for non-biased small RNA libraries for Next Generation sequencing. These kits will increase the quality and rate at which global microRNA profiles may be determined for research and clinical applications. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to develop next generation sequencing technology for small RNA more quantitative and less biased. High throughput sequencing has transformed the landscape of genomic research with its ability to produce gigabases of data in a single run. This has enabled researchers to perform genome wide and high depth sequencing studies that would normally not be possible. Despite this capacity, amplification artifacts introduced during polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays increase the chance of duplicate reads and uneven distribution of read coverage. Accurate profiling using deep sequencing also has been undermined by biases with over- or under-represented microRNAs. The presence of these biases significantly limits the incredible sensitivity and accuracy made possible by next generation sequencing. The goal of this proposal is to develop novel bias-reducing technology for making small RNA libraries. The proposed kits and protocols will increase the rate at which global microRNA profiles can be determined, and between-sample and within-sample differences (as well as newly discovered small RNAs) can be subsequently validated. This product will result in a major shift in the way small RNA sequencing is performed, and will pave the way for the discovery of new small RNAs.
Errata
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Blue River Technology Inc
SBIR Phase II: Use of Machine Learning Techniques for Robust Crop and Weed Detection in Agricultural Fields
Contact
575 N Pastoria Ave
Sunnyvale, CA 94085–2916
NSF Award
1256596 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$999,998
Start / end date
04/15/2013 – 02/28/2018
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project seeks to further develop a novel computer vision based plant identification system for commercialization in agricultural weed control. This system will provide a cost competitive alternative to chemical herbicides, a global $20B market. Existing computer vision based approaches can segment a 'splotch' of green vegetation from a brown background but are unable to provide the selectivity and precision necessary for mechanized, automated weeding. This project's objective is to create software algorithms that match the capability of the human eye and brain to quickly and reliably classify plants into crops and weeds in real-time. The project team will build a computer vision algorithm based on a hierarchical classifier. This classifier will utilize a field customized support vector machine (SVM) that uses point-of-interest rather than shape-based methods, a novel approach to visual object identification. The result of this research will be the creation of an algorithm integrated into an automated weeding system. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is significant, as the development of an alternative to chemical intensive agricultural weed control will impact technological understanding, create commercial opportunity, and positively impact society. Technologically, the project will advance the fields of computer vision and machine learning through development of a real-time, automated plant identification system based on point-of-interest and SVMs. Commercially, the system will offer conventional farmers an effective and chemical-free method to eliminate weeds, and it will offer organic farmers the first truly precise organic weed control method. The addressable market for weed control in food production is estimated to be $4B in the U.S. The system's ability to eliminate the use of chemical herbicides has a profound societal effect. U.S. farmers apply over 250M pounds of herbicide annually on corn and soybeans alone, with many unintended and detrimental side effects. Chemical concentrations in rivers, lakes and groundwater are rising, and the prevalence of herbicide resistant weeds is growing exponentially. An alternative to these chemicals limits society's exposure while protecting environmental integrity.
Errata
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Bluefin Lab, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Semi-Automated Sports Video Search
Contact
21 Cutter Ave
Somerville, MA 02144–0000
NSF Award
0923926 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$997,550
Start / end date
08/15/2009 – 07/31/2012
Abstract
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project objective is to commercialize a novel technology for indexing video. The company's approach automatically integrates information from speech, text, and video through algorithms that generate rich semantic indexes for video. The Phase I results show that this approach can be incorporated into a system that indexes video with high accuracy and at a fraction of the cost of currently used methods. Further, during the Phase I research, the company has identified a large and growing consumer market (sports video) in which the technology can be applied. The technical objectives of the Phase II proposal focus on working with such partners to roll out initial Bluefin-powered applications, such as content-based search and video-enriched fantasy sports. Such applications are currently not feasible because of the low accuracy of automated indexing methods and the high cost of manual approaches to indexing video. Millions of hours of new video content are coming online every month, feeding an exploding demand and reshaping the nature of the Internet. Just as text-oriented search engines were necessary to empower users to find what they needed during the first phase of the text-centric Internet, a new generation of technology will be necessary to organize and effectively find content in the fast-approaching video-dominated era of the Internet. Bluefin Lab is pioneering a new approach to video organization and search by commercializing cross-modal algorithms developed in Academe. While this differentiated technology can be leveraged in several target markets, the company's initial focus is on sports media where it will power a unique experience for video search, video-enhanced fantasy sports, and other video-centric applications.
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Branch Technology LLC
SBIR Phase II: Additive Manufacturing in Construction
Contact
100 Cherokee Blvd
Chattanooga, TN 37405–3878
NSF Award
1632267 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,399,999
Start / end date
09/15/2016 – 02/28/2021
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project is in support of Branch Technology's novel Additive Manufacturing (AM) process that combines 3D printing technology and conventional construction materials to enable a new way to create buildings. The construction market in the US is approximately 8% of GDP. Any portion of the market that could be enhanced would have a large impact in the US economy. To that end, Branch is creating a process similar to building found in the natural world. In the formation of natural systems, material is the most expensive commodity; a structure is derived by the efficient use of material, but shape is free to be created in almost any form. Branch can approach this efficiency with additive manufacturing, where form is created and material is deposited only when needed and little waste is created. At the core of Branch's method of AM-based construction are three key developments: a three-dimensional freeform structure (the cellular matrix or lattice) which serves as a scaffold for other materials, a robotically- controlled extrusion mechanism by which the cellular matrix is produced, and the algorithms necessary to control the robot for successful production. The proof of concept for this process and more have already been demonstrated by Branch in Phase I of this grant. The technical objectives for Phase II focus on improving the procedures and technology already created. The focus areas for this phase are algorithm development, hardware improvements, the application of finishing materials, code compliance testing, and material science experiments. Algorithm development consists of refining and creating the software necessary to extrude the printed matrix and support a client base. Hardware improvements are necessary to improve the speed and efficiency of the process to create a commercially viable workflow. This research will necessitate the purchase of extra hardware for experimentation. American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) testing for load bearing capacity is necessary to enter the market and provide code compliant construction. Experimentation in the application of finished materials to the 3D printed lattice such as spray foam and concrete are vital to the realization of complete buildings.
Errata
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BriteSeed, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Label-free imaging for real-time, intraoperative blood vessel visualization
Contact
4660 N Ravenswood Avenue
Chicago, IL 60640–4510
NSF Award
1660240 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,250,969
Start / end date
05/15/2017 – 04/30/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to develop a novel, intraoperative imaging technology to address the problem of inadvertent cuts to vasculature during minimally invasive surgeries. More than 17% of patients who undergo these types of in-patient surgeries suffer from an intraoperative bleeding event. When a vessel is injured, there is a higher probability of hospital borne infection due to the loss of blood, and the added cost of care per patient increases by thousands of dollars due to corrective action and extended length of stay for the patient. The risk of vascular injury is compounded by risk factors, such as obesity, which limit the surgeon's ability to visualize and navigate vasculature. Therefore, there is a critical need to identify and assess hidden vasculature in real time. The proposed technology helps identify blood vessel before a cut is made. Importantly, this system will be designed for seamless integration into a suite of surgical instruments for multiple applications. Long term, the company will provide surgeons with the preeminent imaging platform to view, assess, and characterize a range of vessels (i.e. arteries/veins, ureters and bile ducts) in real-time for improved surgical guidance and outcomes. The proposed project will develop a novel blood vessel detection and visualization platform using low-cost optical imaging sensors and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The proposed technology will provide visual and quantitative information about vessel presence and size in real-time that can supplement a surgeon's technique. This system will be simple, cost-effective, easy to employ, and highly accurate. Traditionally, the avoidance of blood vessels during minimally invasive surgery is accomplished by visualization or costly intraoperative imaging. The proposed technology will use pulsatile light absorption characteristics of blood vessels to provide quantitative information about vessel presence and size in real-time, supplementing a surgeon's technique. This project will also add significant value to the body of research conducted in the areas of signal processing and image analysis. In addition, the proposed technology will remove the risk of data loss due to artifacts in general and motion artifacts in particular. The proposed technology will be validated ex vivo and in vivo using a porcine animal model.
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Camras Vision, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Adjustable Eye Pressure Control within an External Shunt
Contact
PO Box 12076
Rtp, NC 27709–2076
NSF Award
1555923 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,365,805
Start / end date
03/01/2016 – 11/30/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project allows for a more effective glaucoma treatment by adjusting eye pressure based on disease progression for each patient. In 2015, the US glaucoma market is estimated to be over $2 billion and our addressable market, glaucoma surgical therapies, is estimated to be $534M. The incidence for glaucoma increases with age, and as the baby boomer population gets older, there will be a growing need for glaucoma treatments. To treat glaucoma, patients undergo lifelong drug regimens, multiple laser procedures, and invasive surgical procedures. However, even with all these treatment options glaucoma patients still go blind from glaucoma. The proposed novel design and approach to glaucoma will personalize the treatment for patients and remove the need for numerous and costly procedures. Most importantly, the personalization of glaucoma therapy will optimize visual protection for every patient. The proposed project will validate the safety and efficacy of a glaucoma drainage device to adjust and set pressure in the eye. Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness and is only treatable by reducing eye pressure. Surgical treatments are unpredictable with suboptimal success rates based primarily on the choice of drainage site. The proposed novel device drains to a new area of the eye to avoid the complications and unpredictability associated with the current glaucoma surgeries. The device also can provide the first-ever personalized treatment for millions of glaucoma sufferers by fine-tuning pressure based on the needs of the patient throughout his or her lifetime. Phase I/IB studies have shown feasibility of the device with an adjustable component. However, its efficacy and safety have yet to be fully investigated. Therefore, in this Phase II research grant, we will optimize the device for safety and efficacy and perform the necessary preclinical testing according to FDA standards to further develop the product.
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Care Progress, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Leveraging Health Information Technology to Improve Communication Between Cancer Patients and Providers
Contact
7315 Wisconsin Ave.
Bethesda, MD 20814–3202
NSF Award
1534685 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,024,282
Start / end date
09/15/2015 – 11/30/2018
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to improve outcomes for patients in cancer treatment. Such patients often suffer from side effects of cancer treatment, such as dehydration and nausea. By enhancing communication between providers and patients, the project seeks to better manage such symptoms and thereby improve outcomes for patients, including lower readmission and emergency department visits and associated costs for Medicare, Medicaid and private payors. The project will enhance scientific and technological understanding by creating a knowledge base of symptoms patients are experiencing. If we are successful we will be able to improve cancer treatment and lower costs in the United States at a time when the number of cancer patients is projected to increase significantly. These benefits are likely to create strong commercial demand for our product from hospitals, Accountable Care Organizations and outpatient cancer centers, which are increasingly under pressure by legislation and private payors to reduce treatment costs. The proposed project seeks to address the problem of poor communication between providers and cancer patients (which is partially responsible for extremely high readmission and emergency department visits) who are experiencing nausea, dehydration, neutropenia and other side effects. The project seeks to obtain patient symptoms and report them to providers for potential earlier intervention and outcome improvement. The methods to be employed include assembling an expert panel, creating software and then conducting a feasibility trial. Key goals include demonstrating the feasibility of obtaining patient symptoms and that providers find the information useful and actionable
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Chirp Microsystems
SBIR Phase II: Ultrasonic 3D Rangefinding for Mobile Gesture Recognition
Contact
1452 Portland Ave.
Albany, CA 94706–1453
NSF Award
1456376 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,470,999
Start / end date
04/01/2015 – 09/30/2018
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project proposes the development of an ultralow-power ultrasonic three-dimensional (3D) rangefinder system for mobile gesture recognition. The proposed 3D rangefinder uses an array of tiny piezoelectric ultrasound transducers which are built on a silicon wafer using microfabrication techniques. Custom electronics are used to control the transducers and the system emits sound into the air and receives echoes from objects in front of the transducer array. The proposed ultrasonic 3D rangefinder has the potential to be small and low-power enough to be left on continuously, giving devices such as smartphones, tablets, and wearable electronic devices a way to sense physical objects in the surrounding environment. Based on the smartphone market alone, the potential market size for this device is over one billion units per year. Mobile contextual awareness will enable 3D interaction with smartphones and tablets, facilitating rich user interfaces for applications such as gaming and hands-free control in automobiles. Looking beyond the smartphone and tablet market, the proposed rangefinder will feature size and power advantages that will permit integration into centimeter-sized devices which are too small to support a touchscreen. During Phase II, the major technical goals of this project are to transfer the ultrasound transducer manufacturing from a university laboratory to a commercial production facility, to develop a custom integrated circuit for signal processing, and to develop engineering prototypes. In Phase I, micromachined ultrasound transducers having a novel structure designed to improve manufacturability were developed and a demonstration prototype was built using signal processing algorithms running on a personal computer. In Phase II, the ultrasound transducers will be manufactured in a commercial facility for the first time and signal processing algorithms will be realized on a custom mixed-signal integrated circuit. A prototype package for the transducer and integrated circuit chips will be developed and detailed acoustic testing of the packaged prototypes will be conducted.
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Clerio Vision, Inc.
STTR Phase II: Refractive correction using non-invasive laser-induced refractive index change
Contact
312 Susquehanna Rd
Rochester, NY 14618–2940
NSF Award
1738506 – STTR PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,250,000
Start / end date
09/15/2017 – 08/31/2021
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project enables the development of the next generation of contact lenses for vision correction based on a novel photomodification technique called "LIRIC (Laser Induced Refractive Index Change)." More than 2.3 billion people world-wide suffer from refractive error in their visual system, while over 500 million have inadequate access to refractive correction. Glasses are an option for refractive correction, however there can be practical limitations and even social stigma associated with wearing glasses, particularly among adolescents. Meanwhile vision correction with contact lenses is limited to lenses whose optical prescription is determined by their thickness profile. This has negative consequences for visual quality, on-eye stability and corneal health. The research represents a fundamental shift in how vision correction is applied because it alters the refractive index of an optical material, enabling previously unavailable visual correctors in thin, stable contact lenses. LIRIC uses a high repetition rate, femtosecond laser to micro-modify the local medium to produce custom refractive corrections in hydrogels, and in living cornea. LIRIC works by accumulating localized refractive index (RI) changes in an ocular material to create a refractive lateral gradient index lens. Changing the refractive index using LIRIC instead of the surface shape can lead to several fundamental advances for vision correction, with profound implications for vision care: 1) contact lenses can be manufactured specifically for patient fit and stability with the refractive correction decoupled from the lens shape; 2) difficult and irregular refractive corrections (i.e. for irregular astigmatism, presbyopia, and higher order aberrations) could be written more easily and with better spatial resolution than with existing methods; 3) multifocal and diffractive optical designs can be utilized for presbyopic and macular degenerative corrections. Patients viewing through LIRIC lenses, created in Phase I, had visual performance (visual acuity and contrast sensitivity) on par with a control lens. The objective of the Phase II work is to demonstrate that LIRIC works in contact lenses at process speeds necessary for commercial manufacturing. The goal of this work is to demonstrate that a 6.5 mm optical zone can be successfully processed in <15 seconds. To effectively do so, the LIRIC process has to achieve more than 1 wave of phase change (at 555 nm wavelength) at laser scanning velocities in excess of 10 meter/second.
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Construction Robotics, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Semi-Automated Masonry (SAM) Robotic System
Contact
3966 Kinder Lane
Jamesville, NY 13078–9664
NSF Award
1330154 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,455,234
Start / end date
08/01/2013 – 04/30/2017
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will focus on the development of a commercially-viable robotic Semi-Automated Masonry (SAM) system. This SAM system will revolutionize the construction industry by significantly increasing the efficiency and throughput of brick wall construction using automation. The SAM system will be leased or sold to masonry contractors. The core technology being developed incorporates proprietary sensing, control systems, and mortar dispensing to achieve computer aided design (CAD)-driven, highly accurate automated bricklaying capability. The Phase II project will focus on developing and integrating key technical components of the system. The main technical objectives for the Phase II grant are to (1) fully integrate a mortar pumping and measurement system, (2) achieve brick placement accuracy during all jobsite conditions, (3) develop CAD to brick mapping software, and (4) to prepare the product for commercial viability. In addition, we will perform a number of site demonstrations to prove commercial viability. This project will stretch the bounds of commercial robotics as well as expand the scope of possibilities across the construction industry. Many new technologies will continue to be developed during the Phase II project in order to progress from prototyping to testing, and eventually commercial readiness. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is a technology to revolutionize the masonry construction industry. The SAM robotic system will provide many significant societal benefits including more predictable and reliable work, less physical demand on masons, lower costs and more design flexibility for the use of brick. By reducing the physical demands on the mason and increasing the use of technology, it will provide significant health benefits, effectively increasing the work life of older masons and attracting younger masons to the industry. Brick-based construction represents a significant portion of the global and U.S. economies, with over $20 billion spent on all domestic masonry work, and over $5 billion spent on commercial brick masonry alone. The significant increase in efficiency provided by this SAM system will make brick masonry more affordable. This could potentially lead to growth of the brick industry, resulting in many environmental and customer benefits such as energy and resource conservation. Through commercialization of the world's first robotic Semi-Automated masonry system, this project will help to expand the capability of an industry and revitalize the masonry trade.
Errata
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Couragion Corporation
SBIR Phase II: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Career Literacy & Advocacy
Contact
649 Marion Street
Denver, CO 80218–3431
NSF Award
1660021 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$909,999
Start / end date
03/01/2017 – 08/31/2019
Abstract
This project will improve the awareness and perception of careers that require science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) competencies. Advocacy is a critical component of career readiness, yet current advocates (parents, guardians, educators, or members of the community) are often not in the position to inform students of potential career options. Career and workforce readiness programs are resource constrained, don't meet the needs of differing learning styles, have inherent bias, and are largely focused on compliance over student competency building. Many underrepresented youths who would otherwise succeed in STEM are often deterred by a lack of role models. If youth understood the opportunities, they could pursue academic pathways to amass skills that better prepare them to enter the workforce. Furthermore, educators need professional learning experiences and access to insights about their students in order to improve STEM teaching and learning. Helping individuals select rewarding and suitable degrees, training, and careers will increase the likelihood of higher job retention. As more individuals are inspired to pursue and stay in STEM, taxpayers will benefit from increased innovation which in turn will provide tax dollars to invest in such things as healthcare, national security, education, or humanitarian assistance. The project will address technical challenges of amassing and distributing massive amounts of 3rd party STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) resource data (both structured and unstructured), developing an information management system for educators and families, developing adaptive learning skill modules, advancing a second generation smart recommendation engine based on big data, machine learning and predictive modeling techniques, and performing database mining and creating data visualizations to derive meaningful workforce development insights. In addition, the project will involve controlled experiments and usability tests whereby a large amount of anonymized and aggregated student data and business/education entity feedback will be collected. The ultimate goals of the R&D and experiments are to validate that the resulting application, predictive models, information management practices, advocacy networks, and data visualizations have the desired outcome of boosting immediate and near-term student outcomes regarding STEM career intentions and actions.
Errata
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CueThink
SBIR Phase II: Development of a Media-Rich, Game-Based Social Learning Platform for Improving Math Process Skills
Contact
8 Furbish Pond Lane
North Reading, MA 01864–2636
NSF Award
1353623 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$908,645
Start / end date
04/01/2014 – 07/31/2016
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 project proposal refines and scales the project's initial platform for improving mathematics problem solving. Math classrooms today spend most of their time practicing procedures and rarely spend time engaged in deep study of mathematical concepts. In addition, by the time students reach middle school, a number of them have either developed math anxiety or are not adequately challenged. This mobile collaborative platform supports process-driven, student led solutions. Students can create, curate and evaluate multimedia vignettes of their own thinking process. In Phase 2, the team will continue to refine the product, targeting students in Grade 5-12. It will also build a multi-faceted dashboard to help educators customize content, create learning pathways and determine student strengths and weaknesses. In addition, the company intends to extend the product to support English Language Learners and students with learning difficulties. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project offers tremendous promise for changing math education and engagement both in and out of the classroom. This platform will help students develop confidence and skills in solving complex problems, refine their math communication and improve their meta-cognition through the review of other students' work and equip teachers with tangible data about growth measures. This enables the company to address multiple markets starting with the $1.6 billion 5-12 market segment and subsequently addressing several adjacent market segments that are growing rapidly. The team brings a strong and diverse mix of educational, technical and business skills that will be critical to successful commercialization of the proposed math education innovation.
Errata
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CueThink
SBIR Phase II: An embedded and in-context professional learning platform for math problem-solving instruction
Contact
8 Furbish Pond Lane
North Reading, MA 01864–2636
NSF Award
1660216 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,277,318
Start / end date
03/15/2017 – 02/28/2021
Abstract
This project proposes to develop an innovative approach to improve and sustain math educators' problem solving teaching skills. Despite the expectations placed on math teachers by the Common Core State Standards, most are insufficiently prepared to teach students how to become critical thinkers. Much of this problem is due to limited pedagogical skills of teachers in providing adequate problem solving instruction and supports on top of teachers' own limited problem solving skills. This project remedies this with its integrated modules and powerful analytics engine that suggests learning pathways for both expert and novice teachers. They anchor their research in National Council of Teacher's of Mathematics Principles to Action. It will help teachers develop confidence and skills in planning and evaluating their lessons, as well as understanding student misconceptions and intervening in a timely manner. Teachers who approach problem solving with confidence inspire students to approach difficult math tasks the same way. This has great implications for how many students will continue to enroll in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math programs. In addition, the project sets the stage for educators to develop 21st Century skills including critical thinking, communication and collaboration - essential job skills for the young minds they mentor. This effort refines and scales up their product, which is a web and mobile application that works seamlessly in conjunction with our current student-facing platform, to provide teachers with timely supports for improving students' problem-solving skills and math communication. This project will deliver professional development continuously and in-context using virtual peers, rich rubrics, interactive tools and actionable data. The analytics engine leverages adaptive learning models in order to build robust modules. The Data Collector Layer will contain interfaces for users to get recommendations, receive user feedback and provide other analysis reports. The Analytics Core Layer will be implemented using a collection of machine learning algorithms. The Service Layer will calculate recommendations based on user profile, user feedback, pre-stored best practices and other use cases. The Persistence Layer will store and get calculated data to recommendation engine's own database. The company plans to conduct several formative evaluations during the course of the project, as well as two pilot studies at the end of each year with a control and experiment group. The results will enable them to determine the effectiveness of ongoing, just-in-time supports for improving teachers' skills and confidence inside and outside the classroom.
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CycloPure, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: High-Affinity Cyclodextrin Polymers for Point-of-Use Filtration Products
Contact
171 Saxony Road, #208
Encinitas, CA 92024–0000
NSF Award
1831206 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$725,665
Start / end date
09/01/2018 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to provide a solution to the problem of drinking water contamination by developing an advanced adsorbent for point-of-use/home filtration applications. Micropollutants, pharmaceutical residues, pesticides, industrial chemicals and other organic compounds present in water resources at trace concentrations of one part per billion and less, are recognized as a major factor of contamination. Consumers around the world no longer trust the safety of their drinking water due to the presence of micropollutants and other contaminants. These compounds are pervasive and can present toxicity at trace concentrations. As a result, consumers have significantly increased the non-sustainable use of plastic bottled water, now a $260 billion market. Current point-of-use filtration products are primarily designed to improve taste and odor, and are generally ineffective in removing micropollutants. CycloPure's technology has been developed specifically to target and remove micropollutants from water. This project focuses on the further development of the company's cyclodextrin adsorbent to improve the effectiveness of point-of-use filters. This material can be used as a drop-in replacement without changes in filter design. CycloPure's materials will allow households to safely use readily available tap water. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to identify strategies to develop a suitable form factor to incorporate CycloPure's high-affinity cyclodextrin adsorbent into point-of-use filters. The company's adsorbent is formed by reacting cyclodextrins, which are derived from corn starch, with readily available monomers in a single step process. During the Phase I period of this project, scalable reaction conditions were identified for production of the adsorbent in powder form. Flow-through applications, such as gravity filters, frequently require granular particles to achieve desired flow rates. Early activities will focus on the preparation of the adsorbent in granular form to demonstrate scalability and retention of removal performance similar to powder form. Thereafter, column studies will be performed in order to assess the removal performance of granular media under flow-through conditions at environmentally relevant micropollutant concentrations. Following identification of adsorption characteristics and appropriate flow conditions, a prototype point-of-use filter will be constructed and tested for the removal of micropollutants from tap water using advanced analytical techniques, including a combination of target and non-target screening approaches. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Errata
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CytoVale, Inc
SBIR Phase II: A Cell Analysis Platform for Low-cost, Rapid Diagnosis of Sepsis Using Microfluidic Technologies
Contact
384 Oyster Point Blvd
South San Francisco, CA 94080–1967
NSF Award
1431033 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,419,607
Start / end date
12/01/2014 – 11/30/2018
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is in detecting sepsis early in its course, before end organ damage when it is most treatable. Sepsis, an uncontrolled systemic response to local infection by bacteria or fungi, is responsible for more deaths than prostate cancer, breast cancer, and AIDS combined and is associated with ~$17B in annual U.S. healthcare expenditures. We anticipate that providing emergency department physicians with an earlier diagnostic will profoundly influence clinical outcomes (currently ~40% mortality), costs (>$22,000/case), and the quality of life for survivors and their families. Accumulating evidence connects systemic immune activation ? a key process in sepsis ? with single-cell architectural changes that are mechanically measured by high-speed mechanical phenotyping technology. This technology is well-suited for adult sepsis screening in the emergency department (market size of $1.5B) due to: (1) the functional analysis of cell state the mechanical measurement provides, (2) its high achievable throughput and therefore statistical accuracy, (3) exceedingly short turnaround time, (4) low cost of goods, and (5) the clinically-actionable information it provides. Beyond the adult sepsis screening market, several additional indications include neonatal sepsis, bladder cancer detection, academic research tools, and drug development. The proposed project brings an innovative new class of biomarkers to bear on a problem that has been intractable with current biomarkers. Briefly, the physical properties of cells have been known to be important for decades, but only with the advent of breakthrough microfluidic technology have we been able to measure these parameters in a high-throughput manner capable of diagnosing disease. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II award will be used to develop and validate innovative sample preparation and image analysis modules for a sepsis screening technology as well as performance of proof-of-concept clinical studies that would be a flagship offering in using biomechanical biomarkers to diagnose disease. The technical objectives are designed to improve sensitivity to white blood cells, activated during sepsis, by microfluidic automation of sample preparation and optimization of the microscopic imaging optics. In addition to preparing the test for practical implementation in the emergency department, the test will be validated with a proof-of-concept clinical study, and a clinical scoring system will be devised.
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DeepScale, Inc
SBIR Phase II: Energy-Efficient Perception for Autonomous Road Vehicles
Contact
1232 Royal Crest Dr
San Jose, CA 95131–2912
NSF Award
1758546 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$760,000
Start / end date
04/01/2018 – 03/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be to allow more consumers to make use of assisted and autonomous driving systems in automobiles. Fully Autonomous Vehicles (AV) will reduce traffic collisions and enable humans to spend less time driving and more time on productive activities. Commercially deploying AVs requires a number of key technologies including sensing, perceptual systems, motion planning, and actuation. Our discussions with leaders and decisionmakers at automotive companies have shown that the development of robust, accurate, and energy-efficient perception systems is a major technical obstacle to creating mass-producible autonomous road vehicles. Of particular interest to automakers is scaling down the computational requirements of perceptual systems while preserving high levels of accuracy and robustness. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will use deep learning to create perception systems that are (a) scalable across different computational platforms and (b) scalable across smaller or larger sensor sets. Specifically, the company will develop scalable systems from small compute platforms (used for Highly Automated Driving) to somewhat larger compute platforms (used for Fully Automated Driving). Further, the company will develop perceptual systems that scale from few sensors to many sensors. The goal is to "do more with less," advancing the pareto-optimal frontier of efficiency-accuracy and price-accuracy tradeoffs. The company has already engaged with automotive OEMs and suppliers to develop partnerships and to define metrics for success in this endeavor. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
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Dimensional Energy Inc.
STTR Phase II: HI-LIGHT - Solar Thermal Chemical Reactor Technology for Converting CO2 to Hydrocarbons
Contact
107 Penny Ln
Ithaca, NY 14850–6273
NSF Award
1831166 – STTR PHASE II
Award amount to date
$734,607
Start / end date
09/15/2018 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this STTR Phase II project will result in significant economic activity through the utilization of waste carbon dioxide. The photo-catalytic reactors funded in the project will lead to novel methods to chemically store energy from the sun. Each year, human activity releases 38 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Dimensional Energy envisions a future in which we can utilize this carbon dioxide as a feedstock for industrial production of hydrocarbon fuels and chemical intermediaries by harnessing the power of the sun. This STTR Phase II project proposes to develop HI-Light - a photo-thermo-catalytic reactor platform technology that enables the conversion of CO2 and water to synthesis gas at a rate significantly greater than the state of the art. The unique feature of the technology is that it uses embedded optical waveguides to evenly distribute light within the reactor, increasing the efficacy of the catalyst and ultimately the productivity of the system. In Phase I a fully functional integrated prototype reactor was constructed, demonstrating continuous operation, and showing productivity in terms of the grams of hydrocarbon produced per gram of catalyst per hour more than 10x greater than the state of the art. The approach solves the two major roadblocks in photo-conversion of CO2: (1) the semiconductor catalysts can only use photons with energies greater than their bandgap, which is a small fraction of those present in sunlight and (2) a large fraction of the catalyst material in these reactors is under-utilized due to sub-optimal light and reactant delivery. Our unique reactor uses a patented, multi-scale approach to enhance light and reagent transport directly to the reaction site and makes use of traditionally unused photons to provide heat and enhance reaction efficiency. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
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DropWise Technologies Corp.
SBIR Phase II: Anti-fouling surface modifications for purification membranes
Contact
1035 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02210–2384
NSF Award
1660225 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$724,037
Start / end date
04/01/2017 – 03/31/2019
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will address the challenge of fouling on membranes used in biopharmaceutical processing. The successful application of this coating would enable increase in the membrane lifetime and product yield of various production streams as less of the valuable compounds remain trapped in the membrane. This can increase production capacity for life-saving medicines, reduce production costs and, in certain cases, enable continuous biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Furthermore, functionalization of membranes currently involve significant quantities of environmentally harmful solvents, which may be leachable during usage of the membrane. This issue is avoided in the current project by utilizing initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) process which does not require any solvent. This coating technology can also be extended to other systems including wastewater purification, food & beverage production, industrial separations, and medical devices that rely on a similar functionalization. The objective of Phase II will be to demonstrate a commercially viable manufacturing process to produce surface modifications within porous membranes using the iCVD process. Previous work in this subject has focused on top-coats on the top surfaces of reverse osmosis membranes, but the chemistries utilized have never before been demonstrated within interior structures of the membrane filters. During the Phase II work, the performance of the coatings will be optimized by using existing deposition equipment to tune the coating chemistry and process conditions to maximize the flux and throughput by minimizing protein fouling. The other main technical goal of the work will be to translate the current batch process into a continuous roll-to-roll process that is amenable to large-scale manufacturing. The outcome of this study will be a proven coating chemistry that is effective and durable in the membrane application, and an optimized manufacturing process capable of being implemented within current standards of membrane manufacturing.
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Ecovative Design LLC
SBIR Phase II: Using Mycelium as a Matrix For Binding Natural Fibers And Core Filler Materials in Sustainable Composites
Contact
70 Cohoes Avenue
Troy, NY 12183–1518
NSF Award
1152476 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,047,588
Start / end date
04/01/2012 – 03/31/2016
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project seeks to further quantify the mechanical performance of mycological bio-composites that address the automotive and structural core industries, while concurrently scaling and demonstrating material production. The engineered composites market continues to grow steadily because of the high strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight ratios of these systems, as compared to conventional engineering materials. Engineered woods are ubiquitous in the construction and furniture industries, but due to domestic indoor air quality regulations (Toxic Substances Control Act), these materials are being phased out or are forced to use expensive formaldehyde-free adhesives. Similarly, the automotive industry is under regulatory pressure in Europe to find alternatives to fire-retardant foams that cannot be recycled due to inorganic filling agents. The technical results from the Phase I effort have demonstrated bio-composite materials which can compete both economically, and on mechanical performance, with the aforementioned competitors, while meeting these legislative demands. A preliminary cost analysis based on the process economics of our existing production facilities projects retail costs 45% and 35% below the current state-of-the-art in the automotive and furniture industries, respectively. We will work with key industry partners to meet performance metrics and demonstrate quality pilot production. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project would be a customizable bio-composite for a broad range of markets, including automotive, transportation, architectural, furniture, sports, and recreation. These materials are truly sustainable, since both the laminates and cores used in the sandwich structure consist of renewable materials. They also require significantly less energy to make than other biocompatible composites, because the material is grown instead of synthesized, and the material is completely compostable at the end of life. The outcome of the proposed development and demonstration will ensure that the bio-composite properties meet the requirements for the target markets. Furthermore, over the course of this grant, and in cooperation with Rensselaer and Union College, we will demonstrate and scale the best manufacturing processes to a pilot stage capable of manufacturing high volumes of quality product. Since these materials leverage regional lignocellulosic byproducts from domestic agriculture and industry, a regional manufacturing model is presently being pursued to reduce transportation and feedstock costs. This will not only bring additional value to U.S. agricultural markets, but will spur rural economic development through domestic manufacturing. Finally, these advanced biological materials represent a new paradigm in manufacturing, offering safe, biodegradable alternatives to traditional petroleum-based alternatives.
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Ecovative Design LLC
SBIR Phase II: Method of Disinfecting Precursor Materials using Plant Essential Oils for a New Material Technology
Contact
70 Cohoes Avenue
Troy, NY 12183–1518
NSF Award
1058285 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$961,372
Start / end date
03/01/2011 – 02/28/2015
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project seeks to further develop, and demonstrate at scale, a biological disinfection process that has exhibited superior microbial inactivation to steam pasteurization at a lower cost. This process leverages dilute concentrations (0.5-0.875% by volume) of plant-derived phenols and aldehydes to inactivate lower level fungi and bacteria found on agricultural byproducts (seed husks and hulls). The application focus for this demonstration is a novel material technology that converts lignocellulosic waste into a high performance, low cost replacement for synthetics (plastics and foams) using a filamentous fungus. This biological disinfection process can reduce process energy consumption by 83% and system capital expense by upwards of 50%. This project will fully quantify the efficacy of this disinfection process at scale (production volumes) as well as analyze the integration of this technique into a mycological material production facility that is presently addressing the protective packaging industry. Batch and continuous systems will be explored, and a comprehensive economic model will be developed based on the results. The mycological materials that are produced under this demonstration will be compared with materials fabricated with the existing pasteurization system, and samples will be evaluated by customers to ensure product adoption. High-embodied energy disinfection processes, autoclave sterilization or pasteurization, are ubiquitous within industries such as agriculture, food processing, and biotechnology. These methodologies are implemented to reduce or remove background bioburden (bacteria, yeast, mold) that can be detrimental to downstream processes due to contamination. Mycological materials production represents such a process since raw material contamination results in product loss and added labor. The plant essential oil (PEO) disinfection technique was proven under the Phase I research to offer a comparable process time to steam pasteurization and superior disinfection efficacy; thus this technology could serve as a drop-in replacement in some industrial applications. This process minimizes capital equipment and operations costs due a reduction in system complexity and energy consumption. In regards to the production of mycological products, this disinfection process bolsters the process robustness by extending contaminate inactivation periods which promotes rapid mycelium colonization or a reduction in incubation time. Therefore new market opportunities for mycological materials can be addressed while further supporting the business case for regional manufacturing using domestic agricultural waste as raw materials. Finally, the benefits obtained from this novel disinfection process permit an accelerated deployment and development of turnkey production systems to displace synthetic materials.
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Edify Technologies, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Empowering Music Learning Through Composition on Mobile Devices
Contact
1232 Detroit St.
Denver, CO 80206–3330
NSF Award
1660072 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$927,999
Start / end date
03/01/2017 – 05/31/2019
Abstract
This project will address the need for accessible, creative music education. Over 90% of Americans believe music education is valuable, but very few people ever learn enough to create their own music. Instrument lessons are a great way for some beginners to learn about music; however, instrument lessons are expensive and difficult, and focus on performance and technique at the expense of creativity. This project uses a simple audiovisual composition interface to empower music learners to create their own original music on mobile devices from the very beginning of their music education. By combining this intuitive composition interface with data tracking and analysis, this project creates the opportunity to provide music makers with personalized, adaptive feedback as they compose. Currently, $3 billion are spent each year in the United States on instrument lessons, even though they are unaffordable for many potential customers. By leveraging the proliferation of mobile devices worldwide, this project will deliver an accessible, low-cost digital music education option, creating a new market that includes customers who are currently priced out. Expanding participation in creative music education will increase the quantity and quality of music composed worldwide, while also building a sustainable, revenue-generating business and creating new jobs. Through data-driven agile software development, this project will address the need for accessible music education through the creation of a technology platform that delivers adaptive learning to musical beginners. Because the platform upon which this project is built is already empowering the creation of thousands of songs each week and collecting usage data from live users, this project is uniquely positioned to tackle the complex problem of providing algorithmic feedback on creative work at scale. Research and development will proceed in four stages: (1) expanding internal tools to allow for direct analysis of the thousands of songs being created on the platform each week; (2) developing an algorithmic approach to analyzing songs and reporting the results to users; (3) applying analysis to match users with relevant communities and collaborators; and (4) implementing adaptive learning approaches to help users more effectively learn to create music. This staged development process will result in an innovative and highly differentiated technology that enables beginners with no musical experience to compose their own music, and uses data to actively support their individual needs as they learn.
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Ekso Bionics, Inc.
STTR Phase II: In-Home Rehabilitation System for Post Stroke Patients
Contact
1414 Harbour Way South
Richmond, CA 94804–3628
NSF Award
0924037 – STTR PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,024,000
Start / end date
08/01/2009 – 09/30/2013
Abstract
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project proposes to create an in-home gait training device that allows a post-stroke patient to undergo rehabilitation with little or no assistance. Approximately 500,000 Americans survive a stroke each year. Miraculously, most stroke survivors can relearn skills, such as walking, that are lost when part of the brain is damaged. They can relearn walking most effectively if they are aided in making the correct motions by a machine or a physical therapist while attempting to walk. This training is expensive and requires the patient to make regular visits to a stroke center or qualified physical therapy center. Berkeley Bionics proposes to create a lightweight robotic exoskeleton which cradles a patient?s lower extremities and torso, and maneuvers their rehabilitating limbs for them. The broader impacts of this research are immense. These devices could move most post-stroke rehabilitation out of the clinical setting thereby reducing labor costs dramatically. The gait training exoskeletons will be wearable, very unobtrusive, and allow patients to maneuver in the real world. Patients would therefore be able to wear such devices for most of the day, thus remaining mobile and gaining the therapeutic effects of physical therapy over the course of a day, rather than just a short session. Furthermore, creating such a device will also give clinicians an alternative to the wheelchair to assist patients who are unable to recover adequate mobility to function in their daily lives. This could potentially reduce unhealthy effects of wheelchair use for millions.
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Ekso Bionics, Inc.
STTR Phase II: Lower Extremity Exoskeleton Assist Device for Reducing the Risk of Back Injuries among Workers
Contact
1414 Harbour Way South
Richmond, CA 94804–3628
NSF Award
0956801 – STTR PHASE II
Award amount to date
$500,000
Start / end date
02/01/2010 – 07/31/2012
Abstract
This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project proposes will study the technology barriers associated with creating exoskeleton assist devices for workers in distribution centers and automobile assembly plants. By using these devices, workers can dramatically reduce the load in the vertebrae of the lower back when maneuvering parts and boxes. The assist device will take the majority of the load off of the user?s body. Such collaboration between humans and machines has the benefit of the intellectual advantage of humans coupled with the strength advantage of machines. The proposed project involves the University of California at Berkeley as research partner, General Motors Corporation, and the U.S. Postal Service. The end goal is a reduction in back injuries in the workplace which are considered by OSHA the nation?s number one workplace safety problem. The broader impacts of this research are reduced worker?s compensation insurance costs, reduced disability payments, increased worker productivity, and the ability for workers to keep working into their older years. Furthermore, these new devices will open an entirely new market which will serve an important role in establishing the United States as the number one player in the emerging field of bionics. Additionally, establishing this market for exoskeletons will enable the development of other exoskeleton markets which include military exoskeletons for carrying backpack and body armor loads, rescue worker exoskeletons, stair climbing exoskeletons for urban firefighters, and wild-land firefighter exoskeletons. The potential impacts to worker safety and American quality of life are large and diverse.
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Ekso Bionics, Inc.
STTR Phase II: Integrated Powered Knee-Ankle Prosthetic System
Contact
1414 Harbour Way South
Richmond, CA 94804–3628
NSF Award
1026872 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,032,000
Start / end date
09/15/2010 – 02/28/2015
Abstract
This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project proposes the development of an integrated powered knee-ankle prosthesis. The objective of this proposal is to investigate the use of integrated powered knee and ankle joints in trans-femoral prostheses that use sensory information from the ground and the wearer. The hypothesis is that a prosthesis with actively powered knee and ankle joints will significantly enhance the mobility of trans-femoral amputees while walking on level grounds, as well as stairs and slopes. The inability to deliver power to prosthetic systems has significantly impaired their ability to restore many locomotive functions. This proposal will derive a set of guidelines on design and control of an integrated powered knee and ankle prosthetic system which will improve locomotion function such as walking up stairs, walking up slopes, running, jumping, and as hypothesized in this proposal, even level walking. The proposed work will result in new theoretical frameworks for control and sensory systems, and the design of such systems. Major intellectual contributions will include the design of power systems; development of the sensory system to obtain information from the ground and from the user; the development of a control framework for the interactive control of prostheses; and the development of adaptive and robust controllers for impedance modulation during locomotion. This project intends to create principles that provide significantly greater functional capabilities for above-knee amputees. Specifically, our work will enable more natural, stable, and adaptable prostheses. These research elements in this proposal will also form a foundation for powered orthotic systems. Additional significant benefits of this work include fostering a broader awareness and increased sensitivity of young engineers and educational institutions to disability issues. Limb loss is also afflicting a growing number of military personnel serving in recent conflicts, as well as a far larger number of veterans from previous wars. The recent Middle East conflicts have resulted in a number of young amputees, many of whom still shoulder the responsibility of raising families and anticipate a working life ahead of them. The integrated knee-ankle prosthetic proposed here will have a direct impact on the mobility of the trans-femoral amputees and their quality of life, and most likely alleviate the long-term consequences related to musculoskeletal health.
Errata
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Addenda
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Elidah, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Novel Treatment for Stress Urinary Incontinence
Contact
810 Main St. Ste C
Monroe, CT 06468–2809
NSF Award
1630203 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$909,999
Start / end date
09/15/2016 – 02/28/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is the expedited development of a novel non-surgical medical device and therapeutic treatment for the approximately 1 in 3 women over the age of 30 who suffer from urinary incontinence, two thirds of whom, in part due to notable deficiencies of available solutions, elect to live without treatment while their symptoms progressively worsen. Urinary incontinence, although a very private concern, has far-reaching physical, psychological, social, and economic implications. For example, urinary incontinence has been found to reduce health-related quality of life measures on par with depression, incontinence is the number one reason for admittance into nursing homes, and the annual cost to the US healthcare system is estimated at $25 billion. Through design and validation activities this project will demonstrate the functionality of a wearable device that provides discreet, comfortable, easy-to-use therapy for female stress urinary incontinence. The technological understanding gained through this work lays the groundwork for subsequent commercialization of an FDA cleared product that will enhance the lives of tens of millions of American women. The proposed project provides a new framework for wearable therapeutics by enabling the patient to treat incontinence via discreet surface electrical stimulation without interruption to daily activity. Current non-surgical care often involves electrical stimulation via intravaginal probe, a treatment most woman are not willing to adopt or maintain. This project builds on successful Phase I feasibility work in which a contiguous array of cutaneous electrodes placed proximate the perineal tissue to deliver sufficient electrical muscle stimulation to promote pelvic floor toning were shown to maintain this efficacy under conditions associated with continuous wear. The Phase II project goal is to develop an incontinence specific electrical muscle stimulator to function with the electrode array. The system architecture will enable manipulation of the therapeutic waveform to support future multi-armed clinical studies designed to test the efficacy of various treatment regimens. The system will also track treatment frequency, duration and intensity to provide information to clinical researchers. Activity will include design, prototype fabrication, performance testing, human factors assessments, iteration and electrical safety validation. Refinements to the electrode array are also anticipated. The project will deliver a device suitable for future evaluation a human clinical studies, FDA clearance and product commercialization.
Errata
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Addenda
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Enable Biosciences Inc
SBIR Phase II: Development of an ultrasensitive, high-throughput autoantibody discovery platform using agglutination-PCR
Contact
675 Sharon Park Drive, Suite 202
Menlo Park, CA 94025–6908
NSF Award
1758698 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
03/01/2018 – 02/29/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project will be to develop a platform technology for detecting autoantibody markers for research and clinical diagnostics. Precision medicine requires the development of more powerful bioanalytic technologies to diagnose disease and direct targeted therapies. This platform uses a ligation-based DNA barcoding technology for improved antibody detection with increased analytical sensitivity and multiplex power to detect more at the most clinically useful time. Additionally, as a solution-phase assay, it is able to detect numerous clinically-relevant autoantibodies that are refractory to common techniques like ELISA. This platform has the potential to accelerate the development of lifesaving diagnostics across a broad spectrum of human diseases. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project aims to develop the first solution-phase, ultrasensitive and multiplex antibody assay platform for the early detection, monitoring and treatment of human diseases. The Antibody Detection by Agglutination-PCR (ADAP) platform represents a major advancement in multiplex immunoassay testing. Many current multiplex technologies, such as microarrays and bead-based arrays, scale poorly due to cross-analyte interference, and lack the analytical sensitivity to detect crippling diseases at the most favorable time. The Phase I results showed the expanded and validated ADAP technology for the ultrasensitive and multiplex detection of antibody biomarkers. The Phase II objectives are: 1) Validation of the multiplex ADAP assay for clinical diagnostics serving autoimmune connective tissue diseases, thyroid disorders and celiac diseases; 2) High-throughput automation of multiplex ADAP assay technology for clinical diagnostics; 3) Manufacturing of assay reagents and establishment of quality control standards; and 4) Demonstration of the applicability of multiplex ADAP for a broader set of antibodies. The intellectual merit of this project resides in the achievement of 10,000x increased sensitivity, and 20-30% increased specificity at multiplex while having the option to use existing PCR reader platforms to help keep lab capital costs low. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Errata
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Endectra, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Novel Solid-State Cerenkov Detector for Portable and Wearable Neutron Radiation Sensors
Contact
U-M Venture Accelerator
Ann Arbor, MI 48109–5001
NSF Award
1632467 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$899,658
Start / end date
08/15/2016 – 01/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is the potential to bring a disruptive neutron detector technology to market, filling an urgent demonstrated need for real time, portable and wearable radiation detectors. Successful commercialization of the innovative Cerenkov BoroSilicate Glass (CBSG) technology will serve a broad customer base in the nuclear detection and verification industry. Market research indicates large scale potential, in the billions of dollars. This market is currently well served with gamma ray and x-ray detection devices, but the capabilities for portable and wearable neutron detectors are not as well established. The proposed technology will close this gap and is anticipated to have a very broad impact. The Cerenkov detector technology can also be transformative in enabling new kinds of directional arrays for neutron imaging and portal detectors, helping to make the nation's borders more secure against illicit nuclear materials and providing improved tools for nuclear safeguards and verification. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to commercialize an innovative neutron detector module based 100% on solid-state technology. The overall objective of the project is to build on the successful Cerenkov BoroSilicate Glass (CBSG) detector prototyping in Phase I/IB to develop a small, low cost, modular neutron detector which can be integrated with existing gamma detector technologies to 1) form a comprehensive, scalable, networked solution to the problem of Special Nuclear Material detection; 2) enable inexpensive in-house and third party integration of neutron detection technology into radioisotope identification devices and personal radiation dosimeters; and 3) allow for further testing and advanced product development relating to directional neutron detector networks, direct fast neutron detectors, and neutron spectroscopy. The research objectives include a thorough quantitative assessment of the detector front-end material response to neutron radiation and evaluation of its optoelectronic characteristics. In particular, in collaboration with a specialty glass manufacturer, the isotopic composition of glass front-end will be optimized for fast neutron detection. The anticipated result is a novel and disruptive neutron detection approach.
Errata
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Ginkgo BioWorks
SBIR Phase II: Novel Proteolysis-based Tools for Metabolic Engineering
Contact
27 Drydock Ave Floor 8
Boston, MA 02210–2413
NSF Award
1256446 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,314,964
Start / end date
04/15/2013 – 09/30/2019
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project aims to engineer microbes for the cost-effective production of specialty chemicals. Currently, engineered microbial strains bear mutations that increase the production of chemicals of interest by inhibiting the cell's ability to produce off pathway chemicals. These "loss-of-function" mutations are critical as they effectively channel the cell's metabolic flux toward the product of interest. This both boosts the production efficiency and eases downstream purification by eliminating the accumulation of undesirable but chemically-similar contaminants. Unfortunately, these mutations may also decrease the fitness of the cells and, as a result, the growth media must be supplemented with costly nutrients. Technical research herein will assess the feasibility of applying novel regulated proteolysis technology to simultaneously direct maximal metabolic flux toward the target chemical of interest while avoiding the need to supplement the growth media. If successful, this technology would provide a great cost savings and enable fermentative production to be applied more broadly in the production of specialty chemicals. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to provide a stable and cost-effective fermentative production route to a specialty chemical. Fermentative production of chemicals offers many advantages over traditional petrochemical or extraction-based production processes. Petrochemical production maintains the nation?s reliance on an unsustainable feedstock (oil) and also leads to national security issues as the US is largely dependent on foreign oil sources. Chemical production via extraction from plant materials also has ecological challenges. The process often uses toxic solvents, and may rely on unsustainable farming practices for many plants that are not traditional food crops. Engineered microbes fermented on sugar feedstock produced using high-efficiency agricultural practices offer a stable alternative for producing specialty chemicals, both in terms of supply and price.
Errata
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GridBridge, Inc
SBIR Phase II: A Highly Efficient GridBridge Grid Energy Router for Grid Modernization
Contact
1009 Capability Drive, Suite 200
Raleigh, NC 27606–3901
NSF Award
1430911 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,639,703
Start / end date
09/01/2014 – 02/28/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the development of a cornerstone for reliable electricity and a modernized grid able to evolve alongside emerging customer demands. Reliable electricity is key component of an industrialized market, critical for the information age, and an enabler for non-industrialized regions evolution and eventual world economic contribution. The societal benefit therefore of GridBridge's commercially feasible Grid Energy Router is colossal, as it is the step-function change required to truly orchestrate a grid to match this era. This project will enable numerous hindered technologies and scientific understanding related to energy storage, photovoltaic and other renewable generation, as well as electric vehicles and their correlated fast chargers. Energy savings are also a monumental aspect and are expected to be in the trillions of dollars. Society needs electricity to maintain civilization and an updated grid is imperative for supplying that electricity to an evolved consumer base. GridBridge?s Grid Energy Router will be the crucial component for the modernized grid an enabler for numerous complementary technologies. GridBridge's GER will eventually replace millions of installed legacy grid technologies throughout the world. Furthermore, the continued GridBridge-ERC relationship establishes FREEDM ERC's commercialization ecosystem, which includes 200 diverse students. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 project combines various research aspects to commercialize the company?s third breakthrough product for electric utilities, the Grid Energy Router (GER). GridBridge?s Grid Energy Router will be cornerstone for an evolved grid that can integrate renewables and storage, offer dynamic efficiency gains, and intelligently route power. Although there has been early work with power electronics merely focusing in the area of high-voltage conversion, the approaches thus far limit commercialization and manufacturability. GridBridge will combine over three years of company market research and utility voice of the customer, a unique product roadmap, and cutting edge research in the areas of feature implementation and voltage conversion. Keeping in mind the end market, electric utility requirements have been incorporated: highly efficient, cost-competitive, manufacturable within a specific market window, and scalable both to high power and high voltage. This project facilitates a cost-effective and electrically-efficient product design ready for industrialization and ultimately grid integration, while simultaneously incorporating valuable features that justify utility expenditure and meet a market window of need.
Errata
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GrokStyle Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Innovative visual search and similarity for decor, apparel, and style
Contact
450 Townsend St. Suite 207
San Francisco, CA 94107–1510
NSF Award
1738489 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$747,959
Start / end date
09/15/2017 – 08/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to develop visual search for product recognition in the furniture and home décor vertical. Text-based searches have revolutionized the ability of people to complete tasks more quickly and efficiently as they are able to find the information they desire in an organized, compiled, and logical manner. Visual search provides the next level of disruption in search capabilities by allowing users to find information even more rapidly and accurately by using images. The deep learning-based software being developed will allow consumers to find products they are interested in, and co-purchase related products, quickly. Further, users will be more engaged through exposure to designer photographs of products (inspirational photography). By helping customers find exactly what they are looking for in a timely manner, user engagement and productivity will be increased. Further, related style-based recommendations will increase purchasing overall. Increased spending stimulates economic growth by increasing taxable revenue by retailers, and through increased sales taxes generated from the purchases. This Small Business Innovative Research Phase II project seeks to develop a visual search engine that is poised to disrupt retail and ecommerce by switching the focus from text-based to visual search-based exploration. The platform initially targets interior décor and furniture where deep learning techniques are trained to recognize products across a wide range of conditions. In Phase II, the software deep learning architectures will be generalized to enable a broader range of products, and to allow customers more control over design decisions and choices. A client-facing REST API will allow retailers, designers, and media companies to programmatically access functionality of the platform, and build their own user interfaces and apps on top of the deep learning technology. Lastly, it is proposed to develop a white-label app that can be customized for individual retailers who want to distribute this visual search capability to their customers. Achieving these objectives will create state-of-the-art performance in visual search for applications in interior design, apparel search, real estate search, and product look-up.
Errata
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Ground Fluor Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: PET Radiotracer Synthesis
Contact
2124 Y St. Flat 101
Lincoln, NE 68503–2495
NSF Award
1353246 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,361,310
Start / end date
04/15/2014 – 06/30/2019
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project develops positron emission tomography (PET) imaging products to manage neurodegenerative disorders, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. PET is now a key diagnostic and management tool in oncology, and compounds labeled with [18F]-fluoride provide optimal signal to noise ratios and resolution in medical imaging applications. Ground Fluor Pharmaceuticals (GFP) developed proprietary single-step fluorination technology that allows [18F]-labeled medicines to be prepared efficiently from cyclotron-produced [18F]-fluoride. Under this Phase II research project GFP will apply its new technology to produce the imaging agent 6- [18F]fluoro-L-DOPA (FDOPA), a compound useful in diagnosing Parkinson's disease and in cancer imaging, that is not currently readily available because of the difficulty in its production. GFP will scale-up and manufacture pharmaceutical grade ALPDOPA (GFP's precursor to FDOPA) under pharmaceutical cGMP conditions, and offer this material for research studies and for clinical imaging. GFP will develop an FDA drug master file and will provide technical and regulatory assistance to cyclotron pharmacy customers adopting GFP's technology for commercial production of FDOPA. In addition to helping to bring this valuable imaging agent to market, GFP will assist academic and pharmaceutical research groups in the development of new [18F]- fluorinated imaging products. The broader impact/commercial potential is to expand the scope and utility of PET as medical diagnostic tool, thereby improving treatment and management of serious medical problems. Although [18F]-fluoride possesses, perhaps, the most advantageous properties for imaging, is relatively inexpensive, and is widely available, it is difficult to incorporate into medicines for imaging. GFP has developed a general enabling technology that uses the relatively inexpensive and widely available form of [18F]-fluoride to create new molecular imaging agents to advance personalized medicine. This technology, and the compounds it creates, will provide the physician with new opportunities to diagnose, assess, and more efficiently treat unmet medical needs. The manufacturing technology developed here is a broad platform applicable to the preparation of a wide range of new imaging agents. The commercial potential of PET imaging is significant; the worldwide market for PET is expected to grow to $15 billion by 2015.
Errata
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Guiding Technologies Corporation
SBIR Phase II: Using Data Mining to Optimally Customize Therapy for Individuals with Autism
Contact
1500 JFK Blvd Suite 1825 2 Penn
Philadelphia, PA 19102–1710
NSF Award
1632257 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$932,657
Start / end date
08/01/2016 – 07/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will revolutionize the treatment of individuals with autism. One of every sixty-eight US children has autism (over 1.1 million). The estimated cost of providing Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy to those who could benefit is $7.5 billion dollars annually. Societal impacts include: 1) more individuals with autism across the globe will receive treatment regimens that will enable them to live more fulfilled lives and reach their full potential; 2) families whose children are good candidates for treatment and receive it will experience reduced stress and better family life; and 3) the additional lifetime cost of not effectively treating children with autism, which is approximately ten-fold the cost of treatment, will be reduced. Because high-quality, contextually rich ABA performance data will be collected for the first time, efforts to apply data analytics will contribute in two important ways: a) patterns may be discerned across individuals with autism to better understand variations in autism and create therapies to target these differences; b) expansion of the frontiers of data mining to provide guidance in real time will contribute to a number of areas within and beyond ABA therapy. The proposed project will optimize therapy outcomes for individuals with autism by transforming agent-based guiding technology into an adaptive and intelligent ABA therapy assistant for supervisors and instructors. The project pushes the boundaries in providing cost-effective, adaptable, intelligent, real-time guidance and data-collection support to instructors that integrates naturally into the instructional process and is easy to learn and use. ABA therapy experts, supervisors and instructors will verify the analyses and resulting guidance incorporated into the technology. Advanced theories of usability engineering, including some developed by the project team, will be used to build interfaces that supervisors and instructors can intuit without the need for learning new concepts and syntax. The project will utilize the collected logs from multiple sessions with multiple therapy recipients and multiple therapy providers to uncover hidden patterns and assist supervisors in selecting appropriate therapy steps personalized for the individual with autism. The project will build on a large body of recent work in visualization, machine learning on temporal predictive modeling and sequential pattern mining, including some of the previous results of the project team. Special attention will be paid to the recent work in educational data mining and intelligent tutoring.
Errata
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HealthMyne, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: A Minable, Quantitative Imaging Platform for Evidence-Based Medicine within Oncology
Contact
918, Deming Way, 3rd Floor
Madison, WI 53717–1945
NSF Award
1456353 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,176,541
Start / end date
04/01/2015 – 09/30/2018
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to significantly improve the care of cancer patients by providing an integrated platform for clinical data and image analytics to their care providers for better clinical decision making. Tight integration of clinical data with radiology images will enable evidence-based approaches to be used by care providers in oncology. The tools being developed in this project will enable accelerated transition of comprehensive data-driven cancer research into clinical practice for decision making related to diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Recent trends, such as wide adoption of electronic medical records and radiological images and availability of powerful computing at reasonable prices have made it possible to improve the prognostic and diagnostic power of data, in particular imaging data analysis in healthcare. The integrated analytics platform being developed will streamline treatment monitoring by imaging and reduce diagnostic errors; hence increasing the quality to cancer care. The proposed project aims to develop an integrated, minable, clinical and imaging data analytics platform for oncology. The platform combines recent advances in data mining, context search, image segmentation and deformable registration into an imaging system deployed at the point of care. The diagnostic potential of clinical and image data will be enhanced by the ability to compare lesion characteristics of the current case to a large repository of lesions from other studies with known diagnosis. The proposed search tool will generate patient cohorts with a given set of diagnosis and treatment conditions and present the related images to the diagnostician. Additional technology will locate and track tumors and provide detailed characterization such as size, shape, location and texture with detailed analytics. A large, minable database of segmented tumors and detailed metrics will advance research into identifying ?imaging biomarkers?. The embedded imaging platform will allow clinicians to access these decision support tools across a wide spectrum of devices from powerful personal computers to tablets and other mobile devices.
Errata
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Hummingbird Nano, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Innovative Platform Technology for Rapid Three Dimensional Fabrication of Capillary Electrophoresis Chips: Phase II Proposal
Contact
1500 Bull Lea Rd. #9
Lexington, KY 40511–1268
NSF Award
1555996 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,406,123
Start / end date
04/01/2016 – 09/30/2018
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is in developing a novel method of manufacturing micro sized parts in three-dimensions without layers at high volume. With no parting lines, the technology represents a significant advancement over current state of the art molding and 3D technologies for certain applications. As this represents an entirely new field of research, not merely an extension of solid freeform fabrication (SFF) techniques, it opens and enables wide research areas in engineering and chemical disciplines. More imminent is using the technology to create capillary electrophoresis (CE) chips that vastly reduce the amount of reagents, provide previously unattainable properties, and at a significantly lower price. By doing so, the technology will accelerate and broaden the adoption of microfluidics which are currently used in applications such as forensics, genomics, drug making, drug analysis, clinical diagnostics, biosensors, and environmental testing, among countless others. This project automates and expands a novel platform technology to manufacture high resolution micro parts. The technology is focused on a unique and inexpensive method to fabricate microfluidic channels and wells, which form the basis of all microfluidic chips. The objectives for Phase II are to: 1) Expand the versatility of the system by inclusion to the platform system of fiber optic cables, temperature control capillaries, microfluidic design of static mixer and expansion of molding materials, 2) Design and construct a pilot automation system to increase control and reduce variability, 3) Test the automation system, 4) Test chips produced via the automated system and test additional versatility components from (1), and 5) Continue to commercialize the products. The technological outcome is an automated system with expanded versatility that will center on the construction of capillary electrophoresis chips, with the objective of making the system on that can manufacture a wide variety of microfluidic chips.
Errata
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IOTAS, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Automated Pairing and Provisioning
Contact
2547 NE 16th Ave
Portland, OR 97212–4231
NSF Award
1655520 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$727,647
Start / end date
04/01/2017 – 09/30/2018
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be focusing on automatic pairing and provisioning of Internet of Things (IoT) for the Multi-Family-Home (MFH) industry, to help them increase revenue potential by digitizing their apartments. It is estimated that the Smart Home Automation industry will reach $71B by 2018. If installation and setup of IoT devices could be automated and simplified then the MFH industry could roll out Smart Apartments quickly and in large scale. Being able to gather data and insights on buildings could lead to increased revenue from more efficient use of labor and materials and through better management of energy. It also gives them the opportunity to create new revenue streams from software and services targeted at the data output. The MFH industry can also get insights on their entire building portfolio versus a single building and more efficiently manage their entire portfolio. The MFH industry implementing Smart Home Automation technology has huge societal benefits by integrating with smart grids and utility demand response programs. The potential energy savings of 18M Smart Apartments could be hundred thousand gigawatt hours or $7.3B in savings. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project seeks to enable the deployment of a scalable and maintainable infrastructure through the use of mechanisms including automatic pairing, tiered authentication, and network isolation in low cost, resource-constrained Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The problem with existing IoT pairing methods is that they are targeted at Single-Family-Home deployments and the number of nodes that needs to be paired are relatively minimal. However, this is not a scalable model when trying to address the needs of the Multi-Family-Home (MFH) industry. In the multi-family dwelling, the sheer density of nodes creates new problems. The technical challenge that remains for this phase is to ensure that all the devices will easily pair and to differentiate the nodes so that they authenticate and provision to the right apartment in a dense, RF noisy environment. Developing a cost effective, scalable solution for this high-density scenario is a key component to fulfilling the value proposition of mass deployment in the Multi-Family-Home industry. The anticipated result of this project is to solve the issue of pairing large quantities of end nodes and authenticating them appropriately to the correct apartment.
Errata
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Imprint Energy, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Integration of Custom, Printable Batteries in Robotic Technologies
Contact
1320 Harbor Bay Parkway
Alameda, CA 94502–0000
NSF Award
1256631 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,128,850
Start / end date
03/15/2013 – 05/31/2017
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) Phase II project will expand the performance of a novel zinc battery chemistry which leverages a high conductivity polymer electrolyte, and further characterize the battery system to increase its commercial attractiveness to interested customers and partners, particularly for small portable and flexible electronics applications. The novel zinc battery chemistry is an ultrathin, flexible and rechargeable battery technology. This battery chemistry utilizes an air-stable, earth-abundant, robust, and non-lithium materials set that is manufacturable by print-based processing and is scalable to large dimensions with sheet or web manufacturing. The goals of this project are to increase understanding of this new battery chemistry, demonstrate and characterize its unique flexibility, scale the technology to pilot-level manufacturing, and improve its commercially relevant performance properties. The broader impacts/commercial potential of this project are diverse. They include the establishment of new battery chemistry and manufacturing paradigm which can be disruptive to markets requiring novel device functionality and form factors. This technology also allows for significant reduction of the cost and environmental impact of batteries for growing and potentially ubiquitous application. Lastly, this new approach to battery manufacturing presents the opportunity to repurpose the printing industry to produce next generation batteries. Despite considerable prior work in the field of batteries, there is a large mismatch between available battery technologies and the performance, form factor, cost, and manufacturing requirements needed to serve as a platform battery system to power flexible and wearable electronics, robotics, sensors, energy harvesters, displays, and wireless electronics. The novel battery technology being developed in this project can alleviate these constraints and potentially revolutionize the portable electronic market to achieve new form factors, capabilities, and spur adoption into new application areas.
Errata
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InsightFinder Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Providing Automatic System Anomaly Management Software as a Service for Dynamic Complex Computing Infrastructures
Contact
154 Grand Street
New York, NY 10013–3141
NSF Award
1660219 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,260,000
Start / end date
03/15/2017 – 02/28/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be to greatly improve the robustness and diagnosability of many computing infrastructures including both public and private computing clouds. The proposed technology will significantly reduce the occurrence of performance degradation and service downtime in cloud computing infrastructures, which can attract more users to adopt cloud computing technology and thus benefit society as a whole, which depends increasingly on cloud technology. The project will also advance the state of the art in cloud system reliability research by putting research results into real world use. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will transform system anomaly management for dynamic complex computing infrastructures. The novelty of the company's solution lies in three unique features: 1) predictive: the solution can raise advance alerts before a serious service outage occurs; 2) self-learning: the solution automatically infers alert conditions and performs automatic root cause analysis using machine learning algorithms; 3) adaptive: the technology adapts to dynamic systems. The proposed research will produce novel and practical anomaly prediction and diagnosis solutions that will be validated in real world computing infrastructures. Specifically, the project consists of three thrusts: 1) adaptive learning in dynamic environments; 2) real-time feature extraction and pattern recognition over system metric and log data; and 3) full stack root cause analysis. During the project the company will implement its software products and carry out case studies with prospective customers on real world computing infrastructures.
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Intentionet, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Proactive Network Configuration Analysis
Contact
16625 Redmond Way Ste M241
Redmond, WA 98052–4444
NSF Award
1738555 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,249,999
Start / end date
09/15/2017 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project stems from technology for automatic network configuration analysis. As ever more devices connect to the Internet and rich services move to the "cloud," both the complexity of computer networks and their reliability requirements are rapidly escalating. It is no wonder that network outages and security breaches are common. Yet another side effect of this complexity, which does not make the headlines but is equally damaging, is that network engineers are understandably fearful of making configuration changes, so networks are unable to evolve at a speed that keeps up with changing business needs. The technology developed in this project will enable network engineers to validate correctness, security, and performance properties of their networks proactively, before errors reach the running network. This technology has the potential to improve the robustness of critical network infrastructure that is widely relied upon, to prevent unauthorized access to resources, and to increase the pace of innovation. The project will also provide insights into the largest "pain points" in modern networks and develop design and analysis techniques to address them. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project further develops the Batfish network configuration analysis technology. Interactions with pilot customers as well as many interviews with potential customers identified the needs of the marketplace and how the Batfish technology can best be adapted to meet those needs. As a result, the specific goal of this project is to seamlessly aid network engineers in validating network behavior during the policy design phase. Drawing inspiration from how software is developed today, the company will extend Batfish to support continuous integration of network configurations and develop a series of analyses that can find errors in network configurations with minimal input from the network engineers. The anticipated outcome of these research thrusts is a technology that allows network engineers to easily understand and gain confidence in their proposed network designs and to iterate these designs more quickly. The project will be driven by continued interactions with several pilot customers.
Errata
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Addenda
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JEEVA WIRELESS INC
SBIR Phase II: Passive Radio for the Internet of Things
Contact
4000 Mason Road Ste 300
Seattle, WA 98195–0001
NSF Award
1758699 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$749,996
Start / end date
02/01/2018 – 01/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to develop low-power, low-cost and small form factor wireless connectivity solutions, facilitating the deployment of inexpensive and long-lived wireless sensors and devices for a diverse set of applications. For instance, it is infeasible to place conventional sensors or wireless connectivity on low-cost or disposable items due to the high cost and short battery life of wireless communication devices. With the successful completion of this project, items ranging from consumer packaged goods to medical consumables and pill bottles could be connected to the Internet. Brands and manufacturers could gain previously inaccessible market and product insights based on the way products are used, while consumers could enjoy benefits ranging from new services and features (such as automated product reordering) to better-designed products which more closely fit their needs. By enabling new use cases for wireless connectivity, this technology can prompt innovation across many industries. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project introduces a new long-range backscatter-based communication technology based on Chirp Spread Spectrum, a wireless protocol which can be detected at extremely low signal levels. The low-power wireless system prior to this project is comprised of three elements: A passive backscatter-based radio, a first gateway device which provides an illumination signal, and a second gateway device which receives the resulting backscattered data and forwards data to the Internet. In this project, the passive backscatter-based radio will be implemented in an integrated circuit form, realizing the low power and low cost possible with this technology. The two gateway devices will be combined into one full-duplex radio device, to address the needs of the majority of deployment scenarios. Techniques to localize the backscatter radios within the field of the gateway device will be explored. Finally, security challenges will be addressed and the system will undergo extensive evaluation and testing.
Errata
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Addenda
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KANDRA LABS INC
SBIR Phase II: Zulip threaded group chat
Contact
235 Berry St Ste 306
San Francisco, CA 94158–1629
NSF Award
1831273 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
09/15/2018 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will result from group chat technology that enables knowledge workers to collaborate more effectively than ever before. It is the first tool built that empowers users to efficiently carry out both real-time and asynchronous conversations in the same system, with each user reading only those conversations that are important to him or her. In particular, the technology empowers teams to make decisions in virtual meetings that take place asynchronously over periods of hours or days. This is in contrast with existing group chat technology, where conversations usually end as soon as someone starts talking about something else. This ability to conduct long running, virtual meetings is invaluable for large teams that need to coordinate work across different locations and time zones. Large, distributed teams are fast becoming the norm for how organizations operate, as instant communication and globalization make such teams the workforce of the future. Coordinating the efforts of such teams is a huge pain point for companies, and this technology is a leap in the state of the art in this space. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project has three major research objectives: scaling the technology to teams of 10,000+ people; faithfully translating the user experience to mobile devices; and developing techniques for serving the needs of diverse deployments large and small. For scalability, one major area is "presence", telling each user who else is currently online. Presence data naturally grows with the number of pairs of users, therefore much faster than the number of users, and the company will need to develop algorithms to focus presence on significant connections between users. Among the unique challenges on mobile, the often-limited Internet connectivity demands algorithms that remember data previously fetched from the server to avoid asking for it again, carefully balanced with getting needed updates to never show out-of-date information to the user; the immediacy required for a great chat experience makes both horns of this dilemma especially sharp. Serving diverse deployments demands techniques for making software updates routine and seamless, a practice recently popularized in browsers and mobile apps but rarely accomplished to date in distributing server applications such as that described here. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Errata
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Addenda
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Killer Snails, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Learning From Nature: Marine Educational Games With Big IDEAS (Innovative Differentiated Educational Assessments in Science)
Contact
3203 Beverley Road
Brooklyn, NY 11226–5519
NSF Award
1660065 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$929,999
Start / end date
03/01/2017 – 08/31/2019
Abstract
This SBIR Phase II project will develop an easy to use real-time formative assessment tool for educators that will be uniquely aligned to each student and deployed via a virtual reality learning game that uses venomous marine snails as a conduit for exploring scientific issues in nature. The USA is currently ranked 52nd in the world in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This is detrimental intellectually and economically to the future of American society. Recent studies indicate it is not what is taught, but how it is taught that enhances student-learning abilities, particularly as it pertains to STEM. As a result, this project is driven by the research objectives to understand how children learn specific science content and why certain game elements are better suited to convey scientific material. The outcome of this project is a proprietary multi-tiered formative assessment tool that can measure real time student learning of novel STEM content obtained through a virtual reality learning game experience. This project will enable teachers to nimbly tailor future instruction with individualized student learning goals. Commercialization of the products created in this project will transform scientific learning and measurable engagement in educational games for social and economic benefit to meet the NSF?s mission of supporting education initiatives that improve the lives of U.S. Citizens, and generate income for tax revenue and jobs via the employment of software designers, educators and scientists. The proprietary technology developed in this SBIR Phase II will be a first-of-its-kind assessment dashboard that will link virtual reality and web-based learning environments with formative assessment to fuel instruction and deepen learning. This project will build proprietary assessment tools into online and virtual reality games which continuously engage users in the process of scientific inquiry and discovery using novel formative assessments customized to each player. The proprietary assessment dashboard allows teachers and players to measure their progress in real-time and identify opportunities to enhance their STEM learning. Using Unity as the platform, player actions and decisions will be met with tailored formative assessments and ongoing feedback throughout game play. This feedback helps teachers delineate where their students are along their learning progressions and fuels further instruction. The novel approach of this assessment dashboard transforms qualitative and quantitative learning and has the potential to significantly enhance student engagement and commitment to scientific inquiry to support emerging science changemakers. The research objective of the player/teacher dashboard is to align feedback on student learning during game play with dynamic quantitative and qualitative formative assessment that create a seamless demonstration of knowledge acquisition while providing teachers with multiple opportunities to engage learners in deeper and more meaningful levels of inquiry before, during, and after gameplay. The products generated from this project are aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the International Baccalaureate (IB) program to ensure the content is of the highest caliber and distribution is to a large global customer base. The anticipated results from exposing teachers and students to this project will be increased competencies in STEM, which will transform players into lifelong learners and enhance engagement in STEM fields and careers.
Errata
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Addenda
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LambdaVision, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Design and Optimization of a Biocompatible Protein-Based Retinal Implant for the Treatment of End-Stage Retinal Degeneration
Contact
400 Farmington Ave
Farmington, CT 06032–1913
NSF Award
1632465 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,037,071
Start / end date
09/01/2016 – 12/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to develop and commercialize a high resolution, protein-based retinal implant intended to restore vision to the millions of patients blinded by retinal degenerative diseases, particularly retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. These currently incurable and blinding diseases affect between 30-50 million people worldwide, and lead to a loss of independence for the individual, as well as an increased burden on their caregivers. While improved quality of life is the most vital outcome of this technology, reduction of medical costs of treating chronic retinal degeneration and limiting time with doctors will also be of benefit to the broad healthcare field. The work outlined in this SBIR proposal also has the potential to significantly impact our understanding of retinal degenerative diseases, which will help in developing better and more effective treatments for a number of ophthalmic indications. The subretinal implant under development provides the framework for the next generation of high-resolution retinal prosthetics, while offering a cost-effective solution to vision restoration, and will help these patients regain independence and thus improve their quality of life. The proposed project will expand on the data collected from the in vivo surgical development and ex vivo efficacy studies supported by our Phase I/IB awards. First, a 40-animal rat study will be undertaken to further investigate the biocompatibility of the retinal implant. Second, previously developed surgical procedures will be refined in pigs to ensure reproducible and safe subretinal implantation. Third, a high-throughput in vitro assay will be designed to investigate a number of implant parameters, as well as the integrity and biostability of the retinal implant using retinal pigment epithelial cells. Additionally, medical device sealants will be investigated in this in vitro study, and the functional integrity of the implant will be measured using time-resolved absorption spectroscopy and an ion-sensitive detector, which is being developed specifically for this application. Lastly, this ion-sensitive detector will provide an opportunity to further measure the spatial sensitivity of the retinal implant with high resolution. These in vivo and in vitro studies are vital for the continued evaluation of biocompatibility, surgical feasibility, and efficacy of the implant. The results from these studies will further demonstrate the commercial viability of the technology under development.
Errata
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Addenda
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Living Ink Technologies, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Engineering novel pigmented cyanobacteria for the use in the ink, printing and colorant industries
Contact
3185-A Rampart Road
Fort Collins, CO 80521–2025
NSF Award
1758587 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$760,000
Start / end date
03/01/2018 – 02/29/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is developing a safe and sustainable ink for the global ink industry. Approximately nine billion pounds of ink is produced annually around the world. Currently, ink is predominantly made of petroleum or inorganic chemicals mined from the earth. For example, carbon black is commonly used in traditional ink, which is derived from petroleum, not biodegradable, and toxic for humans. To solve this problem, nature has produced a multitude of molecules capable of replacing pigments currently utilized in ink. While many organisms that produce these alternatives are slow growing and require energy sources like sugar, photosynthetic microbes, such as cyanobacteria, are capable of being engineered in an efficient manner to produce pigments in ink formulations that are safe, renewable, and 100% biodegradable. This ink will be used by businesses for printing packaging, marketing material, and other printed products. Developing and integrating these ink products will decrease significantly the overall detrimental impact of traditional inks on the environment, and more importantly, human health. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to develop sustainable ink formulations using cyanobacteria as feedstock for producing optically black pigments for printing inks. This project will also engineer cyanobacteria cells capable of generating cellular pigments for a color spectrum of cyan, magenta, and yellow. These colored cyanobacteria will act as pigments that replace mined pigments found in traditional ink formulations, such as carbon black and cadmium. This project is developing a unique process in which extraction of pigments/dyes is not necessary, thus saving energy and reducing cost. Using cyanobacteria cells as pigments creates a renewable source of biomass for bio-products, as these organisms leverage sunlight, carbon dioxide, wastewater and land otherwise unsuitable for conventional agriculture to rapidly generate biomass. In addition to the development of colorful renewable cyanobacteria strains, this project will focus on manufacturing thousands of pounds of ink products for testing and consumer use as well as testing the applicability of these natural pigments to act as colorants in the food and textile industries. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Errata
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Addenda
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Looking Glass Ventures, LLC
SBIR Phase II: An End User Authoring Tool for Open and Intelligent Technology-Enhanced Assessments.
Contact
202 Sequoia Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94306–1043
NSF Award
1758301 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$929,999
Start / end date
03/01/2018 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
This SBIR Phase II effort will create transformative open tools to enable affordable access at scale to high quality assessments (problems & questions) for foundational subjects in secondary and post-secondary education. The explosion of online student audiences, rapid growth of Open Educational Resources (OER), and the need to support individual learners are creating an unprecedented demand for digital assessments. Assessment authoring tools today are controlled by large organizations, require advanced skills and proprietary assessment delivery platforms with restrictive collaboration features. This inequity is particularly pronounced with respect to technology-enabled assessments (TEAs) which are sophisticated, digital assessments that enable deeper learning. This effort will democratize the process of authoring and sharing TEAs through the creation of intuitive end user tools that will enable educators without advanced technical skills to author and share TEAs. This has the potential to disrupt the status quo by empowering educators to take charge of the assessment creation and distribution landscape with ground-breaking tools that enable easy authoring and distribution of sophisticated TEAs without being restricted by a proprietary assessment system. Eventually, this will empower educators at scale by triggering the evolution of a peer-to-peer marketplace around the need for assessments, and impact hundreds of thousands of learners in secondary and tertiary education settings. This project will follow through on two principal innovations. The first is an end-user tool that will dramatically reduce the time and expertise required to author technology-enhanced assessments. The tool will facilitate intuitive authoring of TEAs by using symbolic representation of programming constructs. The second innovation is a new standard for representation of technology-enhanced assessments that makes them usable in any delivery platform, thus making the assessments platform-neutral. This effort will also advance the frontiers of authoring beyond individual assessments to the creation of adaptive assessment pathways that will provide personalization for diverse learners. It will explore novel technologies including the representation of TEAs as intelligent and portable objects that are interoperable with disparate assessment platforms through application programming interfaces. The research studies will provide insight into how the proposed innovations can make authoring of TEAs more efficient while lowering the skills barrier for educators, and the degree to which such TEAs are effective in eliciting student reasoning and thinking processes in foundational subjects. This will be achieved through a combination of usability and validation studies in partnership with secondary and post-secondary educators drawn from different institutions. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Errata
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Addenda
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Lygos Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Large-scale, high-throughput optimization of gene expression in industrial yeast for improved small molecule production
Contact
1249 8th St.
Berkeley, CA 94710–1413
NSF Award
1456071 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,425,979
Start / end date
03/01/2015 – 10/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is development of a microbial technology for the conversion of low-value sugars into high-value chemicals. Most industrial chemicals produced today are derived from petroleum and other nonrenewable raw materials. The long-term growth and sustainability of the chemical industry benefits from development of new routes to existing chemicals using renewable raw materials. Furthermore, due to higher infrastructure costs and stricter environmental requirements, many chemicals that were once produced in the United States are now produced abroad. This contributes to the U.S. trade deficit. This Phase II proposal aims to develop a fermentation technology where domestically grown agricultural materials (for example, corn and waste agricultural residues) are converted into high-value chemicals. The optimized fermentation process is estimated to be cost-competitive with the incumbent petrochemical route when scaled. If successful, this proposal will facilitate growth of a domestic bio-chemical manufacturing industry, targeting the $30 billion organic acids market. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to develop large-scale, high-throughput techniques to optimize gene expression in industrial yeast. A significant problem within the field of industrial biotechnology is the ability to engineer and optimize the fermentation performance of non-academic or model microbes. Most molecular metabolic engineering tools are developed for use in two model prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbes, E. coli and S. cerevisiae, and are not suitable for use with industrially relevant microbes. Without these tools it is costly and slow to commercialize new fermentation technologies. The goal of this Phase II project is to develop and implement a set of molecular biology tools designed for acid-tolerant yeast, and working to apply them toward improving small molecule production. Specifically, the molecular biology tools are useful for tuning (up- or down-regulation) user-defined gene transcription and translation. Engineered microbes harboring the desired genetic modification(s) are assayed for improved small molecule production from sugar in small scale fermentations. Successful genetic modifications are those that result in more efficient small molecule product formation from sugar, and ideally decreased biomass formation from sugar, providing a lower production cost in a scaled, commercial process.
Errata
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Addenda
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Mallinda, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Development of Advanced Composite Materials for Athletic Equipment
Contact
1954 Cedaridge Cir.
Superior, CO 80027–4489
NSF Award
1632199 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$908,623
Start / end date
10/01/2016 – 03/31/2019
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is for the development of scaled processes for the industrial manufacture of end-user moldable advanced composite materials for use in protective athletic equipment. Currently, protective athletic equipment and accessories must be produced using industrial manufacturing techniques that have high tooling costs. As a result, manufacturers produce a small range of predetermined sizes and shapes, which do not provide a custom fit for end users. In the case of athletic gear, there is a growing market for hard-shell protective equipment which can be custom molded for a better fit. Polyimine polymers and advanced composites offer a compelling blend of strength and malleability in order to create more user-friendly lightweight and durable advanced composites that may be shaped by the end-user. In addition to creating greater user customization, both the virgin polyimine polymer, and advanced composites that incorporate polyimines, are intrinsically recyclable in a closed-loop, low-energy, solution-based system. The total U.S. composite materials market is $25 billion, representing 36% of the global composites sector. Polyimine polymers and advanced composite derivatives will reduce environmental waste and increase manufacturing efficiencies across a broad range of vertical markets in the composites sector including personal protective equipment, aerospace, automotive, and infrastructural materials. The intellectual merit of this project derives from the development of the unique chemistry of polyimine polymers. Polymers can be broadly grouped into two categories, thermosets and thermoplastics. Thermosets are strong due to the chemical characteristics of the plastic. However, once cured, thermosets cannot be reshaped. As a result, thermosets are neither repairable, nor are they efficiently recyclable. In contrast, thermoplastics, which are weaker than thermosets, may be molded and remolded. However, remolding requires very high temperatures. Polyimine polymers represent a new class of moldable and remoldable thermoset materials. Importantly, these polymers combine high rigidity and tough mechanical properties with mild molding temperatures. This Phase II research project will include scaled processes for the industrial manufacture of end user moldable composite materials that are a maximum of one-quarter inch in thickness and meet industry standards for limb joint protective equipment. The Phase II effort will also include a variety of types of material and mechanical testing, both in-house and at certified laboratories, in addition to extensive efforts at proving out manufacturability, as well as pilot production.
Errata
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Manus Biosynthesis, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Development of a low-cost production platform through engineered bacteria for a novel natural acaricide.
Contact
1030 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02138–5390
NSF Award
1738463 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$719,999
Start / end date
09/01/2017 – 08/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project, if successful, will be the development of a microbial process for the economical and sustainable production of a highly potent natural acaricide, which is a pesticide that kills mites and ticks. Increasing wariness of synthetic insecticides combined with the need to prevent tick-borne illnesses creates a tremendous opportunity for natural acaricides. The project's terpene target has long been known as a highly effective and safe acaricide; however, its commercialization has been hampered by a high cost of production. The aim is to develop an alternative manufacturing process for biosynthetic production enabling the cost reductions required to effectively penetrate the $1.6 B acaricide market. Because the target is GRAS and because it has been used extensively as a food ingredient for decades, there is a compelling safety benefit combined with its potent efficacy, which may spur increased spraying in public areas and private residences. Overall, this project will provide a new sustainable, cost-effective production route, thereby enabling acaricide commercialization. This SBIR Phase II project will lead to sustainable, scalable, and economical access to a highly potent natural acaricide. A commercial fermentation process will be developed by employing advanced metabolic engineering and protein engineering approaches for improving strain and enzyme performance. Achieving these production metrics will enable formulation and commercialization of various acaricidal products, including yard/area sprays, which will allow better control of tick populations and halt the spread of tick-borne diseases such as Lyme disease. In addition, this work will significantly advance the understanding of producing complex plant natural ingredients, thus providing economical and scalable commercial access to a wide array of compounds with significant potential benefit.
Errata
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Addenda
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Massachusetts Materials Technologies LLC
SBIR Phase II: Hardness Strength and Ductility Tester for Field Assessment of Structures
Contact
810 Memorial Drive
Cambridge, MA 02139–4662
NSF Award
1660214 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,399,965
Start / end date
03/01/2017 – 02/28/2021
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will support the technological refinement and concomitant commercialization of the first accurate and portable instrument that can perform in the field nondestructive test for hardness, strength and ductility of existing infrastructure. The material properties measured include yield strength, work hardening exponent and ultimate tensile strength of metals, specifically steel. The on-shore oil and gas pipeline transmission industry has pressing needs for non-destructive tests because of the aging infrastructure, national need for energy, and recent explosions and leaks that have cost lives and billions in remediation. Although transmission pipelines have low failure rate per mile of assets, pipeline operators are asked to proactively enhance pipeline integrity where they do not have all the necessary strength data. Therefore, there is an immediate need to verify strength during the 80,000 excavations done each year so that the life of these costly assets can be extended by identifying and remediating the few sections that are vulnerable within the extended network of 300,000 miles of pipelines. Pipe cut-outs and hydrostatic pressure tests are alternatives to nondestructive testing, but both damage the asset and require expensive and complex service interruption. The overall technical objective of the Phase II work is to perform the necessary research and development to enable the development of engineering specifications, system integration, and validation of the instrument to successfully perform valuable nondestructive testing to provide precise and accurate material property data. The research and development program includes three milestones, each enabling the implementation of the research into design and manufacturing of beta test units. Milestone 1 is to enable full instrument functionality under adverse field environments such as vibration, moisture, and extreme temperatures. Milestone 2 is to perform the necessary work for designing ruggedized field units. Completion of this milestone will enhance the capability for initial field testing services. Milestone 3 is to develop the knowledge to fully and reliably integrate the system, validate the sub-systems, and package it for manufacturing. The overall goal is to enable the company to have the necessary knowledge and experience to enter the instrument market with a leasing program for use in pipeline inspections.
Errata
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Maxterial, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Non-Stick / Easy-Clean Coatings for High Temperature Applications
Contact
2600 Hilltop Dr,
Richmond, CA 94806–1971
NSF Award
1660246 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,245,012
Start / end date
03/01/2017 – 02/29/2020
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a novel heat-resistant easy-clean coating that can effectively be applied to surfaces of oven cavities and pipes. Ovens and heat-exchangers, as the primary application domains of this technology, present an estimated annual market size of $40.9 million and $19.4 billion, respectively. The technology will provide a safe and environmentally-friendly solution for the unmet market demand for heat-resistant easy-clean coatings. In addition to its impact on the aforesaid market, the proposed development in Phase II will be an implementation of a new generation of non-stick coatings that can provide answers to a broad range of existing technological challenges. The development project is based on patent-pending technology for scalable and affordable manufacturing of textured coatings using existing electroplating facilities in the industry. The proposed technology will create a new generation of coatings that provide non-stick functionality where the existing nonstick coatings fall short. The existing non-stick coatings decompose at high temperatures and may produce toxic fumes. The challenge for the existing non-stick coatings is even greater when application is needed for hard-to-reach areas, such as inside of oven chambers and pipes. The anticipated outcome of the Phase II proposal is an inorganics-based and PTFE-free non-stick coating that can provide more thermal-resistance than existing non-stick coatings and can be applied to different surfaces through a scalable and affordable route.
Errata
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Mental Canvas, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Reimagining Sketch in the Digital Age
Contact
61 Hartford Avenue
Madison, CT 06443–2743
NSF Award
1431013 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,204,673
Start / end date
10/01/2014 – 08/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project results from the development of a new class of graphical-media-design system that lies between today's 2D digital paint systems and 3D computer-aided design systems. This technology will allow architects, engineers, artists, and school children to create compelling 3D experiences directly from their drawings without extensive training. Furthermore, it will accelerate the creation of interactive 3D content and significantly reduce the time, cost and expertise currently required to create it. By bridging the gap between traditional drawings and 3D modeling, this project will provide the unique ability to reuse and "reproject" drawn strokes, thus enabling the creation of expressive 3D drawings with minimal effort. The technology developed in this project will help lower the barrier and generate new business opportunities in content creation for electronic publishing and for other creative professionals, such as architects, designers, and ad-agency art directors. Finally, this project includes specific outreach activities, through collaboration with the American Museum of Natural History, that will provide unique educational services to the local community, while simultaneously introducing this new technology to the world. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will focus on making the creation of this new type of graphical media as intuitive and fluid as paper and pencil. This Phase II project will support system improvements - including user-interface improvements - to simplify 3D navigation for the consumers of this media. This will be needed for using this media in digital children's picture books, which have already been identified as early adopters of this technology as well as an important market. Another technical objective will be to develop a hybrid vector-raster representation, which will provide a wider range of artistic expression, while improving rendering performance of large scenes. A third objective is to develop stroke deformation algorithms to support direct manipulation of objects and characters to provide sketch-driven animation capabilities.
Errata
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Modular Genetics, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Production of an Acyl Glycinate Surfactant by Fermentation
Contact
12-T Cabot Road
Woburn, MA 01801–0000
NSF Award
1353912 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,604,998
Start / end date
05/01/2014 – 09/30/2020
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project is aimed at optimizing production of a bio-surfactant in preparation for commercial launch of the product. During Phase I, the company developed an engineered microorganism that synthesizes the surfactant, and a key customer confirmed the identity and purity of a sample of the surfactant. During Phase II, synthetic biology methods will be used to increase the efficiency of the microorganism producing the surfactant. In addition, multiple samples of purified surfactant will be shipped to customers for evaluation. Customer feedback will identify any product features that require modification and will result in development of a detailed product specification, which will include metrics such as: purity, color, acceptable variation in composition and molecular weight, etc. The objectives of this Phase II project are to optimize surfactant characteristics and microbial production efficiency so that the surfactant can be profitably manufactured and sold for use in consumer products formulations. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is that it should enable the company to demonstrate that synthetic biology methods can be used to increase the efficiency of production of a bio-surfactant so the surfactant can be sold as a commercial product. Progress toward that goal should enable the company to attract a partner, for example a large chemical company, who will agree to collaborate on commercialization of the bio-surfactant. If the bio-surfactant can be made and sold profitably, the company will be positioned to fund future research and development aimed at commercial launch of additional bio-surfactants. Benefits to society are that chemicals produced using this technology will be manufactured using domestically grown renewable raw materials, which do not compete with food. Furthermore, the energy required to produce these chemicals is low since the fermentation reaction is performed near ambient temperature. The chemicals are inherently safer than traditional chemicals because toxic solvents are not used, and the surfactants are biodegradable and do not contribute to increased greenhouse gas accumulation. These bio-surfactants will initially be used in personal care products, such as body washes and shampoos. However, the surfactant market is large and diverse, creating an opportunity for use of bio-surfactants in products as varied as laundry detergent, paints and coatings, and floatation-agents used in the mining industry to purify valuable minerals.
Errata
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Molecular Vista, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Resonance Force Microscopy for Nanoscale Manufacturing Process Monitoring
Contact
100 Great Oaks Blvd. #140
San Jose, CA 95119–1456
NSF Award
1353524 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,409,994
Start / end date
04/15/2014 – 05/31/2018
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to develop a production prototype of an automated nanoscale manufacturing process monitoring tool based on the resonance force microscope (RFM). The tool will combine image force microscopy (IFM, a version of RFM that measures the linear part of the susceptibility) and scattering near-field optical microscopy (sSNOM) with atomic force microscope for use in the hard disk drive (HDD) and semiconductor industries. sSNOM measures the dipole-dipole interaction force while IFM measures the dipole-dipole force gradient, both with nanometer spatial resolution. These techniques allow direct imaging of resonances associated with electrons, phonons, and plasmons. The capability to image plasmon resonances is well suited to probe the near-field (NF) profile associated with a plasmonic structure called near-field transducer (NFT) utilized in heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR). With HAMR universally viewed as the next generation technology for HDD industry, the need for a monitoring tool for mass production of HAMR head is acute since there is currently no simple way to probe the NF profile of NFTs. The objectives of the proposed project are (1) to successfully prototype an automated NFT characterization tool and (2) to field test it with one or more HDD manufacturers. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be felt not only in the HDD industry but across many industries. While the monitoring of NFT production is the near-term niche application for the automated tool, the same tool will have longer-term value for in-line characterization of physical and chemical properties of nanoscale materials and structures in the manufacturing environment of diverse industries, including, for example, the measurement of stress in the channel layer and chemical characterization of defects in semiconductor industry and monitoring of protein-based pharmaceuticals. In R&D and academic settings, the RFM technique provides the capability to image individual biomolecules in situ, such as for the real-time monitoring of membrane protein dynamics on cells, which will provide unprecedented utility in biomedical and clinical research. A reliable label-free imaging tool with the capability to identify chemical bond information at the molecular level will potentially bring about revolutionary advances in many fields of basic and applied biological science, including drug discovery, proteomics, structural biology, and personalized medicine. The RFM technique will be simpler to implement as compared to other hybrid instruments involving high resolution microscopy, resulting in an affordable instrument for academic and research institutions.
Errata
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Multicore Photonics, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Fiber Optic Based Nitrogen Oxides Sensor
Contact
5832 N. Dean Rd.
Orlando, FL 32817–3249
NSF Award
1660213 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$760,000
Start / end date
04/01/2017 – 03/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this SBIR Phase II project will be the enhanced ability to monitor NOx optically using a unique approach that is fundamentally different from voltage biased solid electrolyte diffusion technology deployed commercially today. NSF Phase I activities brought to light the shortcomings of existing sensor technology, including slow response time and up to 90% "garbage data" that OEMs and regulatory authorities have to work around. Phase II efforts include improvement of Phase I prototypes where near instantaneous NOx detection to ~200 ppm was observed. NOx are a major pollutant and precursor to acid rain, surface ozone and smog formation. Worldwide regulatory bodies are driving NOx regulations to increasingly stringent levels, thus presenting even greater challenges for real-world emissions. Addressing these regulations, industry must deploy after-treatment technologies including selective catalyst reduction systems and lean NOx traps. Both of these technologies will benefit from a less expensive, more robust, and faster responding NOx sensor. With continued success, the new NOx sensor has the potential to significantly reduce emissions levels through a more accurate and much faster detection than current NOx detection techniques thus allowing the internal combustion engine to directly employ detection feedback to enhance emission controls. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will continue the prototyping and characterization of an optical based Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) sensor technology not based on oxygen sensor derivatives found in the market today. We will further optimize the design and materials needed for a novel thermo-catalytic NOx sensing mechanism through continued experimentation and testing. Increasing the number and type of catalytic sensing elements and integrating them into existing OEM packaging will allow us to measure NOx as well as other gases including ammonia (NH3). Sensor calibration equations and response lookup-tables will help validate our new method for NOx detection with successful results creating the foundation of a new category of sensors based on this differential detection architecture. Current automotive NOx sensors do not meet response time, accuracy and price requirements as used in the industry where such parameters are critical. The Phase II will optimize the optical sensing mechanism, and planned designs of experiment will help refine this technology into a reliable and robust device. Besides NOx and NH3, our "inorganic taste buds" also derive carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbon concentration as a byproduct of the measurement process, thus providing additional utility for any combustion emissions control application.
Errata
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NGCodec Inc.
SBIR Phase II: A hardware FPGA implementation of H.265/HEVC low latency video encoder algorithms for professional applications
Contact
1145 Mariposa Ave.
San Jose, CA 95126–2620
NSF Award
1632567 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$909,999
Start / end date
09/15/2016 – 08/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to promote and improve the use of high quality video in products that the general public works with every day. From high resolution auto dashboard cameras, to low latency video streams from flying drones, to wireless laptop docking stations, to higher quality coverage of news and sporting events, to better and faster delivery of video over the Internet, every application requires the high quality, low latency, flexible, power efficient video encoders that will be developed in this project. The uses of video are increasing every day. Video instruction manuals are replacing printed instruction manuals. Video is replacing still images in on-line advertising, social media and billboards. It is predicted that over 90% of all Internet traffic will be video data in the next few years. Enabling all these applications requires the latest technology in video compression such as the techniques developed in this project. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project tackles the problem of creating a real time video encoder, using the latest H.265 compression technology, running in hardware on an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). An FPGA is a type of chip on which the logic is configurable - it can be programmed to implement any function. It represents a mid-point between a dedicated integrated circuit, which is very expensive to develop, and can never be changed or enhanced once it is fabricated, and a pure software solution which is very flexible but requires bulky and power hungry equipment (i.e. computers) as an underlying platform. The research conducted under this grant will devise, test, and implement algorithms that are amenable to realization on an FPGA, that operate in real time, and that yield a high quality result in terms of the visual quality of the compressed video with respect to the number of bits used. The goal, at the conclusion of this research, is the demonstration of a functional HEVC/H.265 encoder running on an FPGA which has cost, flexibility, power and performance advantages over other encoders.
Errata
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Navan Technologies Inc.
STTR Phase II: Nanostraw-mediated Immune Cell Reprogramming
Contact
329 Oyster Pt, 3rd Floor
South San Francisco, CA 94080–1913
NSF Award
1759075 – STTR PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
03/01/2018 – 02/29/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project will be to develop a new tool to safely and nondestructively deliver genes and other materials into large numbers cells at the same time. New forms of therapies for cancer and other intractable diseases take advantage of a patient's own cells, re-engineered in the laboratory to target a tumor or other diseased tissue. However, generating these cells is currently inefficient, slow, and expensive. Patient-derived cells resist transfection using standard non-viral biochemical approaches of lipid delivery systems, cell-penetrating peptides, and high-voltage electroporation, requiring an engineering alternative. The proposed technology provides a safe, turnkey, and scalable technology with a potential transformative impact in research and life sciences laboratories and companies, representing a high-growth and high-value market opportunity. This STTR Phase I project proposes a new nanomaterial delivery system to introduce reprogramming agents into immune cells efficiently and with low cell toxicity. This project will examine how the proposed nanostraw design, transfection protocol, and cell preparation improves immune cell delivery efficiency, and optimize the process to achieve >50% transfection efficiency with primary immune cells. Market analysis has found this level of transfection efficiency would be transformative to researchers and clinicians using primary immune cells. The transfection protocol will be optimized and codified into a simple to follow set of instructions. A turn-key instrument will be developed to carry out these procedures for use by life science researchers, with reduced device costs through improved manufacturing techniques to be competitive with currently available methods. The market-ready product will be evaluated by eight preclinical immune cell research beta sites to discover new treatment pathways. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Errata
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Neural Analytics
SBIR Phase II: A Novel Non-Invasive Intracranial Pressure Monitoring Method
Contact
2440 S. Sepulveda Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064–1744
NSF Award
1556110 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$753,756
Start / end date
03/01/2016 – 02/28/2018
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be to improve the quality and decrease the high costs associated with treating patients who suffer severe traumatic brain injuries. This project aims to develop an accurate, affordable (<$100 per use) and non-invasive device to monitor a patient's intracranial pressure following head injury. Increased intracranial pressure can result in poor health outcomes including long-term disability or death, if left untreated. However, the only available method to monitor intracranial pressure is expensive (~$10,000 per patient) and requires neurosurgery. The lack of a method to accurately screen patients to determine who needs surgery results in misdiagnoses and incorrect treatment in about 46% of patients among an estimated 50,000 patients in the US alone, and hundreds of thousands more globally. Successful commercialization of product is expected to result in savings in the range $250 million ever year to the US healthcare system. The proposed project will develop a medical device to accurately display a patient's intracranial pressure non-invasively and for use outside of the neurocritical care unit. The core technological approach of the proposed work is the analysis of blood flow velocity waveforms using advanced signal processing methods in a machine-learning framework. The machine-learning framework allows experience-based learning utilizing prior, established databases of waveforms that have been well-characterized. Three new machine-learning paradigms that utilize the shape features of the blood flow velocity waveforms will be utilized to progressively increase accuracy of intracranial pressure estimation. The first will establish a basic estimate using shape features of individual waveform pulses, considered independent of neighboring pulses. Subsequently, clinically established features of the waveform will be utilized to learn causal changes in the shape features resulting from changes in intracranial pressure. Finally, the shape features in successive pulses will be used as a sequence to machine-learn the intracranial pressure estimate. Together, these will enable increased accuracy in estimation. All of the methods proposed in this program are entirely novel. This approach allows for real time monitoring at an affordable price point that is within current reimbursement limits for ultrasonography procedures.
Errata
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Neuvokas Corporation
SBIR Phase II: Development of High Speed Process Technology for the Manufacturing of Cost Effective Polymer Rebar
Contact
25280 Renaissance Rd
Calumet, MI 49913–2701
NSF Award
1534785 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,403,184
Start / end date
08/15/2015 – 01/31/2019
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will focus on developing the process required to produce fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) rebar at scale. FRP rebar offers significant performance advantages when compared to uncoated steel rebar. These advantages include a sevenfold weight reduction, no corrosion - which in turn permits a 30% reduction in concrete usage (and a corresponding 15 billion ton reduction in CO2 emissions) - and equivalent tensile strength at smaller diameters compared to steel rebar products. FRP rebar is being produced but has limited market acceptance due to its high cost. The high-speed process to be developed in this project will allow price parity when compared to uncoated steel and enable a hundredfold improvement in process speeds compared to current FRP manufacturing. Combined, these improvements will allow entry to the $140 billion global market for steel rebar and allow mass market adoption of FRP rebar. Additionally, basalt mine waste will be explored and, where possible, utilized as a raw material for fiber production. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project includes job creation and environmental impacts. With implementation of this process up to 35 manufacturing jobs can be created immediately. The company's high speed process combines a thermoset resin and basalt fiber as primary reinforcements within the FRP composite. A consortium of pultruders has collectively organized the Fiber Reinforced Polymer Rebar Manufacturers Council and has developed FRP rebar into a viable product over the last 20 years, with a $1.2 billion market at present. Currently, no FRP rebar product is offered at price parity with uncoated steel rebar, and to reach this price parity a high speed process has been invented. This novel process will be optimized and further developed by the completion of this Phase II SBIR project. Basalt fiber, an emerging material with the potential to replace carbon and other fibers in a variety of applications will be brought into large-scale industrial usage with the completion of this project. The Phase I project permitted the determination of the performance characteristics of thermoset resins which have not been commonly used in pultrusion, enabling product validation. This Phase II project will address a range of manufacturing challenges that will be encountered in the production of FRP rebar at industrial scale, allowing a commercially viable final product that can be offered at price parity with steel rebar.
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Novan, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Scale-up Manufacturing of Nitric Oxide Nanotechnology for Healthcare Infections
Contact
4222 Emperor Blvd
Durham, NC 27703–8030
NSF Award
1127380 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$996,426
Start / end date
11/01/2011 – 12/31/2013
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to develop the process and engineering controls necessary to scale up the manufacturing of a nitric-oxide-releasing active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). One of the applications is a wound-healing product for diabetic foot ulcers. This project will focus on 1) optimizing the process parameters required to scale production of a nitric-oxide-releasing API to reproducible 1 kg batches, and 2) implementing the analytical methodologies to meet the requirements of the Chemistry, Manufacturing and Control (CMC) sections of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application. The expected outcome is a manufacturing process capable of producing large batches of the API that are suitable for an IND submission of a wound-healing product for diabetic foot ulcers or other nitric-oxide-releasing drug. The broader/commercial impacts of this project will be the potential to provide a new standard of care for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers. Currently, there are no products that address both wound healing and infection in diabetic foot ulcers. Infection is particularly problematic in diabetic foot ulcers due to the lack of normal skin barrier function, long duration of wound exposure to the external environment (months to years), poor blood circulation to the extremities that limits the migration of inflammatory cells to the site of infection, and the recent understanding of biofilm formation which protects bacteria from topically applied antimicrobials and systemically administered antibiotics. Nitric-oxide-releasing wound-healing therapeutics have the potential of addressing both infection and healing in diabetic foot ulcers.
Errata
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OceanComm Incorporated
SBIR Phase II: Megabit-Per-Second Underwater Wireless Communications
Contact
60 Hazelwood Drive
Champaign, IL 61820–0000
NSF Award
1555928 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$920,187
Start / end date
04/15/2016 – 06/30/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the introduction of high-speed wireless modems usable subsea and significant cost reduction of deep-water operations ? industry experts estimate savings of nearly 20% of deep-water operations through the availability of subsea WiFi. Today, there is no broadband wireless communication available underwater. In the deep ocean, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) require a tether for communication and a support ship for tether management; sensors and systems must either be physically connected, or retrieved from the deep sea to exchange data. An ROV support ship costs about $120k/day leading to over $7B spent on ROV support ships in 2013. The proposed megabit-per-second technology would allow ROV manufacturers and operators to cut the tether on many of their vehicles. Wireless ROVs can move unencumbered throughout coverage area, piloted from anywhere (e.g. from Houston), without expensive surface vessels. The proposed wireless modem technology connects ROVs and machinery to wired infrastructure, enabling safe operation of heavy subsea machinery without the possibility of cables or tethers getting tangled, causing damage or worse. This project will create 10 new jobs in the next three years, with many more to be added as the production scales. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 project proposes to develop a faster and more reliable wireless communication system for the sub-sea industry. Current state of the art communication links for the deep ocean are either tethered, requiring long, bulky, and expensive cables to connect machinery and systems, or have extremely low data rates, enabling only the most rudimentary of tasks. The proposed underwater wireless communication system will provide WiFi-like data rates in the Mbps (megabits/sec) range ? 100 to 1,000 times faster than existing underwater wireless communication technologies - and enable video streaming and real-time control of subsea infrastructure, machinery, and mobile underwater vehicles. Since radio signals do not propagate far underwater, the proposed technology uses sound waves, as whales and dolphins do, for communication. The speed of sound is 200,000 times slower than the speed of radio propagation, and mobile acoustic transmitters and receivers hence suffer from severe Doppler distortion. The proposed technology dynamically measures, tracks, and compensates for this distortion, to enable wireless communication at data rates never before possible underwater.
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One Million Metrics Corp
SBIR Phase II: Predicting Musculoskeletal Injury Risk of Material Handling Workers with Novel Wearable Devices
Contact
450 West 33rd Street
New York, NY 10001–0000
NSF Award
1660093 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,417,997
Start / end date
04/01/2017 – 09/30/2021
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project has the objective of demonstrating that discrete, belt mounted internet-connected wearable devices used by industrial workers can detect high risk lifting activities, promote safe lifting practices and behavior change, and predict the risk of musculoskeletal injuries due to unsafe lifting. Each year over 600,000 workers suffer a musculoskeletal injury due to lifting related activities, which cost US companies over $15bn annually. Worker injuries affect employee morale, absenteeism, productivity loss and employee turnover, all of which are challenges to the efficient running of a company and are a unnecessary cause of human suffering. By developing a wearable device that can detect high risk lifting activity and provide immediate feedback to workers, safer lifting practices can be promoted and a reduction in the number of unsafe lifts registered, leading to a reduction in injuries. The project includes three main technical objectives: i) the development of machine learning algorithms to detect lifting events from sensor data, and to measure risk related metrics associated to those lifting events. When a lift is considered high risk, real-time feedback will be provided to the worker; ii) the deployment of the device in an industrial setting at several customer sites for 12 months, with the number of high risk lifts performed by workers quantified over time to measure the ability of the system to drive behavior change in the workforce; and ii) the development of a model that can predict the likelihood of musculoskeletal injures based on the risk metrics measured. It is expected that the outcomes of the project demonstrate a significant reduction in the risk of suffering musculoskeletal injuries, paving the way for a clear return on investment value proposition for the industrial companies and their insurance carriers who are potential customers.
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OneBreath, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: A novel and cost effective mechanical ventilator for pandemic preparedness and emergency stockpiling
Contact
425B Forest Ave
Palo Alto, CA 94301–1420
NSF Award
1430719 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,463,132
Start / end date
12/01/2014 – 03/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to develop a cost-effective mechanical ventilator designed specifically to address the need for pandemic stockpiling and surge capacity use. The output of this Phase will be a new ventilator ready for FDA clearance and market entry in 2017. US government planners have described a need for many thousands of additional ventilators in the event of a pandemic influenza or other large-scale medical emergency. Severe influenza often leads to respiratory distress which cannot be dealt with in the absence of mechanical ventilation. Given some time and a mechanical ventilator, the human body can often clear the infection on its own. Without help from the ventilator, patients may die. Manufacturers of current ventilators have attempted to reconfigure their existing offerings to meet the stockpiling demand. Unfortunately none of these devices are able to match the price/performance ratio needed to make stockpiling in large numbers economically feasible. Building upon an innovative platform for mechanical ventilation developed in Phase I, the project intends to develop a ?gold standard? device for pandemic preparedness and emergency use. The proposed project is to develop a novel and much needed medical device ? a mechanical ventilator suitable for pandemic use and emergency stockpiling. If a severe pandemic were to strike the United States, the number of patients in need of mechanical ventilation has been estimated to be over 700,000. Of these, the most severe cases are often in the very old and the very young. There are currently 62,274 ventilators in use in the United States, of which only 23,485 are capable of supporting pediatric patients. Research and development activities will provide opportunities for creating new intellectual property, new technology, and new clinical methods for managing respiratory distress. This research and development project is divided into two Aims. In the first, the company will conduct extensive design research to analyze and understand the clinical need and all product requirements. We will then design, build, and test a series of prototype concepts using sophisticated software modeling, benchtop test platforms including mechanical and electronic lung simulation, and real-world user feedback. In the second Aim the company will address manufacturing and supply chain requirements, integrate design for manufacturing, and build and test a final series of near-production prototypes. These late-stage test procedures will include clinical performance and accuracy in accordance with regulatory standards, electromagnetic interference, and mechanical durability including vibration, noise, and water ingress in preparation for FDA regulatory clearance.
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Openspace
SBIR Phase II: Fast Creation of Photorealistic 3D Models using Consumer Hardware
Contact
3802 23rd St
San Francisco, CA 94114–3321
NSF Award
1830965 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
09/01/2018 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be substantial: a successful project would transform the construction industry, making it far more efficient by reducing legal conflicts, schedule slips and poor decision making. The proposed work will enable the fast and easy creation of 100% complete visual documentation of a physical space; this documentation can be generated many times throughout the course of construction. In so doing, the proposed project will allow professionals in the construction industry to track progress and communicate with their teams far more efficiently than ever before. A second outcome of the project will be the creation of vast, detailed, never before seen datasets of construction projects and real estate, allowing technical innovations in artificial intelligence and computer vision to impact one of the largest industries in the nation and the world. For example, systems could be trained to automatically spot safety concerns, augmenting the efforts of safety managers and keeping workers safer than ever before. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a fast, easy to use and cheap method to create photorealistic immersive models using off the shelf consumer hardware. Technical hurdles include validating the quality and efficacy of models generated with consumer hardware and automatic creation of routes through the 3D space without human annotation. Technical milestones involve using various sensor streams as well as other prior data to build these routes. With these hurdles cleared, advanced work may include automated analytics between and among 3D models of the same site captured over time. Because of the system's ease of use, it will enable the collection of large, totally novel datasets. The goal of the research is to produce a prototype that a layperson can use to create an immersive model of a physical site in order to document it with no annotation effort. The plan to reach these goals includes iterative software development against the hurdles listed above, as well as continuous user feedback to guide and refine development. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
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Persimmon Technologies Corporation
SBIR Phase II: SBIR Phase II Spray-Formed Soft Magnetic Material for Efficient Hybrid-Field Electric Machines
Contact
200 Harvard Mill Square
Wakefield, MA 01880–3239
NSF Award
1230458 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,027,658
Start / end date
09/01/2012 – 08/31/2015
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to develop a novel soft magnetic material and fabrication process for magnetic circuits of electric machines, such as winding cores of electric motors. The technology utilizes a unique single-step near net-shape fabrication process based on metal spray deposition to produce an isotropic metal microstructure characterized by small domains with high permeability, high saturation and low coercivity with a controlled formation of insulation boundaries that limit electric conductivity between neighboring domains. The resulting material provides an excellent three-dimensional magnetic path while minimizing energy losses associated with eddy currents. It can replace anisotropic laminated winding cores, which currently constrain the design of conventional electric motors to geometries with two-dimensional magnetic paths. As a further objective of the project, a new hybrid-field motor topology, with three-dimensional magnetic paths enabled by the proposed material and fabrication process, is being developed. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to enable production of electric motors with improved performance and efficiency while reducing cost and material scrap associated with manufacturing of motor winding cores. Electric motors are used extensively in a growing number of applications, including robotics, semiconductor and LED process equipment, industrial automation, electric vehicles, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, appliances, power tools, medical devices, and military and space exploration applications. These markets drive an increasing demand for electric motors with improved performance, higher efficiency, and lower cost. Considering the extensive use of electric motors globally, the disruptive change resulting from the proposed hybrid-field motor technology with spray-formed winding cores is expected to provide significant commercial, societal and environmental benefits, including improved manufacturing efficiency, waste reduction, and energy conservation.
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Precision Polyolefins, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Commercially Viable Ton-Scale Production of Stereoblock Polypropylene Thermoplastic Elastomers and XPURE? Oils
Contact
Suite 4506, Bldg 091
College Park, MD 20742–3371
NSF Award
1534778 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
09/15/2015 – 08/31/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project is to use the transformational "living coordinative chain transfer polymerization" (LCCTP) technology of Precision Polyolefins, LLC (PPL) to produce new classes of polyolefins from readily available, inexpensive, and renewable chemical feedstocks and that can be used in the manufacturing of consumer products with superior performance to the benefit of society. More specifically, the commercial production of structurally-well-defined (precise) polyolefins, including stereoblock polypropylene (sbPP) thermoplastic elastomers, as replacements for technologically inferior polyolefins in adhesive and additives markets will serve to capitalize on the increasingly advantaged position of inexpensive propylene in the North America. The development of new technologies, such as LCCTP, will help the U.S. to regain its position as a world-leader in the discovery and commercialization of new polyolefin-based materials, and thereby, contribute to the future health and growth of the U.S. economy. The objectives of the proposed Phase II research project are to address the needs for new commercial polymers against a back-drop of ever increasing consumer demand, a sluggish industrial response, and a limited pool of chemical feedstocks possessing high price and supply volatility from which they can be manufactured. The current project will seek to develop commercially-viable processes based on a living coordinative chain transfer polymerization (LCCTP) technology to provide a broad range of structurally-well-defined polyolefins that possess with superior properties relative to existing products. By conducting an in-depth investigation of polymerization catalyst structure / property relationships, the project will seek to optimize catalyst activity and thermal stability. In concert with scale-up process development, this catalyst optimization will lead to reduced material and processing costs, and a product portfolio of competitively-priced polyolefins with superior performance characteristics. Validation of an optimized scale-up process will be achieved through the ton-scale production of stereoblock polypropylene (sbPP) thermoplastic elastomers, for adhesive and additive markets, and low molecular weight proprietary oils, for cosmetics, lubricants, and adhesives markets. The anticipated result is that commercially relevant (> 1 kiloton) volumes of sbPP thermoplastic elastomers and proprietary oils can be manufactured as technologically and commercially viable products.
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Protein Dynamic Solutions, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Novel, Accurate and Reproducible Platform for the Developability Assessment of Protein Therapeutics
Contact
11 Audubon Road
Wakefield, MA 01880–0000
NSF Award
1632420 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,425,999
Start / end date
09/15/2016 – 02/28/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will address ALL of the factors attributing to protein aggregation by determining the: size, identity, extent, mechanism of aggregation and stability, thus addressing Biopharma industry needs. This information is critical to the development of drug pipeline contributing to a $190 BN biologic's market where $87BN in first generation biologics face patent expiration before 2020. A successful technical approach for its implementation will provide essential information for decision making towards which candidates will enter the market, thus increasing the Biopharma valuation and ensuring supply of drugs to patients. In the end, improving the quality of life of patients with chronic diseases. The proposed project will address the need for a multivariate high-throughput technology to address the risk of protein aggregation, that when adopted in R&D, will increase pipeline approvals, reduce late stage withdrawals and total costs of drug development. Average R&D development costs for the mere 1% of candidates reaching FDA approval have risen to $2.6 BN per product. Protein therapeutic development needs to be guided by a full understanding of protein stability and aggregation. Research objectives are to: develop our innovative First-in-Class high throughput platform for screening protein therapeutics; develop original software capable of deciphering protein aggregation mechanism, size, identity and extent of aggregated protein and product stability; commercialize the innovative technology platform. Fully automated evaluation of protein candidates during early R&D phase will be conducted. Best-in-class image acquisition technology will be employed towards this end, using a label free chemical mapping technology, dedicated software using auto recognition algorithms, and correlations to decipher protein aggregation. We through the use of its breakthrough technology will determine: the aggregate free candidate under various stressor conditions, optimum formulation conditions for the protein therapeutic, the most stable candidate, and electronic data reporting that establishes accuracy, reproducibility, critical quality attributes of the protein product.
Errata
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QC Ware Corp.
SBIR Phase II: A Cloud-Based Development Framework and Tool Suite for Quantum Computing
Contact
125 University Ave, Ste 260
Palo Alto, CA 94301–1664
NSF Award
1758536 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,421,129
Start / end date
04/01/2018 – 09/30/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will to enable inexpensive access to quantum computing (QC) and to take the complexity out of the programming and application hosting tasks, which currently pose a major barrier to entry for potential users. QC technology is expected to disrupt significant portions of the high-performance computing environment for optimization problems, which has previously been characterized by slow and incremental performance improvements. This project would yield a platform that both increases the efficiency and lowers the cost of analyzing complex optimization problems, which could spur fast-paced innovation in wide areas of the economy that tackle such issues. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project addresses the need for a cloud-based platform for using QC technology. Early-generation quantum computers have been introduced by multiple hardware vendors. Despite advances in performance of QC processors, little effort has been directed toward developing programming environments and applications that can provide simple and inexpensive access to QC capabilities and that can exploit the power that QC systems will have in the near future. This project will develop a suite of front-end and back-end tools that efficiently transform high-level computing problems into formulations for circuit-model QC systems, abstracting away the physical low-level details and domain knowledge currently necessary to build QC applications. The project will further develop a set of applications in optimization, search, and machine learning. The proposed research will explore the best software tools and platform methods for integrating emerging QC capabilities into enterprise and research workflows by streamlining and making affordable the decomposition and formulation of real-world problems into implementations that run on quantum processors. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Errata
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Radial Analytics, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: System for Patient Risk Stratification through Electronic Health Record Analytics
Contact
50 Beharrell Street Suite A
Concord, MA 01742–0000
NSF Award
1534781 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,425,999
Start / end date
09/15/2015 – 02/29/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is significant; transitions of care impact millions of Americans every year. The healthcare system bears substantial cost and inefficiency on account of suboptimal care transitions and overspending. This Phase II project will support progress towards a "learning healthcare system" and will extend the capabilities of data mining and machine learning in healthcare The proposed project seeks to improve data mining technologies for healthcare decision support. This project will focus on the analysis of a broad variety of data types that are common in healthcare settings. The anticipated improvements would allow frontline care staff, operational managers, and healthcare executives to assess and make stronger evidence-driven decisions regarding quality, cost, and access as patients move through the healthcare system. The enhanced data mining system would utilize state-of-the-art pattern recognition and machine learning techniques to dynamically process and interpret clinical, claims, and other types of healthcare data. If successful, this research will impact the state-of-the-art in healthcare analytics.
Errata
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Radial Analytics, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: User-Centered System for Improved Coordination across the Continuum of Care
Contact
50 Beharrell Street Suite A
Concord, MA 01742–0000
NSF Award
1758650 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$925,999
Start / end date
03/01/2018 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project focuses on using analytics and technology to benefit patients who require additional care to fully recover - or simply to maintain their health - after being discharged from the hospital. Whether subacute or community-based care, significant opportunity exists to leverage machine learning, decision science, and advance data mining techniques to better support patients. State and federal budgets cover the costs of care for millions of Americans every year. This expenditure is growing faster than inflation, prompting the development of both optional and mandatory payment reform efforts that stand to simultaneously reduce costs and improve care outcomes. If successful, this project will help reduce costs of care for healthcare providers, payers, and government/society. The proposed project aims to incorporate and improve upon user-centered decision science in healthcare. The proposed platform will combine advanced machine learning techniques with a patient/family-centered business model. The innovation will harness multiple streams of healthcare data, such as claims/billing data from acute, subacute, and community care settings. If successful, this research will impact the state-of-the-art in healthcare analytics and outcomes measurement. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
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Refactored Materials, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Commercial Scale Production of Synthetic Spider Silk Fibers
Contact
344A PRENTISS ST
San Francisco, CA 94110–6141
NSF Award
1151896 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,000,000
Start / end date
03/01/2012 – 02/29/2016
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will continue the development and commercialization of spider silk fibers commenced in the Phase I effort. Spider silk is a unique material in nature that is currently inaccessible on a commercial scale. Spider silk and other protein polymers are broadly useful in fields ranging from specialty textiles, to medical devices and advanced composites. The critical limitation in producing artificial spider silk fibers has been the lack of availability of bulk silk material and the knowledge of how to appropriately process the polymer into a product of native quality. This project will continue prior work to deliver scalable quantities of material through microbial production of spider silk protein using a commercially viable cost structure. In addition, this project will examine the key parameters for processing silk polymer into fibers whose properties surpass those of native spider silk. The ability to produce prototype silk fibers from recombinant protein will enable the initial steps towards commercializing spider silk fiber-based products. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is important to the adoption of a job-creating bio-based economy in the United States. The ability to produce protein polymers has bedeviled biological researchers for decades. Many important structural proteins and enticing commercially-useful materials have remained effectively impossible to produce. The advent of cutting-edge techniques in synthetic biology, microfabrication, and materials processing now make the production of protein polymers and the processing of them into beneficial technologies a realistic goal. Potential applications of protein-based polymers include a full range of sophisticated materials that are furthermore "green" and sustainable. Spider silk polymers, due to their mechanical properties, can potentially be used to create the next generation of ballistic fibers in the production of armor for military, law enforcement, and private users. In addition, the ability to produce advanced polymers independent of petroleum sources is a key goal of the emerging bio-based economy. Lastly, many protein polymers (including silk) are biocompatible and biodegradable and thus can form the basis for new classes of medical materials used to replace or re-grow connective tissues with implants or devices.
Errata
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Renuvix
SBIR Phase II: High-Performance, Environmentally Friendly Polymer Systems for Paints and Coatings
Contact
1854 NDSU Research Cir N
Fargo, ND 58102–5706
NSF Award
1556069 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$760,000
Start / end date
03/01/2016 – 08/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project is to provide the paint and coatings industry with new high-performance, cost-competitive polymer/resin systems that reduce solvent emissions and use of petrochemicals. In addition, these new polymer/resin systems enable one-component, ambient-cure coatings to be produced. This means that highly protective coatings can be produced without the need for mixing multiple components together prior to application or applying heat or light to cure the coatings. The one-component, ambient-cure features of these polymer/resin systems largely eliminate waste and energy costs associated with coating application and lend themselves to the production of paints and coatings that can be applied by the average person. Compared to the current state-of-the-art in one-component, ambient-cured resins, these new polymer/resin systems provide dramatically shorter drying times, dramatically better chemical resistance, and much higher film hardness, while exhibiting excellent impact resistance and flexibility. The highly desirable properties of these new cost-competitive polymer/resin systems will enable commercial success, while their low solvent emissions and high renewable content will reduce impact on the environment. The objectives of this Phase II research project are to: 1) further optimize the polymer/resin systems to produce compositions that minimize solvent content and maximize performance, while meeting the cost constraints of the market; 2) put in place a pilot-line to provide potential customers with adequate sample sizes to enable their own evaluation of potential products, 3) generate weathering, corrosion, and storage/shelf stability data to further understand the application potential of optimized polymer/resin systems; and 4) optimize the polymer/resin production process to minimize cost and minimize production waste. By meeting these objectives, the Phase II project will result in the generation of new polymer/resin systems that will enable the development and commercialization of new paints and coatings that are one-component, ambient-cured, low in solvent content that exhibit exceptional properties, while being primarily based on renewable materials. Optimized polymer/resin systems will be provided to potential customers for their own internal evaluation. If necessary, feedback from customer evaluations will be used to modify polymer/resin system composition to meet customer needs. By the end of the Phase II project, the technology will be ready to proceed to manufacturing scale-up and product commercialization.
Errata
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RightHand Robotics, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Versatile Robot Hands for Warehouse Automation
Contact
21 Wendell St Apt 20
Cambridge, MA 02138–1850
NSF Award
1632460 – STTR PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
09/01/2016 – 03/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project affects one of the fastest-growing sectors of the US economy. E-commerce sales in 2015 accounted for 7.4% of total U.S. retail and are expected to rapidly rise. The potential for the commercial impact of general each-picking systems is high, as current manual labor methods are pain points for distribution centers; human picking is unpleasant, expensive and inefficient due to high absenteeism, high turnover and human error. The success of the proposed technology will also contribute to American competitiveness in the robotics industry. Of the top 20 distribution system integrators, only three are currently based in the U.S. Robotics is going to be the key driver of progress in this area, where each-picking, our core product capability, is a key component of future automated distribution systems. Beyond warehousing logistics, applications that our technology can benefit include: broad applications of industrial automation and manufacturing; military applications (e.g., IED disposal, where robots can perform tasks that are dangerous for humans to perform); and assistive healthcare (e.g., where robots must be compliant enough to be safe around humans while interacting successfully with unknown environments). This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project will focus on the development of a state-of-the-art each-picking robotic system and its deployment, initially targeted at the order fulfillment industry. To date, robotic systems have enabled significant progress on transporting inventory on shelves or in totes. However, there has not yet been a deployed system that can perform the task of picking individual items from inventory bins and placing them in boxes for shipment. During Phase I of this project, RightHand Robotics developed a picking system far in advance of the research literature on robotic grasping, picking tens of thousands of items previously unseen objects, with error rates of less than 0.1%. During Phase II, the project will focus on advancing the state of the art in data-driven refinement of grasp planning using machine learning techniques, and will develop methods for box-packing that exploit the company?s advanced compliant grippers. These improvements will result in an average pick-and-place time of 6 seconds or less and an undetected placement failure rate of fewer one in ten thousand.
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Runtime Verification, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: RV-Embedded: Runtime Verification for Embedded Systems
Contact
102 E. Main Street
Urbana, IL 61801–2744
NSF Award
1660186 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
03/15/2017 – 02/28/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is that the proposed runtime verification technology will lead to a more robust definition of and architecture for ensuring safety in automobiles, medical devices, and aerospace and defense systems. Through this, these forms of safety-critical infrastructure will be more resilient to attack and catastrophic failure resulting from both critical system failures and malicious attacks. As a result, the technology will help to address a slew of recent problems with software failures, security compromises, and other unintentional software behaviors that inevitably occur as systems become more complex, potentially saving lives and making millions of safety-critical embedded systems safer, easier to upgrade, and better tested. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will commercialize a first-of-its-kind complete solution for runtime verification and software analysis specifically tailored for embedded systems. From automobiles that connect to each other and drive autonomously, to control systems that run ever increasing networks that power our utilities, cities, and many other aspects of our daily lives, it is clear that embedded systems are here to stay in the most safety critical domains. A growing problem in embedded systems is how to ensure they behave correctly; a good case study for this is automobiles, in which several high profile hacks and recalls have called into question the security and integrity of vehicles. The proposed solution will fill this market niche with a suite of related analysis tools/modules, built on a common novel and formally rigorous runtime verification technology infrastructure, each module implementing unique instrumentation and analysis functionality. These tools/modules together provide what is needed to develop safe embedded systems.
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SYNVITROBIO INC
STTR Phase II: An On-Demand, Computational and Microfluidic-Driven Cell-Free Protein Engineering Platform
Contact
953 Indiana St.
San Francisco, CA 94107–3007
NSF Award
1758591 – STTR PHASE II
Award amount to date
$764,400
Start / end date
03/01/2018 – 02/29/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) will be to develop a platform to accelerate the engineering of biological products, including enzymes and pathways, for production of chemicals, additives, and therapeutics. Enzymes are used in household materials (detergents and cleaners) and in chemical processes (cheese production, and bioremediation of waste). Pathways can produce bioplastics from sugar by engineered gut bacteria, or artemisinin (an antimalarial) from sugar by yeast. These biological products are engineered in cells. Cellular engineering, however, requires extensive scientific expertise, financial and material resources, and time. This project will design an engineering platform that eliminates production in cells. The goal is to simplify engineering and decrease costs 20-100 fold, and decrease time 2-5 fold. This results in a faster time-to-market for novel biological products and additional information to inform the engineering process. This STTR Phase II project proposes to utilize cell-free systems to speed up enzyme and pathway (metabolic) engineering. Cell-free systems can catalyze reactions without cellular complexity and without the need to maintain cellular growth. The goal of the project is to continue to develop a platform that can take as input user enzyme and pathway engineering questions and produce as output assay data. The primary focus is on developing computational methods for identification and optimization of enzymes and pathways for testing, molecular biological methods for assembling DNA, microfluidic methods for ultra-high-throughput analysis of cell-free expressions (10e7 samples), and analytical methods for detection. A secondary focus is the demonstration of this platform through cytochrome P450 engineering. Success with the primary focus demonstrates feasibility of replacing cellular engineering with faster and higher-throughput cell-free engineering processes. Success with the secondary focus produces directly-relevant enzymes for metabolic engineering pathways utilizing cytochrome P450s (e.g., natural products, bio-catalysis). This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Errata
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Saratoga Energy Research Partners LLC
SBIR Phase II: Electrolytic Generation of Low-Cost, High-Density Carbon Nanotubes for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries
Contact
820 Heinz Ave
Berkeley, CA 94710–2737
NSF Award
1831078 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$722,669
Start / end date
09/15/2018 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is multilayered. First, there is the potential for creation of a carbon nanotubes manufacturing industry in the United States that will create hundreds of high-paying domestic manufacturing jobs advance U.S. leadership and knowledge in industrial electrochemistry. Secondly, Saratoga Energy's technology has the potential to benefit the United States economy by increasing the cost-competitiveness and performance of lithium-ion batteries, paving the way to the broader adoption of electric vehicles and grid/renewable energy storage. In turn, this will help reduce the strategic importance of oil, the cost of securing global oil supplies, as well as greenhouse gas emission. While lithium-ion batteries are the focus of this body of work, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are also used in a variety of other applications - advanced composite materials, nanotechnology, catalyst supports, water filtration, and other areas of commercial impact. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to 1) electrochemically characterize carbon nanotubes as a cathode conductive additive for high-performance lithium-ion battery applications and 2) construct a small pilot-scale carbon nanotube manufacturing unit capable of producing 1 kg of product per day for retail distribution. Saratoga Energy Research Partners, LLC (Saratoga Energy), has developed a high-selectivity electrochemical process to convert carbon dioxide into carbon nanotubes. In the work conducted thus far, Saratoga Energy has established that its carbon nanotubes can be manufactured at a cost ~50X cheaper than the market price for state-of-the-art battery-grade carbon nanotubes. Battery manufacturers use carbon nanotubes to enable the reduction of conductive additive content in the cathode, thus improving specific and volumetric energy density. Carbon nanotubes also act as a reinforcing agent in the electrodes improving their mechanical properties. This is important for the battery assembly process but also for battery life performance, as the carbon nanotube network maintains a high level of cohesion of the electrodes upon repeated charge-discharge cycles. However, today, the high price of commercial carbon nanotubes limits their use, which will be addressed by our lower cost CNTs. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
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Speak Agent, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: A Massive Open Online Platform for Language Learning Content
Contact
155 Gibbs Street, Suite 536
Rockville, MD 20850–0393
NSF Award
1632488 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,101,062
Start / end date
08/15/2016 – 01/31/2020
Abstract
This Phase II project aims to help address the achievement gap for English Learners, who consistently average 21% below native English speakers on reading scale scores starting in 4th grade and are twice as likely to drop out of school. Eighty percent of teachers believe that materials for English Learners are sub-standard, which contributes to this gap. The project provides an online crowd-authoring and sharing platform that gives K-6 language teachers the tools to meet their unique instructional needs on demand. It is the first and only platform to enable practicing teachers to rapidly build digital language lessons and interactive games that align to their specific requirements, without any technical know-how. The platform provides built-in rich media resources that adhere to best practices based on the cognitive theory of multimedia learning. Any teacher may access these open educational resources at no cost, provided they make their own creations available for public reuse, revision and remixing. The project seeks to understand the dynamics of collaboration and quality assurance for interactive content at a massive scale. Crowd-authoring can invest educators with the power to transform language learning into a field that is highly responsive to the evolving needs of educators and learners. This Phase II project will pioneer mass customization of interactive games and media in the field of second language acquisition. The project aims for teachers to create 175,000 custom digital lessons and interactive games using media resources provided by the project. Phase II will develop four new types of games that improve language acquisition using audiovisual experimentation, realtime chat with artificial intelligences, and a new technology that transforms visuals and narratives composed by students into grammatically accurate text and audio. Phase II will integrate these innovations into a crowd-authoring and quality assurance system capable of scaling to 100,000 new teacher-made learning objects per month. By giving language educators tools to rapidly create, share and customize content to meet their precise needs, the project seeks to significantly improve learning outcomes. Phase II will implement real-time formative assessment reports for teachers to evaluate student experiences and issues with the custom teacher-made interactive content. A controlled full-year, multi-site educational impact study will measure whether the project affects vocabulary acquisition, comprehension, grammar and sentence formation, and whether any skill gains transfer to other contexts. It will also reveal deep data insights about the process by which K-6 students acquire a second language.
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Spheryx, Inc
SBIR Phase II: Total Holographic Characterization of Colloids Through Holographic Video Microscopy
Contact
330 E 38th St, Apt 48J
New York, NY 10016–2784
NSF Award
1631815 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,268,006
Start / end date
09/15/2016 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will enable a commercial implementation of holographic video microscopy, a fast, precise and flexible technology for measuring the properties of individual colloidal particles suspended in fluid media. This disruptive technology solves critical manufacturing problems across industries that work with colloidal dispersions. Demonstrated applications include: 1) monitoring the growth of nanoparticle agglomerates in precision slurries used to polish semiconductor wafers where scratches due to slurry agglomerates are responsible for waste valued at $1 billion annually; 2) tracking concentrations of dangerous contaminants in wastewater streams; and 3) measuring the concentration of protein aggregates in biopharmaceuticals, a safety concern noted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in this $250 billion industry. Holographic video microscopy is unique among particle-characterization technologies in providing comprehensive information about the size, shape and composition of individual particles in real time and in situ. Having access to this wealth of data facilitates product development, creates new opportunities for process control and provides a new tool for quality assurance across a broad spectrum of industries enabling safer, less expensive products for consumers while providing cost savings to manufacturers. The technical objectives of this project are: 1) to optimize the design of the underlying holographic microscopy system without compromising the quality of results; 2) to enable quantitative concentration determination including corrections for perturbations introduced by flow dynamics; 3) to expand the domain of operation to characterize non-spherical particles and 4) to apply machine-learning algorithms for automated robust operation. Using holographic video microscopy for commercial applications requires adaptation and innovation in the design of the prototype instrument that was used to demonstrate feasibility. Streamlining the optical train will require advanced modeling and the creation of new methods of correcting optical aberrations to enable ease of manufacture. Additional improvements in design will include advances in improving microfluidic flow control to generate accurate concentration determination, to adapt holographic analysis algorithms for characterizing the structure of aspheric particles, and to extend analytical capabilities for turbid fluids. Finally, innovative machine-learning using neural network algorithms demonstrated significant improvements for analytical robustness in Phase I and will be extended to a wider range of applications. The Phase II effort will enable holographic video microscopy of real-world samples with typical measurement times of a few minutes.
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Stateless, Inc
SBIR Phase II: Stateless - Taking from the Lab to a Production Environment
Contact
1200 28th Street
Boulder, CO 80309–1756
NSF Award
1831184 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
12/01/2018 – 11/30/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project results from the fact that it builds on the trend to make IT infrastructure consumable as a service and unlocks this potential for network functions. In deploying the Stateless Network Functions as a Service solution, cloud providers, enterprises, and internet service providers are able to launch network functions, such as firewalls and load balancers, on demand, and the Stateless platform automates the management of these functions. With cloud traffic expected to quadruple over the next several years (according to Cisco), a rapid growth in number of devices (with the Internet of Things emerging), and an ever-increasing complexity and scale of security threats, this project will provide operators with the agility to quickly and easily deploy infrastructure to keep up with these trends and threats. In doing so, society will experience more reliable networked applications with reduced data breaches. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project provides the research and development needed to realize the vision of a network function operating system. Whereas the Phase I project established technical feasibility by demonstrating the technology that decouples network functions state from processing can be turned into a product and integrated into a production environment, the Phase II project will approach three new research directions that will support a complete platform. (i) Network service chaining: While not a new concept, it is one that has proven to be challenging with virtual appliances. This project will add support to the Stateless platform to connect network functions into chains, elastically scale chains, and provide quality of service of the whole chain. (ii) Observability: This project will introduce the ability to abstract away the details when appropriate or peel away the layers of abstraction as needed, providing operators with a simple solution they have full control over. (iii) Software development kit: This project will introduce both the application programming interfaces as well as the isolation mechanisms to allow third parties, whether other vendors or data center operators, to introduce new network functionality based on the Stateless platform. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
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SweetSense Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Predictive Algorithms for Water Point Failure
Contact
5548 NE 18th Ave
Portland, OR 97211–5543
NSF Award
1738321 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$899,475
Start / end date
09/01/2017 – 02/29/2020
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop and apply machine learning statistical tools to Internet of Things (IoT) water delivery and water quality sensors. This will enable prediction and preemptive response to water point failures. The resilience of these environmental services is dependent upon credible and continuous indicators of reliability, leveraged by funding agencies to incentivize performance among service providers. In many locations, these service providers are utilities providing access to clean water, safe sanitation, and reliable energy. However, in some rural areas, there remains a significant gap between the intent of service providers and the impacts measured over time. Achieving the SBIR Phase II core objectives will help close the loop on effective and clean water delivery. IoT sensors and services will address one of the most critical public health gaps by enabling delivery of reliable and safe water. IoT solutions for this environment may help address these information asymmetries and enable improved decisions and response. However, given the remote and power constrained environments and the high degree of variability between fixed infrastructure including age, materials, pipe diameters, power quality, rotating equipment vendors (pumps and generators), servicing, and functionality, any IOT solution would have to either be bespoke engineering, or compensate for these site-wise complexities through analytics. Instead, our SBIR II approach is to develop universal, solar powered cellular and satellite IOT hardware for each service type, and addresses site complexities through cloud-based sensor fusion and statistical learning. In this way, we significantly reduce hardware and logistical costs, and provide value to our customers through service delivery analytics. In Phase I, we demonstrated the application of simple sensors and sophisticated machine learning to identify off-nominal service delivery across a cohort of water pumps of various designs. We developed a universal electrical borehole sensor compatible with disparate fixed infrastructure, and we demonstrated solving the problem of heterogeneous customer hardware with a homogeneous sensor platform and adaptive machine learning backend.
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TACTAI
SBIR Phase II: Touch and Feel a Virtual Object with Life-like Realism
Contact
225 Wyman Street
Waltham, MA 02451–1209
NSF Award
1632274 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,110,430
Start / end date
09/01/2016 – 02/29/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to create a suite of consumer hardware and software products that provide realistic tactile feedback to users who are touching objects in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). As evidenced by the current proliferation of low-cost head-mounted displays and motion tracking systems, three-dimensional interaction technologies are revolutionizing how people interact with computers, media, and each other. Since they are currently limited to vision and audio, endowing consumer-level human-computer interfaces with high-fidelity tactile feedback will vastly increase user immersion, making games more fun, online interactions more effective, and tools more efficient. Consequently, this project has the potential to expand the commercial reach of the burgeoning VR/AR market, opening up myriad opportunities for companies particularly in the gaming, entertainment, and e-commerce sectors. The innovation of this project also promises to enhance scientific and technological understanding of haptic human-computer interaction by establishing a new paradigm that blends minimal wearable hardware with sophisticated software algorithms. Finally, commercializing novel interactive technology also has the potential to help inspire a diverse array of young people to pursue a career in the critical areas of science, technology, engineering, and math. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 project aims to advance knowledge of low-cost technology that can provide realistic tactile feedback to a user touching objects in VR or AR: the project?s intellectual merits center on testing a new approach that combines minimal haptic hardware and sophisticated software algorithms. The research objective is to create a fully functional industrial prototype of a wearable fingertip thimble and custom software that embody the proposed approach. When the user's finger moves to touch a virtual object, a platform inside the thimble will initiate contact with the fingerpad and press with a force that varies with penetration distance, to render surface softness. A thermal actuator will convey the object?s thermal conductivity and temperature. When the finger slides along a virtual object, the user will feel its texture via carefully designed platform vibrations. Specific research tasks to be addressed include exploring haptic actuator options, building a library of haptic object properties (HOPs) that can be applied to virtual objects, and creating a communication protocol for exchanging haptic signals among devices. This project is expected to yield a fully functional industrial prototype and developer kits for the wearable fingertip thimble.
Errata
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Addenda
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TAO Connect, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: An Intelligent Mental Health Therapy System
Contact
747 SW 2nd Avenue STE 258
Gainesville, FL 32601–6280
NSF Award
1631871 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$860,802
Start / end date
10/01/2016 – 03/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research, Phase II project is to help make therapy more consistent with patient preferences, beliefs, and values to maximize engagement in therapy and improve patient outcomes. Therapy for mental health problems is highly effective, yet many patients drop out before getting the full benefit because they are not satisfied or engaged in the therapy. The proposed project involves collecting data on all of patients actions in the online treatment system along with their ratings of each activity and their symptom improvement over time. The research and development team will use this data to create a machine learning system that will make suggestions for best next steps in therapy based on what thousands of other users experienced. This is the intelligent counseling system. It will work very similarly to movie streaming services or online book sellers who recommend movies or books to you based on your past preferences and the preferences of thousands of other users. The proposed project will develop a feedback and recommendation system based on advanced analytics and machine learning techniques to provide personalized treatments to customize and individualize online mental health treatment, the Intelligent Counseling System (ICS). This personalized system will contain a number of alternative treatment items from several theoretical perspectives, using a variety of patient interactive activities, varying in format, length, pace, and other characteristics. In such a setting, a recommendation system can predict the users' preferences and recommend the subsequent treatment component. In addition, to achieve maximum adherence and to decrease the attrition rate, the platform will enable personalized motivational interventions and supportive messaging. The delivery times and the content of supportive messaging will adapt and vary depending on the projected treatment progress. Our machine learning based system will be trained incrementally as more data becomes available over time, thus it will benefit from improved accuracy over time. We will extract local, semi-local, and global temporal features at multiple temporal resolutions and will use feature selection techniques to identify which factors contribute to the success of treatments for patients, and to predict if a user is improving or is deteriorating. This will result in adaptive motivational messages and recommendation for tailoring treatment in term of important identified treatment features.
Errata
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Addenda
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Telineage, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: A Robust Caller-ID Alternative for Securing Telephony Based Transactions
Contact
742 CHARLES ALLEN DRIVE NE APT 1
Atlanta, GA 30308–3741
NSF Award
1256637 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$500,000
Start / end date
04/01/2013 – 03/31/2015
Abstract
The innovation in this project comes from the novel call audio analysis techniques that can be used to create a fingerprint of the source of a telephone call. Such fingerprints can reveal valuable information about the call source, including the type of the calling device (landline, Voice-over IP or mobile), its geographical location and the networks over which the call audio may have been transported prior to it reaching the called party. To detect potentially fraudulent calls in real-time with such fingerprints, this proposal plans to extend the identification of the geography of a call source and the creation of an active call analyzer that performs audio analysis in real-time. The focus of this Phase II project is on exploring design options for an active call analyzer; including accuracy, scalability and timeliness tradeoffs and its integration in call center infrastructures. The call analyzer will also be used to build a phone fraud intelligence service that proactively detects phone numbers used for committing fraud. Such a service, including mechanisms for sharing of intelligence with partners and customers, can help secure the telephony channel from a variety of attacks. The broader impact and commercialization potential of this project can be seen readily from the observation that phone fraud is already a serious problem for multiple sectors, including banking, healthcare and even law enforcement. Also, because fraudulent calls are already responsible for considerable financial loss, customer agents in call centers are asking multiple knowledge-based questions to authenticate a caller. This leads to higher costs for call handling and also degrades customer experience. A successful active call analyzer solution that can automatically generate a risk score for caller authentication will have broad impact because the entire service sector relies on call centers for customer contact and it could reduce costs and improve customer experience. The project will also enable Pindrop to play a leadership role in organizing the broader community to launch a phone anti-fraud alliance similar to the anti-phishing working group. The thought leadership provided by such a group will be necessary to define the telephony security challenges and approaches for addressing them. Again, this will ensure broad impact of the project across several industries.
Errata
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Addenda
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TexasLDPC Inc., dba Symbyon Systems
SBIR Phase II: Area and Energy Efficient Error Floor Free Low-Density Parity-Check Codes Decoder Architecture for Flash Based Storage
Contact
1920 W Villa Maria Rd, Ste 301
Bryan, TX 77807–4864
NSF Award
1632562 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$909,999
Start / end date
09/01/2016 – 02/28/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be high performance error correction for flash memory. Error correction plays a critical row in making digital devices reliable. Shrinking semiconductor geometries results in more errors. This has created a special problem for flash memory where the need for more rigorous error correction is approaching a practical limit with the widely used Bose Chaudhuri Hocquengham error correction. Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) is a recognized solution that can approach the theoretical limits of what is possible. This LDPC based technology can improve lifetime of flash by without the added cost of the existing BCH solution. This technology helps Flash Memory enterprises to use higher density flash to improve storage capacity and cut the storage product costs. Without the superior performance, small size and low power consumption of the LDPC technology, the migration to low cost high capacity flash memories will be seriously slowed. In the absence of a comparable alternative approach, there will be serious limitations on the performance of a vast array of products that depend on highly reliable and economical flash storage. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will use a variety of techniques to minimize the area and power requirements and enhance the performance of Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) error correction codes for flash memory. Many of these techniques are applicable to a wide range of error correction applications in digital communication and storage from WiFi to hard disk drives. The need for better error correction is crucial for flash memory but there is a widening demand for improved error correction. For example larger memories require better error correction to insure the system failure rate is low. In the next two years the company expects to develop a Verilog version of the LDPC decoder that is easily integrated with a flash controller. The project will work with potential customers/partners to ensure the code works with controllers. In the long run these techniques can be adapted to a wide range of applications as the need for more reliable data continues to rapidly expand.
Errata
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Addenda
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The Echo Nest Corporation
SBIR Phase II: Automated Community and Sentiment Mining for Global Media Preference Understanding
Contact
48 Grove Street
Somerville, MA 02144–2500
NSF Award
0750544 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,000,000
Start / end date
04/01/2008 – 03/31/2012
Abstract
This SBIR Phase II project applies data mining and machine learning techniques to both natural language description and Internet link graphs to model communities in order to predict preference, taste and sentiment for different kinds of media (music, TV, online media, video games, books). Current contextual information mining approaches that scan the text on a page for advertisement or recommendation ignore valuable community connections inherent in most self-published Internet discussion. Sentiment and opinion extraction systems operating on full text create challenging language parsing problems are fraught with issues of scale and adaptability. The identification systems can automatically categorize anonymous Internet writers or website visitors into specific demographic communities based on their tastes in many kinds of media. The Phase II research project approaches opinion extraction with a bias-free learning model based on training from known online corpuses that can be adapted to different languages and learns in real time as more data becomes available for high accuracy. Current personalization and marketing approaches either look at the "clickstream" of an anonymous user, leading to equally anonymous recommendations for popular movies and music -- or by scanning a surface-level overview of the text, leading to keyword advertisements with limited contextual understanding of entertainment content and community sentiment. The project plans to fully integrate people-focused community and sentiment analysis technologies into an autonomous, learning and scale-free "media knowledge service" for digital entertainment providers and marketers that can change the way digital content is marketed and sold.
Errata
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Addenda
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ThoughtSTEM, LLC
SBIR Phase II: A Cloud-Based Tutoring Software For Teaching Coding to K-12 Students through Integration with Popular Video Games
Contact
8650 Genesee Ave. #928025
San Diego, CA 92192–8025
NSF Award
1632539 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,095,356
Start / end date
08/01/2016 – 09/30/2020
Abstract
This Phase II project proposes to develop a computer science (CS) educational software that has the potential to inspire millions of U.S. K-12 students to learn computer programming. This software will leverage the motivational power of a popular video game, to teach CS to students by teaching them to reprogram the video game itself. The United States currently has a severe deficit of students pursuing CS. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that over 1 million computing job openings will go unfilled by U.S. workers by 2022. By leveraging the power of a popular video game, the technology proposed in this Phase II project has the potential to expose millions of K-12 students to coding in the next 5 years. The commercial impact of the underlying technology developed in this Phase II project does not stop at the over 100 million users who currently play the popular video game with which the current educational software integrates. Because the underlying technology is transferable to any moddable (i.e. reprogrammable) video game, the technology has the potential to be used to teach CS with other popular titles from the rapidly growing video game industry. This Phase II project proposes to continue the development of a software product that is a web-based coding environment for novice programmers. This software goes beyond the state-of-the-art technologies in this space (i.e., scratch.mit.edu) in several ways: 1) It uses automated tutoring techniques to customize the educational experiences for novices, 2) it facilitates writing programs that manipulate objects and terrain in a 3D environment, 3) it allows the novice user to reprogram a popular video game, 4) it has an in-browser, WebGL-based 3D runtime environment, 5) it supports both a novice-friendly visual programming language (Blockly) as well as a text-based language (JavaScript), 6) it leverages gamification techniques such as badges, points, and unlockable items, and 7) it supports multi-user, collaborative coding. The objectives of this Phase II project concentrate on improving student experiences in order to increase customer retention and acquisition and to finish the development of a marketable product that will teach 5 million K-12 students in the next 5 years. The first objective of this project involves developing and extending the browser-embedded game engine. The second objective focuses on improving systems that match students with appropriate educational content and motivate students to continue learning. Finally, the third objective involves implementing new systems that incentivize students to create and share with the community.
Errata
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Addenda
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VECARIUS
SBIR Phase II: High Efficiency, Compact Thermoelectric Generator (TEG)
Contact
28 Dane Street
Somerville, MA 02143–3237
NSF Award
1330957 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$668,220
Start / end date
10/01/2013 – 02/28/2019
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will pursue the full development of a novel system design architecture for thermoelectric generation (TEG) to recover exhaust waste heat from engines and convert it to electricity. The effort will build upon Phase I achievements, which included a successful feasibility demonstration of a fractional proof-of-concept prototype and development and validation of a computer model, thereby proving the viability of this new system technology platform. The technology enables efficient performance within a very compact and cost-effective form that also can easily scale in capacity. The Phase II effort will involve improving subsystems and designing, modeling, fabricating, and testing a full TEG system for a passenger car application. Furthermore, scalability will be explored by applying the TEG to a larger vehicle platform. the broader/commercial impact of this project lie in the fact that industry has found it very challenging to develop a TEG system design that meets market metrics of performance, reliability, compactness, and low-cost, particularly for automotive applications. The proposed TEG system architecture, which includes a novel exhaust gas heat exchanger uniquely integrated into the remaining system, shows strong potential for meeting such metrics, and thereby achieving significant reduction in vehicle fuel consumption and emissions. By penetrating the large passenger vehicle market, initial market introduction could easily range in the 100,000s and much more if the cost of the product is extremely low. Broader opportunities to recover exhaust waste heat for transportation include medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, which may also be addressed by this scalable technology. Other adjacent markets include stationary and mobile generator sets, solid-oxide fuel cells, and potentially, aircraft propulsion systems. This commercial impact would greatly support national energy independence and greenhouse gas reductions.
Errata
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Addenda
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Vaporsens Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Highly Sensitive Nanofiber Sensors for Trace Detection of Explosives
Contact
36 S Wasatch Dr
Salt Lake City, UT 84112–9460
NSF Award
1353637 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,049,418
Start / end date
04/01/2014 – 04/30/2018
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a working prototype of a handheld detector for trace explosives that is smaller, more sensitive, and has faster response times than any commercially available portable device today. Under NSF Phase I SBIR funding of this project, Vaporsens, Inc. successfully developed new organic nanofiber sensory materials required to achieve these goals. In Phase II, the company will design and optimize the sensor systems, electronic hardware, firmware and algorithm software required to build a handheld detector. The novel nanofiber sensory materials developed by Vaporsens will enable the proposed detector to simultaneously detect all three important categories of explosives with greater sensitivity, due to detection limits in the parts per trillion range. Prototypes will be subjected to third party testing to validate the rapid, sensitive, and selective detection of common explosives. The Phase II project will also permit the design and fabrication of new sensor materials, with the aim of further improving the sensing sensitivity and selectivity of subsequent devices through interface chemistry optimization. The broader impact/commercial potential of the project will reduce the impact of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) which are a leading cause of casualties in contemporary warfare. IED use outside of warfare is growing, with over 170 incidents reported in the US alone during the first six months of 2013. As a result, the worldwide annual sales for trace explosives detection equipment has grown to approximately $400 million. However, these technologies are limited in their effectiveness. Swabbing machines require contact; bomb-sniffing dogs are expensive, need to work with the same handler, and have limited endurance; and imaging technologies are only practical in checkpoint settings due to size and expense. In contrast, the small size and high sensitivity of the proposed detector will be used for exacting detection of trace amounts of explosives in nearly any location, without swabbing, and at a cost that meets or exceeds the lowest price of detectors on the market. The commercialized device will be the first of its kind to allow local law enforcement and other public safety officials, border security and the military to "sniff" suspicious bags, vehicles, lockers, and people for dangerous explosive threats with immediate results regardless of their location.
Errata
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Vaxess Technologies, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: A New Approach to Developing a Heat-stable Rotavirus Vaccine
Contact
700 main street
Cambridge, MA 02139–1226
NSF Award
1632434 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,409,999
Start / end date
10/01/2016 – 03/31/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be to increase global access to vaccines and reduce mortality associated with infectious diseases. As an example, Rotavirus is a major cause of severe gastroenteritis among young children and lack of vaccination results in 450,000 deaths annually. A thermostable rotavirus vaccine would create cost-savings for vaccine manufacturers, national governments, and non-profit vaccine buyers and enable market access in areas of the world that lack sufficient cold-chain capacity. Successful development of a stable rotavirus vaccine would not only have significant positive impact on global rotavirus immunization efforts, but may also revolutionize the general approach to vaccine delivery and distribution. This Phase II project will advance towards commercialization a novel platform technology that both stabilizes vaccines and enables novel delivery formats. This technology has significant commercial potential in that it can be broadly applied to numerous emerging and existing vaccines in the $24 Billion global market. The proposed project seeks to leverage the unique properties of silk to meet the global need for robust, thermostable vaccines. Thermal instability is a long-standing problem in vaccine development. Despite efforts to improve stability, current formulation approaches do not allow product storage under ambient conditions. Temperature excursions during shipment and storage are common and result in wastage or administration of suboptimal vaccines. The use of silk fibroin, a low-cost biomaterial, represents a novel approach to vaccine stabilization. The goal of the proposed research is to advance the silk-stabilization platform towards commercialization of vaccines that do not require cold storage. Building upon successful Phase I results, advanced formulation optimization studies will define a final product formulation for rotavirus that is compatible with scaled manufacturing and achieves all storage and in vivo attributes necessary for a commercial product. Through process optimization studies, fabrication of a dissolvable thin strip for oral delivery of rotavirus will be translated into a scalable manufacturing process that provides an attractive alternative to traditional drying methods. Evaluation of stabilized rotavirus vaccine films in an improved animal model will enable validation of in vivo immunogenicity and offer insight into vaccine stabilization and oral film delivery more broadly.
Errata
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Addenda
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XPEED Turbine Technology LLC
SBIR Phase II: AERODYNAMIC FLOW DEFLECTOR FOR CURRENT AND FUTURE WIND TURBINES TO INCREASE THE ANNUAL ENERGY PRODUCTION BY 10% AND REDUCE THE LEVELIZED COST OF ENERGY BY 8%
Contact
33 Linberger Dr
Bridgewater, NJ 08807–2380
NSF Award
1660224 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$898,955
Start / end date
03/15/2017 – 08/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is in enabling more efficient Annual Wind Energy Production (AEP) while reducing the cost of energy (COE). This will make wind energy more attractive economically, improve the energy security of the U.S, create jobs, and indirectly help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A 2% AEP increase is generally considered attractive. Two turbines (5kW and 50kW) tested during Phase I have shown an increase in AEP between 2% to 8% while reducing the COE by 1% to 6%. About 150,000 turbines worldwide can be potentially be retrofitted with this technology. This project will address challenges related to aerodynamic efficiency of wind turbines and the cost of wind energy. It is based on a deeper understanding of wind turbine aerodynamics from a more 3-dimensional point of view; most wind turbine designs are based on 2- dimensional theories. The key technical challenge in bringing this technology to market is to demonstrate the increase in AEP of utility scale turbines retrofitted with our deflector technology in realistic field conditions while reducing the COE. This will be addressed by performing testing at a few customer wind farms and NREL testing centers. The R&D plan consists of designing, manufacturing, and installing deflectors on a few utility size turbines (30-100 meters diameter rotors). The tests will include power performance comparison between baseline and retrofitted turbines according to international standards.
Errata
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Addenda
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Xallent LLC
SBIR Phase II: Integrated Nano-Electro-Mechanical Scanning Probes for Failure Analysis of the 10-Nanometer Node and Beyond
Contact
95 Brown Rd
Ithaca, NY 14850–1325
NSF Award
1632534 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$941,979
Start / end date
10/01/2016 – 03/31/2019
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop and commercialize a breakthrough suite of probes and probing platforms for the imaging and probing of semiconductor devices and thin film materials at scales below 100 nm, where conventional techniques are challenged. The resulting products will allow customers to perform a rich range of tests at the nano-scale at costs and times that are a small fraction of those required for conventional platforms such as scanning electron microscopes (SEM), scanning probe microscopes (SPM), and a range of automated test equipment (ATE) based on these technologies. Miniaturization across a range of sectors is driving the development of devices and materials at increasingly minute length scales. Multiple large-scale trends including mobile devices and the internet-of-things are driving an unprecedented volume of engineering at the nanoscale. Much of this is now dependent on the single-tip SPM that has evolved into a broad array of instruments for the analysis of physical, chemical and electrical properties, and to detect and isolate flaws. The Multiple Integrated Tips (MiT) technology that is the focus of this effort takes a radically different approach to enable an even richer range of tests at length scales below one micron, with a faster, simpler and much more cost-effective platform. Given a large install-base of capital equipment, we are focused on probes coupled with adapters that plug into the most popular SEMs and SPMs. These probes significantly expand the functionality of existing systems, and do this with low barriers to acceptance given modest price points and seamless integration into standard industry platforms. A portfolio of probes will be developed to address high-volume needs across the semiconductor and thin film markets, starting with 4-tip devices for the electrical characterization of thin films, and configurable or non-configurable 3-4-tip devices for probing integrated circuits. These will be offered in a variety of sizes and geometries, currently from hundreds of nm to 65 nm, and extending below 10 nanometers within a year. In Phase II, probe functionality will be enhanced to enable coupled imaging and probing with design to operate in AFM mode. The portfolio of products will be continuously expanded to additional two- and three-dimensional geometries via co-development with lighthouse customers.
Errata
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ZYMtronix Catalytic Systems Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Enzyme-based Magnetic Catalysts for Active Pharmaceutical Intermediates (APIs) Manufacturing
Contact
414A-1 Weill Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853–7202
NSF Award
1456279 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,087,654
Start / end date
03/01/2015 – 08/31/2018
Abstract
The broader commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project is the commercial development of novel materials and processes for the immobilization of enzymes. The project is targeting enzymes as catalysts to be used in the manufacturing of active pharmaceutical intermediates (API). The use of enzyme for the production of pharmaceuticals has the potential to reduce cost, complexity and improve efficiency in making these products. The green, cost-efficient and scalable oxidative immobilized enzymes will benefit manufacturers by improving their production efficiencies and economics as well as minimizing adverse environmental impact. The technology could make benign oxidative enzymes commercially competitive replacing expensive precious metal catalysts, toxic, or other hazardous chemicals used in the production processes for APIs. The industrial applications for this technology could be broad well beyond the pharmaceutical arena. The technical objectives of this Phase II research project are to (1) develop oxidative enzyme constructs and biocatalytic schemes for the production of high-value commercial active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), (2) develop and produce magnetic macroporous scaffolds, and (3) improve operation of commercial reactors for continuous flow manufacturing or retrofit existing production processes using these magnetic catalysts with immobilized enzymes. This project enables immobilization to become a part of the selection process: enzymes can be selected for their true potential in their immobilized form by engineering enzyme immobilization with three levels of innovation: entrap commercially-available or third-party engineered enzymes into magnetic nanoclusters; create high-surface area scaffolds that stabilize the magnetic nanocluster assemblies, providing cost and process advantages of maintaining the nanocluster assemblies in suspension magnetically. This project is focusing on a high-potential, well-described and commercially available enzyme from the oxidoreductase family that will be used the synthesis of drug intermediates by enzyme-producers and enzyme-end users in the pharmaceutical sector.
Errata
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Zyrobotics LLC
SBIR Phase II: An Accessible Platform for Engaging Children with Motor Impairments in the Classroom Environment
Contact
3522 Ashford Dunwoody Suite #105
Atlanta, GA 30319–2002
NSF Award
1555852 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,015,769
Start / end date
02/15/2016 – 11/30/2018
Abstract
This SBIR Phase II project focuses on developing an accessible educational platform that combines mobile interfaces and adaptive educational tablet applications (Apps) to support the needs of children with special needs. Tablet devices are known to provide an interactive experience that has revolutionized learning for children. Unfortunately, while these tablet devices are intuitive to utilize and easy for many children, those with disabilities are largely overlooked due to difficulties in effecting pinch-and-swipe gestures. This project thus addresses a direct need in our society by providing an integrated educational experience, focused on math education that addresses the diverse needs of children, while providing a solution for variations found in their disabilities. The contributions of this project include 1) the design of accessible math Apps usable by K-12 children with and without disabilities and 2) the design of apps that adapt educational content and provide feedback to parents and teachers based on real-time analytics. Given that there are over 93 million children worldwide living with a disability and, in the United States, children with disabilities are entitled to a free appropriate public education, there is a large potential of making both a commercial, as well as a societal, impact in this space. This SBIR Phase II project addresses an unmet need by developing an innovative solution to enable children with motor disabilities access to mobile devices and Apps that could engage them fully into the educational system. This solution capitalizes on the availability of pervasive technologies by combining an accessible tablet interface and educational Apps that adapt to each child?s abilities in order to provide an accessible mobile solution. Tablet devices are known to provide an interactive experience that has revolutionized learning for children. Unfortunately, while these tablet devices are intuitive to utilize and easy for many children, those with motor limitations tend to have difficulties due to the fine motor skills required for interaction. As such, to address the growing utilization of tablets in the classroom environment, the specific research objectives of this effort include the design of methods that enable the embedding of educational math content into accessible tablet apps for training and evaluating cognitive skills, the design of methods that enable adaptation of the educational content based on real-time analysis of interaction data and correlated performance of the child, and the hosting of interactive design sessions with teachers, parents, and children to evaluate the usability of the system.
Errata
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bioMASON Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Efficacy of scaled up optimized urease producing microorganisms for manufacturing biocement binders towards a viable masonry construction material
Contact
54 Fairway Road
Asheville, NC 28804–1642
NSF Award
1534787 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,373,774
Start / end date
09/01/2015 – 10/31/2020
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project is focused on the continued development of biologically grown masonry units as a commercially-viable and sustainable alternative to traditional fired masonry materials. This product is grown in ambient temperatures utilizing a natural calcium carbonate cement formation induced by a urease-producing microorganism. The Phase II project will focus on material testing and further optimization and cost reduction of biocement products, with the intention of demonstrating pilot manufacturing and rapid commercialization via licensee manufacturers. Using biologic products and fermentation procedures developed in the Phase I effort, improvements will be made to scale up manufacturing and reduce cost in the manufacturing process. The commercial potential of this technology is critically dependent on achieving cost and performance parity, if not superiority, with traditional materials. Each year, 1.23 trillion fired bricks are produced globally for use in construction, resulting in over 800 million tons of carbon emissions. The societal impacts of this research would include a dramatic reduction in these emissions, as well as a corresponding reduction in industrial by-product waste. This project will enhance the technological understanding for commercial viability and test data including durability and physical performance. Technical objectives for this effort include evaluation of the resulting biocement masonry products through rigorous American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM) testing methods, reduction of raw material costs through continued optimization, creation of in-house production capability for the requisite biologic product, and the creation and testing of a manufacturing process suitable for transition to licensees. Main focus areas of the Phase II project include rigorous material testing for physical performance, weathering and durability, in-house production of robust raw material constituents, and commercial testing coupled with pilot manufacturing. Rigorous ASTM testing methods will be done at two accredited labs, and labor requirements will be reduced via the adoption of lean automation in the production process. Additionally, the utilization of existing material handing manufacturing equipment at licensee facilities, where possible, will be evaluated. Expected project results will include a comprehensive statistical analysis of multiple physical samples, as well as a corresponding failure analysis. Additional expected deliverables include the successful commission of in-house pilot scale manufacturing for biocement constituents as a simplified additive to be used by commercial partners and licensees.
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nView medical Inc.
SBIR Phase II: 4D scanner for image guided interventions
Contact
1350 S Colonial Dr
Salt Lake City, UT 84108–2204
NSF Award
1456352 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,615,512
Start / end date
04/15/2015 – 09/30/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the significant improvement of surgical accuracy, which will dramatically reduce surgical errors, improve outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. In spine surgery alone, there are more than 500,000 procedures every year in the US utilizing implants such as screws. In 4% to 11% of these surgeries, the implant placement is inaccurate. For the patient this translates into longer recoveries - from days to weeks - and in many cases into a second revision surgery. The patient is non-productive, unable to carry out their daily routines for weeks, while the healthcare system has to absorb the costs of the longer recovery as well as the revision surgeries. For both the healthcare and economic systems these are avoidable costs. The medical imaging technology being developed in this project has the potential to eliminate surgical inaccuracies across the $2.4B market of image guidance, improving clinical applications that range from orthopedic surgery to minimally invasive vascular interventions, to cancer diagnosis and treatments. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 project will demonstrate a novel imaging modality, which provides near-real-time 3D live imaging - 4D - during surgery. This novel system will provide surgical imaging at a lower x-ray dose than fluoroscopy (current standard), with a geometry that allows concurrent imaging with surgery. This 4D technology has the potential to significantly reduce surgical inaccuracies, improve outcomes and reduce costs. Phase 1 successfully demonstrated the feasibility of the reconstruction algorithm used by the proposed imaging modality by showing its potential of higher surgical accuracy in a single spinal screw insertion. This Phase 2 project will I) prove the robustness of the reconstruction algorithm across a variety of use-cases, II) demonstrate the clinical usability of the 4D scanner, and III) confirm the clinical utility of the scanner. The clinical usability will be studied with an ergonomic model in a surgical setting. The clinical utility will be proven by building a system prototype and performing image quality and x-ray dose comparisons versus fluoroscopy and 3D in a realistic surgical setting. Preliminary results show that these objectives are achievable. This research is readying the technology for clinical research, regulatory clearance and commercialization.
Errata
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Addenda
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txteagle Inc
SBIR Phase II: Large-Scale Analysis System for Mobile Crowdsourcing
Contact
883 Boylston St 2nd Floor
Boston, MA 02116–2601
NSF Award
1026853 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,000,000
Start / end date
08/01/2010 – 01/31/2014
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project seeks to create a new, innovative system to manage a highly-scalable, geographically-distributed labor force through wireless technology - what is refered to as " mobile crowdsourcing." The plunging cost of handsets and the introduction of prepaid call plans have allowed individuals throughout the world to have the ability to communicate and transact electronically. This project will create the infrastructure needed to provide wireless subscribers the ability to do work and earn money - leveraging today's mobile phone's ability to send, receive and display images, audio files and text. The system will: deconstruct a client's work into "micro-tasks;" preferentially route micro-tasks to individuals most likely able to complete them; statistically analyze completed work across individual responses to automatically reach a decision on when work is complete, and who has provided the most useful input; compensate workers in proportion to the value they have added; and, finally, reconstruct the completed task for the client, with a statistical assurance the work has been accomplished correctly. The first application of this system will be for the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry. The company will integrate with several mobile carriers in Africa and South America to allow subscribers direct access to transactional BPO tasks including transcription, translation and text categorization. Communicating with workers directly through phones and emphasizing quality control on work, rather than worker will enable users to perform tasks when they want, where they want, and as they want. Automated compensation through existing mobile payment and airtime transfer systems will allow for much lower overhead costs. In addition to cost savings, however, clients who use this system to complete work will also have the benefits of: increased security (no one worker will be able to see an entire document or hear an entire audio recording), access to a scalable workforce (when "spikes" of work come through, labor can be seamlessly scaled up), and potential for very fast turnaround on work (micro-tasks can be done in parallel by many individuals, greatly reducing total time to complete a workload). Additional applications of the mobile crowdsourcing platform include data gathering related to local content and surveys, productivity tools for auditors, and mass reporting abilities following disaster-related events.
Errata
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Addenda
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unspun, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: An additive method for manufacturing customized textile products
Contact
2990 Capital Dr
Eugene, OR 97403–1842
NSF Award
1831088 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
09/15/2018 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will demonstrate an additive manufacturing process to produce 3-D woven textile products at scale. Presently, the clothing manufacturing industry still relies on manual sewing machines that were invented over one-hundred and seventy years ago. This system limits the manufacturing process and textile capability; an abundance of steps leads to waste, inefficiencies, and segmented products. Further, due to the low cost of foreign labor, the US textile industry has effectively come to a halt: 97.3 percent of all clothing sold in the United States in 2015 was imported. This project seeks to develop a novel method for manufacturing woven textile products by employing additive manufacturing methodologies to automate the production process, while simultaneously enabling complete customization and on-demand production. This technology will enable premium and competitive textile manufacturing to return from overseas, creating high value-added jobs and a designer community in the United States while also generating tax revenue. In the same way that 3-D printing technology has revolutionized the hard goods manufacturing process, this project seeks to create an entire new industry of additively manufactured textile products, enabling significant opportunities for future innovation. This project develops a novel technology to manufacture near-net-shape three dimensional woven textile products. To develop this technology, this project first proved feasibility through creating constituent textile panels of non-standard shapes with 3-D topography in Phase I, laying the foundation for continued development into fully three-dimensional, seamless, finished products produced in-situ through Phase II. By additively producing garments from a unique 3-D model complete customization to each individual consumer is possible on a large scale, though this has never before been accomplished. Further, through the on-demand production of clothing customized to individual consumers, the need for substantial inventory buildup is eliminated. In this way, additively manufactured textile products are both more desirable to consumers and more economical to producers. As such, the societal and environmental benefits of automated and on-demand textile manufacturing within the United States are significant, including eliminating massive amounts of waste from typical cut-and-sew manufacturing techniques, revamping a struggling American manufacturing industry, and minimizing the economical, environmental, and geopolitical implications of the United States? current dependence on a convoluted global supply chain. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Errata
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Addenda
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Phase I
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3DEO, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: An Affordable Metal Additive Manufacturing Machine
Contact
14000 Van Ness Ave Ste C
Gardena, CA 90249–2942
NSF Award
1646942 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
12/01/2016 – 05/31/2017
Abstract
This SBIR Phase I Project aims to tackle the two greatest barriers to technology adoption associated with metal additive manufacturing (AM) - cost and quantities. Current metal AM platforms use expensive core components and consumable materials in high-priced machines that produce 99.9% dense parts. The proposed project introduces a lower performance, affordable stainless steel additive manufacturing technology that will be capable of satisfying the vast majority of customer needs for industrial grade stainless steel parts. The vast majority of the market simply cannot afford to take advantage of AM benefits due to the high costs associated with current technologies. This proposal re-examines the material performance, machine cost and reliability requirements necessary for a novel metal AM system. The goal of the proposal is to allow an estimated 50,000+ American manufacturers to capitalize on the benefits of AM and compete to win in an ultra-competitive, highly globalized manufacturing industry. Furthermore, the proposed invention of a low-cost machine allows for unprecedented scalability in metal AM, allowing smaller manufacturers to compete with the resources of large conglomerates. This research has broad implications in many industries and is considered to be fundamentally enabling for the growth and prosperity of American manufacturing. The proposed project re-examines the need for high technology, high cost core components in currently available commercial metallic AM machines. Through an innovative deconstruction of the inkjet print head-based, binder jetting process, a method for producing metal end-use parts has been created. The proposed process is based on a novel combination of two low cost and established technologies. The creation of a robust prototype with this novel method is a highly challenging, multi-faceted project involving key advances in materials science through the development of a novel binder system compatible with the new process as well as a fundamental evaluation and improvement of material properties of the as-built parts. In addition, re-designed sintering cycles and development of software prediction algorithms to anticipate shrinkage characteristics will be core challenges to overcome in order to achieve the tight tolerances manufacturing partners require. As such, these challenges will require tight cross-disciplinary collaboration for a meaningful outcome. The ultimate goal of the proposed research is to fabricate powder metallurgy parts of adequate structural integrity to satisfy industrial end-use requirements.
Errata
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4 D Technology Corporation
SBIR Phase I: High-Resolution Shop Floor Video-Rate Surface Metrology System
Contact
3280 E Hemisphere Loop, Ste 146
Tucson, AZ 85706–5024
NSF Award
1448214 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$149,902
Start / end date
01/01/2015 – 06/30/2015
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will perform the critical research that ultimately leads to a robust, hand-held, video-rate surface metrology system to bridge a critical existing metrology gap for precision-machined surfaces. The broader impact of this project will be to improve yield, performance, safety, and lifetime of components in a wide range of critical U.S. industries including automotive, aerospace, and medical devices. For example, minor surface imperfections on edges or in other critical areas can have a dramatic effect on performance of components such as turbine blades, cutting tools, or other high-stress elements. In the turbine industry, during maintenance inspections, wear scars or corrosion pits that can lead to catastrophic failures must be quantified to ensure only necessary repairs and replacements are performed; current inspection technologies lead to high rejection rates of good parts since lack of good quantification necessitates conservatism in part rejection. This high-precision, portable, shop-floor gage will greatly enhance quantification of such features, leading to enhanced competitiveness across multiple critical U.S. manufacturing industries that employ a wide range of processing technologies. The total available market for such an instrument is estimated to be greater than $45 million annually in the initially identified application spaces. The intellectual merit of this project is the demonstration of a novel instantaneous whole-field optical method for measuring rough surfaces with micron resolution and centimeter field of view. Instantaneous whole-field acquisition enables high-resolution measurements to be made in environments not possible with current technology. Benefits of this technology range from increased manufacturing capability in aerospace (for example, production of turbine blades with improved efficiency), to fields such as medical imaging where motion and vibration are intrinsic. The research objectives for this program are to develop and/or demonstrate feasibility of several key components: an efficient method of generating polarization-based fringe patterns to enable instantaneous measurement, a state-of-the-art light source, compact optics capable of high-efficiency illumination and large-area imaging, and robust data processing techniques. Extensive modeling and experimentation will be combined to ensure success of each of the technical objectives. Once key components are developed, a breadboard system will be built and comprehensively tested against a variety of critical metrology goals. At the end of this Phase I effort, the anticipated outcome will be a working breadboard capable of vibration-immune, three-dimensional surface metrology with micron-level lateral and vertical resolution, applicable to a wide range of precision machined surfaces.
Errata
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Addenda
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4 D Technology Corporation
SBIR Phase I: Dynamic Surface Profile Measurement System
Contact
3280 E Hemisphere Loop, Ste 146
Tucson, AZ 85706–5024
NSF Award
1014221 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
07/01/2010 – 04/30/2011
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project addresses the metrology needs of next-generation manufacturing of precision components by developing a surface measuring microscope with extended vertical range/slope capability that can operate under extreme vibration conditions. The aims of this Phase I project are to develop a breadboard system capable of making high spatial resolution measurements without the need for vibration isolation, to develop and demonstrate an extended range measurement technique that will enable the measurement of any type of surface, and to evaluate the performance of this prototype in terms of repeatability, precision and accuracy. The Phase II goal is to develop a prototype instrument that will be mounted on computer-controlled machining equipment used in the manufacturing of precision components such as large optics and x-ray telescope mirrors. The proposed instrument will enable the manufacture of complex surfaces and provide a flexible research tool to study a wide variety of surface phenomenon. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project extends to industries such as micro electro-mechanical structures (MEMS), flat panel displays, bio-medical devices, data storage, solar, semiconductor, and automotive. Surface finish/roughness is critical to the performance of precision machined components in all these industries. For example, in the manufacture of large mirrors for astronomy and aspheric mirrors for x-ray optics, surface roughness is critical to the final imaging performance due to limitations caused by light scattering. In applications such as medical implants and precision automotive components, longevity is critically affected by surface finish owing to friction and wear. Additionally, the measurement of nanostructures is important in the fields of hard disk drive components, MEMS, flat-panel displays, and semiconductor chips to provide feedback to improve fabrication processes and tools. Instruments that directly measure surface roughness in-situ in the presence of vibration, and over a large area, are not readily available. The proposed instrument will allow rapid measurement over a large scale in manufacturing environments enabling quick optimization of the fabrication process, minimization of productions costs, and development of new surface fabrication processes.
Errata
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Addenda
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4 D Technology Corporation
SBIR Phase I: In Situ Three-dimensional Surface Roughness Gauge
Contact
3280 E Hemisphere Loop, Ste 146
Tucson, AZ 85706–5024
NSF Award
1746302 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
01/01/2018 – 06/30/2018
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will demonstrate feasibility of the first metrology system capable of quantifying surface roughness in three dimensions in situ in production environments. Current shop floor systems are almost entirely two-dimensional stylus-based systems that are fragile, incapable of measuring complex geometries and have high cost of ownership. A shop-floor, 3D roughness system will enable greater sampling, faster process feedback and improved time-to-results which will enhance competitiveness across a wide range of U.S. industries including medical devices, aerospace, transportation, and defense. All precision machined components call out surface roughness or texture, yet achieving consistent results with existing contact gauges is difficult and time consuming. It is believed that a shop floor, non-contact roughness measurement device could gain significant market share, with sales upwards of $50M/year upon proving correlation with existing trusted laboratory techniques. Also, trusted, readily available roughness information on almost any machined surface will enable enhanced quality, lifetime, and aesthetics for precision manufacturers, improving competitiveness and reducing waste across a variety of industries. The intellectual merit of this project is due to its leveraging of recent advances in a variety of fields including additive manufacturing, precision optics, microprocessing, image sensors and interferometric algorithms to achieve nm-scale vertical resolution in a vibration-immune device deployable in manufacturing environments. The closest similar product has vertical resolution more than 100X worse than is proposed here and the proposed performance goals present significant challenges to achieve both high resolution and hand-held capability. A successful Phase 1 will prove that significant synergies between advances in various fields can be combined to significantly advance performance over prior generation products. Also, if successful, manufacturers will have access to a far greater range of process control parameters on more types of surfaces and will be able to improve quality and yield significantly via faster and more accurate feedback into their production cycle. The output of this Phase 1 program will be a first article device that can be brought to customers for demonstration in a shop floor environment. The device will correlate with existing techniques while solving many key issues, such as alignment difficulty, scratching surfaces via a contact measurement, and lack of three-dimensional surface information.
Errata
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ARZEDA Corp.
SBIR Phase I: Novel Cost-Effective Enzyme Immobilization Technology for Sustainable Industrial Applications
Contact
2715 W Fort St
Seattle, WA 98199–1224
NSF Award
1047429 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
01/01/2011 – 12/31/2011
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project focuses on the design of a robust and low-cost enzyme immobilization system to increase the cost-competitiveness of bio-catalytic processes. The lack of a universal, sound, and affordable enzyme immobilization technique has been a large barrier to widespread deployment of bio-catalysis for chemical production, which hold immense promise for reducing the chemical industry?s environmental footprint. This Phase I project will lift this barrier by developing a robust and low-cost enzyme immobilization system with broad application for many different bioprocesses using one of Arzeda Corp.?s proprietary enzymes as the basis of the binding strategy. Ultimately, this project will lead to an economically viable system for immobilization of any enzyme on a bio-catalysis column with increased catalytic efficiency and longevity. The broader/commercial impacts of this research result from the fact that Arzeda has the only proven technology to design novel enzymes with catalytic machinery not existing in nature And is helping address many of the most pressing needs of the bio-refinery industry: ? Developing bio-catalytic routes to currently inaccessible renewable chemicals and ? Increasing profitability through extending enzyme lifetime and increasing enzyme lifetime. As such, Arzeda sees the success of this project as a way to increase the adoption of bio-catalysis and thereby increase the market for its enzyme products. To achieve this, Arzeda will apply its core technology along with the proposed enzyme immobilization strategy to develop bioprocesses enabling high value, renewable chemicals from biomass.
Errata
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Addenda
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ARZEDA Corp.
SBIR Phase I: High-yield Fermentation of Sugars to Levulinic Acid
Contact
2715 W Fort St
Seattle, WA 98199–1224
NSF Award
1114078 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$149,894
Start / end date
07/01/2011 – 06/30/2012
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project focuses on the development of a high-yield fermentation route for the production of levulinic acid (LA). LA is one of the best-suited C5 building blocks for bio-refinery production due to higher value, broad applications, and likely quick adoption by the chemical industry. To date, no bioprocess for LA exists, and known chemical processes have not reached commercial stage due to high cost and lower yield. Arzeda, the world leader in computational enzyme engineering, has invented a new biochemical method to convert sugars to LA. The objective of this Phase I project is to demonstrate the feasibility of the concept by validating the proposed biochemical conversion in vitro. Arzeda will use its enzyme engineering platform to design the biocatalyst(s) needed, including computational modeling and design, gene assembly, and enzyme production. The broader/commercial impacts of this research are the advancement of a U.S. ?green? chemistry industry, and strengthening, economically and environmentally, of a sustainable United States bio-refinery industry. The lack of a high-yield alternative to costly thermochemical processes has been preventing a widespread adoption of levulinic acid. Because LA can be converted, chemically or biochemically, to synthetic rubber (through isoprene and butenes), bio-fuels (such as kerosene and HMF), polymers (for instance, nylons) and polymer additives (for changing polymer characteristics), the addressable market is in excess of $20B annually. When considered as the end product, LA trades at a considerable higher price than ethanol, the current product of most commercial bio-refineries, and thus can help diversify their product offering and considerably increase their margins. Application of Arzeda?s proven technology of computational enzyme design to bring to the world a high-yield fermentation route for LA will considerably advance
Errata
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Addenda
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ARZEDA Corp.
STTR Phase I: Synthetic Biology 2.0: A platform for the automated design of cell factories incorporating synthetic enzymes
Contact
3421 Thorndyke Ave W
Seattle, WA 98119–0000
NSF Award
1321578 – STTR PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
07/01/2013 – 06/30/2014
Abstract
This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project brings together computational enzyme design with systems biology to create a fully integrated platform for novel pathway designs. The approach chosen will combine specific databases and a novel pathway synthesis tool. This computational tool will use the information present in the databases to automatically discover, or "design", novel pathways for fermenting natural renewable feedstock to virtually any chemical of human interest. In the Phase II Experimental Plan, the goal is to further advance the concept by developing a high-performance pathway prioritization module to estimate each designed pathway yield and impact on organism metabolism, and experimentally test the performance of the system. To our knowledge, the proposed research is the first attempt of combining computational enzyme design with computational pathway prospecting and modeling. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project, if successful, will be to engineer biosystems and cell factories for industrial applications, especially in the field of bio-based chemicals and biofuels. Most successes to date in the field of synthetic biology have involved recombining natural enzyme building blocks into novel pathways. However, recent developments in computational enzyme design make it possible to have designer enzymes to enhance nature's catalytic repertoire. Being able to have an automated, computer-aided design tool that leverages new capabilities to create novel metabolic pathways employing synthetic enzymes will bring us closer to truly synthetic biology.
Errata
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Addenda
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ARZEDA Corp.
SBIR Phase I: Computational Enzyme Design for the Production of Butadiene
Contact
3421 Thorndyke Ave W
Seattle, WA 98119–0000
NSF Award
0946132 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$149,237
Start / end date
01/01/2010 – 12/31/2010
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project proposes engineering novel biocatalysts for the production of butadiene. High value, renewable chemicals have the potential to become economic drivers for integrated biorefineries. Currently, effectively exploiting biomass is limited by the low specificity of chemical processes and the low catalytic diversity of naturally occurring dehydratases. We will apply a unique and groundbreaking enzyme design technology harnessing computational power to rapidly screen and design novel dehydratases not existing in nature. An ideal dehydratase active site targeting the substrate will be generated and grafted into a large library of proteins. The library will be computationally optimized for high substrate affinity and specificity, with top enzyme models selected for experimental characterization and assayed for catalytic activity. The anticipated result of this SBIR Phase 1 research project is a novel enzyme that converts 2,3-butandiol into butadiene in the test tube. Ultimately, this project will lead to a fermentation process to convert cellulosic sugars directly into butadiene, a higher value, renewable chemical. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will enable integrated biorefineries to more effectively use biomass, diversify revenue streams and potentially reduce hazardous waste. Our proposed approach, which uses the only proven technology for the design of novel catalytic machineries, will lead to new dehydratases for the production of commercially high value renewable chemicals. Directed evolution, the current state of the art, cannot address the enormous combinatorial complexity inherent in generating novel enzymes. Butadiene is an existing building block used in a wide variety of applications, resulting in a multibillion-dollar market ($5.56M in 2008). Bio-butadiene can be used directly as a renewable drop-in chemical in these existing applications and, therefore, offers an attractive and immediate opportunity to help built a stable and profitable biorefinery industry. Furthermore, the knowledge gained in this project will be leveraged to generate a panel of dehydratase enzymes for the production of other renewable chemicals, thereby opening up the opportunity to access new markets and develop new and innovative products. This technology will help address many of the pressing needs of the biorefinery industry: Develop new biofuels,increase profitability, and accelerate growth through efficient and effective conversion of biomass.
Errata
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Addenda
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Alchemie Solutions, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Game-based learning for organic chemistry using mechanisms
Contact
4735 Walnut Lake Road
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301–1328
NSF Award
1548225 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$179,927
Start / end date
01/01/2016 – 12/31/2016
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project makes the theoretical touchable for organic chemistry students by building a game for mobile devices based on mechanisms. Mechanisms are maps of bond-breaking and bond-making events illustrating how an organic reactant is transformed into a product. This underpinning concept is a powerful tool used both in the teaching and the practice of organic chemistry. Organic chemistry is traditionally the gateway class for students progressing into STEM careers, such as medicine and engineering. The course has earned its roadblock reputation with attrition rates in the range of 30-50%. The fail-rate for under-represented minorities and first generation students is even higher than that of the general student population. Students' previous learning in chemistry or other sciences does not adequately prepare them for the cognitive load of structure and pattern recognition required to master organic chemistry. This project will produce the mechanism game and bring a tactile interface to learning chemistry. The game is designed to span the entire curriculum, into graduate levels. The accessibility and relatively economical cost-structure of the mechanism game is particularly attractive to the market of students needing to excel in organic chemistry to achieve their career goals. The technical innovation of this project is delivering the content of chemical mechanisms using a touch-screen, game-based format. By layering audio, visual, and kinesthetic cues in the user interface of the game, students will 'feel' bond-breaking and making, acidity, and resonance. The mechanism game is an intrinsically motivating system for students to know when they are moving through a reaction mechanism correctly, helping students gain the intuition necessary for success in organic chemistry. The important piece of this project is the development of this new learning tool as a game, as opposed to an interactive tutorial. The research will focus on the iterative process of creating engaging game-play by field-testing with players as the game is developed. The technical challenge of the project is devising a game that can tolerate the scientific scrutiny of academic chemists while remaining appealing to even the casual game player. The key metric for success will be testing the mechanism game with chemistry professors and instructors to determine whether they would recommend the game to their organic chemistry students.
Errata
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Addenda
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Altaeros Energies, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Low-cost, High Performance Fabrics for Inflatable Sructures
Contact
28 Dane St.
Somerville, MA 02143–0000
NSF Award
1248528 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$155,000
Start / end date
01/01/2013 – 09/30/2013
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a novel low-cost, high-performance fabric suitable for long service life helium inflatable structures, including aerostats and airships. Traditional fabrics for lighter-than-air (LTA) applications utilize woven polyester or vectran basecloths laminated with various materials that improve gas retention, environmental resistance and allow the material to be thermally bonded. This combination has excellent performance, providing a useful service life in excess of seven years, but comes at a high cost, which limits the commercial application of helium inflatable structures. The proposed low-cost, high performance fabric replaces the woven basecloth with a scrim of high-strength synthetic fibers, similar to those in high-end sailcloth. This type of material has not seen wide use in helium inflatable structures where seams are subject to long-term loading from internal pressure. The impact of scrim pattern and yarn alignment on seam stiffness and long-term holding strength is considered. This Phase I research will investigate the behavior of these materials, as well as one or more alternative woven fabrics, under long-term loading, UV exposure, and mechanical wear and tear, in order to evaluate their suitability for helium inflatables. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be a step toward the widespread commercialization of LTA inflatable structures in traditional and new application areas. Helium inflatable structures are traditionally used for transporting or elevating high value payloads, such as military surveillance equipment or advertising, where the relatively high cost of the fabric envelope is not a barrier to commercial feasibility. The advent of a low-cost, high performance helium inflatable fabric will make LTA structures economically viable for a number of industries that are cost-sensitive, including remote and emergency wireless communication; low-cost freight transport; and airborne wind energy production. The research will also enhance the understanding of the behavior of scrim-based fabrics under loading conditions, which may benefit a wide range of industries that could use these fabrics, including sailing, architectural fabrics and air inflatable structures.
Errata
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Addenda
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Antheia, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Engineering biocatalysts for biomanufacturing of medicinal opioids
Contact
1505 OBrien Dr. Ste B1
Menlo Park, CA 94025–5222
NSF Award
1621560 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
07/01/2016 – 06/30/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to enhance the supply of complex pharmaceutical molecules from nature. Over 60% of current drugs are natural products, or are derived from natural products, and of these approximately half are from plants. The therapeutic activity of a given plant molecule is encoded in its chemical structure, which is biosynthesized by a specialized metabolic pathway. Despite the efficiency of these biosyntheses, plants accumulate relatively small amounts of the potent metabolites in specialized cells and tissue types, thereby restricting the availability of essential medicines from plants. The opioids exemplify this limitation of plant therapeutics; the structural complexity of the opioids precludes chemical synthesis at commercial scale, and in the absence of this synthetic source the only viable alternative is to extract natural opiates from opium poppy. This project proposes to make the biosynthesis of medicinal opioids possible in a microbial host. This synthetic biology approach will move opioid production into fermentation facilities and free up the 100,000 hectares of arable land used each year for poppy crops. The disruptive technology resulting from this research will for the first time provide for a local, scalable, secure supply of medicinal opioids. This SBIR Phase I project proposes to develop a microbial production system for medicinal opioids that will displace the existing supply from opium poppies. A complete opioid biosynthesis pathway was recently constructed in Baker's yeast, demonstrating that this technology holds enormous potential for supplying the $2B opioid active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) market. The key technical hurdle addressed in this SBIR project is to enhance the activity of rate-limiting enzymes that catalyze key steps in the construction of the five-ring opioid scaffold. The target class of plant enzymes is poorly expressed in heterologous hosts such as yeast and must be membrane localized. The proposed research takes three approaches to support these enzymes: 1) tuning expression to conserve the endomembrane environment and promote activity, 2) constructing N-terminal chimeric proteins with enhanced stability, and 3) identifying partner enzymes that support the catalytic function of these enzymes. The goal is to remove the bottleneck steps in existing production strains to allow for commercially-relevant titers of greater than 1 g/L. The outcome will be a new production system that offers active pharmaceutical ingredients at lower cost, with greater availability and variety of molecules, shorter lead times, and acute responsiveness to the medical demand for opioid therapeutics.
Errata
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Addenda
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Antheia, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Production of plant alkaloid therapeutics via fermentation of engineered yeast
Contact
1505 OBrien Dr. Ste B1
Menlo Park, CA 94025–5222
NSF Award
1621559 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
07/01/2016 – 06/30/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to provide a sustainable, secure, and low-cost supply of established and emerging plant-based medicines. The class of molecules targeted for microbial biosynthesis are the benzylisoquinoline alkaloids, a diverse group of plant therapeutics that includes the pain-relieving opioids and the anti-cancer noscapinoids. Approximately 100,000 hectares of opium poppy are grown annually to extract more than 800 tons of opiate active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). This process diverts land use from food crops and consumes horticultural supplies including water, pesticides, herbicides, and nitrogen- and phosphorus-fertilizers. The existing supply chain suffers further vulnerabilities due to crop susceptibility to climate and disease, restricted growing seasons, and the logistical and security concerns associated with transporting poppy materials across the globe. This project will develop technology to manufacture medicinal opioids and plant-based medicines by yeast fermentation. The technology will allow for year-round, market-responsive production of valuable APIs in secure, local bioreactor facilities. An independent technoeconomic model shows yeast-based production will lower the cost of opiates by 10-50 fold. Furthermore, this technology will provide for diversification into the biosynthesis of rare and novel molecules for drug discovery, with indications spanning cancer, infectious, and cardiovascular diseases. This SBIR project proposes to develop baker's yeast as a scalable production system for medicinal opiates and related plant therapeutics. While much effort has been directed to establishing yeast strains that make high levels of other plant-specialized metabolites, such as terpenoids, platform strains for this diverse class of alkaloids do not exist. The key technical hurdle addressed by this project is to engineer strains capable of synthesizing high levels of the common branch point molecule, reticuline, from tyrosine. This project will use synthetic biology tools to improve existing prototype strains by 1) engineering alternative biosynthesis routes to increase pathway flux and bypass bottlenecks, 2) protecting a key unstable building block molecule from degradation by the host cell metabolism, and 3) implementing a spatial engineering approach to promote enzyme access to target substrates. The goal is to generate a platform yeast strain that will be used to target valuable molecules at commercially-relevant titers of greater than 1 g/L. The platform strain also will be used to access previously inaccessible natural benzylisoquinoline molecules, and an even greater number of non-natural derivatives. This technology will broadly transform the approach to provision, discover, and develop needed medicines and drug candidates.
Errata
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Arable Labs, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Advanced bioeconomic forecasting enabled by next-generation crop monitoring
Contact
40 N Tulane St
Princeton, NJ 08542–0000
NSF Award
1549035 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$170,000
Start / end date
01/01/2016 – 12/31/2016
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be to empower farmers to capture a greater share of revenue from the marketing of their crops. Agriculture is a significant engine to the U.S. economy, and farming itself is vital to creating economically vibrant rural areas. Farmers are often at a disadvantage when it comes to capturing good prices from their crops because there are significant information asymmetries in the marketing supply chain. This project develops a combination of hardware and analytics that greatly improves crop forecasts at dramatically more accessible prices, which allows farmers and their trusted buyers to make more informed marketing decisions. An addition to the narrow application of sensing hardware and analytics for forecasting, the data collected by the platform can also be used by growers to make decisions that improve operational performance of complex agribusinesses and improve the agronomy of the farm. These tools make it easier to compare performance of crops to improve yields and reduce resource costs. Together this technology continues to raise productivity and profitability per farmer. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project integrates a novel plant and weather sensing platform with analytics that synthesizes data into actionable forms that can drive agribusiness decisions. The project bundles a suite of capabilities into a single hardware unit that includes sensing, communications, GPS, mounting, and solar power, which dramatically reduces the cost and increases the simplicity of collecting agricultural data. These data are uniquely designed to monitor crop performance and its sensitivity to weather and management. Data synthesis is a critical pain point in transforming raw numbers into insights for growers to act upon. By creating an integrated hardware platform, the data is poised to provide useful advice that allow a farmer to act on emerging situations, anticipate upcoming events, and even predict the future. A research objective will be to generate probabilistic forecasts that use the unique data from our hardware to estimate key crop growth parameters and project forward for an operational yield forecast. This coupling between highly informative quantitative in-field data and sophisticated ensemble-based parameter estimation and forecast techniques could dramatically improve marketing decisions and help farmers capture better prices for their products.
Errata
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Artaic LLC
SBIR Phase I: High-Throughput Agile Robotic Manufacturing System for Tile Mosaics
Contact
21 Drydock Avenue
Boston, MA 02210–2397
NSF Award
1113606 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$180,000
Start / end date
07/01/2011 – 06/30/2012
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will demonstrate a proof-of-concept prototype of a high-throughput agile tile mosaic manufacturing system. Mosaics have proven to be a great source of visual splendor for thousands of years. Despite its prominence in art and architecture, mosaic is arduous to design and assemble by hand. The goal of this Phase I work is to prove the feasibility of a programmable high-throughput multi-head robotic tile assembly system to enhance the production agility of mosaic tilings. Research innovation in Phase I will merge the benefits of parallel tile placement with robust high-capacity tile cartridges to radically decrease tile mosaic fabrication time and associated tile mosaic assembly costs. The measurable objective of Phase I is a 5x increase in production throughput over current state-of-the-art mosaic manufacturing technology, while enhancing tile placement accuracy. The system will be capable of producing both template and ?mass customized? mosaics. In Phase II, the prototype will be refined into a commercial grade system, integrated with an Enterprise Resource Planning system, and placed into service in Artaic?s production environment. Successful Phase I/II demonstration will significantly lower the time and cost for manufacturing mosaics and potentially revolutionize the $76B global tile industry. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project goes beyond art, design, and architecture. Robotic automation will lower the cost of mosaic and increase its societal impact in adorning public, commercial, and residential spaces. The proposed research, if successful, will have a significant impact on agile manufacturing. It will allow penetration into unforeseen markets by reducing the cost of highthroughput flexible assembly. The solution proposed by the research will be immediately applicable to customers and partners, and potentially useful in parallel industries such as medical, pharmaceutical, food, consumer products, and others that will benefit from robotic agile manufacturing enabled mass customization. Agile mosaic manufacturing capability could revitalize the U.S. tile manufacturing industry and create job opportunities. The investigators estimate that a 5x production rate increase will enable a breakthrough price of $19.99, 75% lower than the competition, and for the first time achieve broad market affordability.
Errata
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Artaic LLC
SBIR Phase I: Computer-Aided Mosaic Design and Construction
Contact
21 Drydock Avenue
Boston, MA 02210–2397
NSF Award
1047077 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$180,000
Start / end date
01/01/2011 – 12/31/2011
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to develop a comprehensive software toolkit for creating digital mosaic artwork. Mosaics have proven to be a great source of visual splendor for thousands of years. Despite their prominence in art and architecture, mosaics are arduous to design and assemble by hand. The goal of this Phase I project is to build and test software tools to automate production of digital mosaic artwork. After integration with robotic assembly in Phase II, the proposed automation will significantly lower the time and cost for designing and manufacturing mosaic artwork. In Phase I, Artaic proposes to combine two leading methodologies for digital tile layout - procedural and optimization-based algorithms - to closely mimic the workflow of mosaic artists. Artists will sketch curves to denote perceptually important edges along which the tiles should be oriented, while algorithms will determine tile placement in response to user-defined parameters, rendering styles, and composition rules If successful, this work will have broad commercial potential in art, design, and architecture. Software and robotic automation will lower the cost of mosaics and increase its traditional societal impact of adorning public, commercial, and residential spaces. This will also have spillover benefits, including growing use of this artform in advertising, entertainment, and visual effects. The ultimate goal of Artaic is to leverage this software with custom robotics to create physical mosaics. This will enable Artaic to expand into a multi-billion dollar market and grow a domestic workforce. The fact that there is a software outlet for this work in addition to a proven commercial market for large-scale physical output adds to the case for the advancement of the proposed research.
Errata
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Arytha Biosciences, LLC
SBIR Phase I: Development of Biomimetic Toxin Nanosponges with Enhanced Toxin Affinity
Contact
11575 Sorrento Valley Road
San Diego, CA 92121–1963
NSF Award
1345715 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$155,000
Start / end date
01/01/2014 – 07/31/2014
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop a cholesterol-enriched biomimetic toxin nanopsonges with enhanced toxin-binding affinity for efficient scavenging of cytolytic toxins in the bloodstream. Consisting of nanoparticle-supported red blood cell membranes, toxin nanosponges serve as a biomimetic decoy to arrest and neutralize pore-forming toxins regardless of their molecular structures. The platform can detoxify alpha-hemolysin, a major toxin in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), as well as other toxin types with different molecular structures. Toward translating the platform to treatment of toxin-induced injuries and diseases, this Phase I project aims to enhance the toxin-binding affinity of the nanosponges for more efficient toxin removal by enriching the platform with cholesterol, a common receptor for many pore-forming toxins. The project also serves to expand the toxin nanosponge platform from the existing mouse blood model to two other non-human animal species, rat and pig. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project lies in the unique biomimetic properties of the nanosponges and its broad applicability against multiple pore-forming toxin types. The platform possesses significant therapeutic potential owing to broad presence of membrane-damaging virulence factors in bacteria and in animal venoms. In addition, the platform presents a unique nanostructure that elegantly bridges biological materials with synthetic nanomaterials. The success of the project will bring forth a potent therapeutic option against many virulence factors and establish a new class of nanoparticulate for emerging biomedical applications. This program will benefit the field of antitoxin treatment as well as nanotechnology studies in general.
Errata
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Astrapi Corporation
SBIR Phase I: Spiral Polynomial Division Multiplexing
Contact
100 Crescent Court
Dallas, TX 75201–2112
NSF Award
1621082 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$224,878
Start / end date
07/01/2016 – 02/28/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to support rapidly growing wireless data usage with fixed available bandwidth through the provision of more robust synchronization. Modern high-speed communication is heavily dependent on precise synchronization between transmitters and receivers to enable efficient data throughput. This project pioneers an entirely novel technique based on ?Spiral Polynomial Division Multiplexing? (SPDM) to enable precise and efficient synchronization. It offers a new set of approaches for improving synchronization, with possible applications to any communication systems that face extreme spectral efficiency demands, or which are challenged by particularly difficult synchronization problems such as communication with high-speed vehicles such as trains. This project could lead to commercialization across a wide range of communication sectors including but not limited to wireless, mobile internet, unmanned vehicles, automotive, aviation, and Internet of Things. It has major potential applications in both civilian and defense applications. SPDM shows promise in providing more robust communications that are resistant to interference and jamming. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project addresses the problem of achieving very precise synchronization between a transmitter and receiver, while expending minimal power and bandwidth to do so. The research objective is to show that a new type of synchronization, based on SPDM, enables superior synchronization performance than is possible with previous methods. SPDM introduces a new way of combining, or multiplexing, signals based on orthogonality in the polynomial coefficient space. This results in a very large waveform design space, which can be bandlimited using polynomial convolution with a ?shaping polynomial?. Synchronization can be achieved within SPDM by checking for the time alignment which produces a ?reasonable result? when the shaping polynomial is deconvolved in the receiver, which can be a very sensitive test due to the special properties of SPDM polynomials. The research will involve systematically testing SPDM synchronization under a variety of conditions, examining performance data, and comparing against standard synchronization methods. It is anticipated that this research will show significant benefits for SPDM synchronization in at least some practically important situations, forming the basis for further research leading to deployment of SPDM-based systems.
Errata
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Astrileux Corporation
SBIR Phase I: Novel Technologies to Enable High Volume EUV Manufacturing of Integrated Circuits
Contact
4225 Executive Sq Ste 490
La Jolla, CA 92037–8411
NSF Award
1343877 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
01/01/2014 – 06/30/2014
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to evaluate the feasibility of customized next generation nanoscale technology which enables high volume manufacture of integrated circuits, leading to faster computing power and performance. Current progress in reaching next generation performance is limited by significant technical challenges in meeting high volume manufacturing requirements driving up the cost of electronics. These problems have plagued the industry for over 10 years. The research activity here considers alternative approaches in addressing the production rate issues which ultimately reduce cost to chipmakers and reduce energy consumption in the semiconductor industry, thereby providing greener high performance electronics at lower cost. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project are firstly to accelerate the arrival of next generation computing technology creating faster, smaller more powerful mobile devices and providing evolutionary advances in quality of life for a globally-social electronic community, and secondly to develop electronics which meet the world?s demand at reasonable cost and without substantial adverse impact on the environment, and thirdly to maintain the competitiveness in global supply and accessibility of next generation electronics.
Errata
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Astrileux Corporation
SBIR Phase I: High Fidelity EUV PhotoMasks
Contact
4225 Executive Sq Ste 490
La Jolla, CA 92037–8411
NSF Award
1747341 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
01/01/2018 – 06/30/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to drive the next generation of advanced computing power and performance, by manufacturing integrated circuits, the fundamental units of electronic systems, at length scales of 7 nm and smaller. Today?s central processing units (CPUs) each contain 7.2 Bn chips and over 1.2 sextillion chips are manufactured per year to meet computing demands. Next generation technology is expected to enable artificial intelligence and machine learning through both conventional computing and potentially neuromorphic paradigms, bringing to reality transformative applications such as self-driving cars and smart buildings. As Moore?s law continues to set the pace of technological advancement, chipmakers will deploy new EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet) lithography tools, using light of 13.5 nm to pattern integrated circuits or chip architecture into silicon wafers, for the next three generations of technology. Chipmakers strive to bring about the readiness of EUV technology in 2019. The global demand for next generation electronics is forever increasing as the population grows above 7 Bn. However, the global supply of electronics constantly faces challenges to reduce costs and deliver technology beyond Moore?s Law. The proposed project addresses the challenges related to high volume manufacturing at the 7 nm node for lithography tools and its components. For example, an EUV photomask, a high commodity component, patterns and replicates integrated circuit design into silicon wafers. Current EUV photomasks have a sub-optimal manufacturing yield of ~60% and suffer from defectivity which arises during fabrication of its architecture. During operational use the photomask sustains damage from the debris generated by the EUV plasma light source that implants in the mask and inevitably replicates in the wafer, destroying the integrated chip pattern. In high volume manufacturing, these issues manifest in the wafer yield, the reusability of a mask, and drive the need for high cost real-time inspection and metrology. A new EUV photomask which promises greater robustness to defects, a higher manufacturing yield, more reusability of masks in operations and a longer lifetime is presented. The goals of the project are to evaluate new integrated architecture for the EUV mask design, develop a higher yield fabrication process and characterize the EUV performance. More robust photomasks reduce the capital outlay required for in-situ metrology and inspection and ultimately bring down the cost of next generation electronics.
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Azimuth1, LLC
SBIR Phase I: Envimetric - Soil and water contamination predictive modeling tools
Contact
501 Church St NE
Vienna, VA 22180–4711
NSF Award
1721607 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
07/01/2017 – 06/30/2018
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to help environmental engineers identify and delineate the bounds and concentrations of soil and groundwater contaminants with greater speed and accuracy. Over 30,000 contaminant spills have been identified in the United States alone, with thousands yet to be investigated and returned to safe levels. The resources and effort being applied to these sites is insufficient to ensure the safety of the affected communities across America. Focusing the remediation resources available, in the right place increases the rate at which federal and state regulators can close site investigations. As a result, environmental professionals will perform remediation earlier, making the site safe and productive again for local communities. The innovations developed in this project will enhance understanding of contaminant migration and develop a technical capability to use these findings to prepare more accurate conceptual site models during a contaminant investigation. Faster site models resulting in successful remediation directly translates into cost savings for environmental clean-ups, reduction in damage to the environment, as well as increased throughput and efficiency for the environmental engineering industry. This SBIR Phase I project proposes to create unique summary models for the flow, extent, depth, and shape of contaminant plumes, with the goal of targeting resources to accelerate the remediation process for local communities. The project leverages algorithmically derived models of contaminant migration combined with public and private data from decades of environmental investigations across the country. Once the data are aggregated and analyzed, the project team will produce a collection of guideline statistics and software tools for use by engineers investigating future sites that are mathematically similar to those in the combined database. The project uses predictive algorithms to determine the likely extent of underground contaminations and applies statistical uncertainty measures to the conceptual site model. These mechanisms will enable environmental professionals to understand when and where additional data is required. In addition, by using a more accurate and sophisticated measure of uncertainty, the project?s models will provide definitive guidance to field engineers on where to collect new sample data and where they have sufficient certainty to remediate the site using excavation or other means. These innovations will lead to the goal of safer and cleaner communities in less time, with fewer costs, with reduced environmental damage.
Errata
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Bay Labs, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Semantic Video Analysis for Video Summarization and Recommendation
Contact
1479 Folsom Street
San Francisco, CA 94103–3734
NSF Award
1416612 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$148,754
Start / end date
07/01/2014 – 06/30/2015
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is considerable because a variety of complementary new technologies is ushering in a new era in which visual messages are becoming a first-class media type along-side text and speech. Today, both amateur and professional videographers still have to enter the virtual darkroom to sift through video, edit it, and produce engaging content. Video creation is waiting for its Polaroid moment, when a technological solution will transform the post-production time required to create engaging video. If successful, the technology developed in this project will greatly increase the utility of any video capture device and would have implications outside of Internet media in areas such as life recording and knowledge transfer. The countless video clips of important or memorable events that are today commonly archived and forgotten could instead be automatically summarized and made available in a usable and engaging format. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to evaluate the technical viability of an automatic video summarization system based on neural networks and adapted to measurements of human psychology. As people collectively record more videos than they can possibly consume (the video deluge problem), a technology that automatically turns raw videos into relevant and engaging summaries becomes increasingly critical. The company's proposed platform would streamline video sharing, search, and viewing, all of which are staples of our online lives. Scientifically we are at a unique time in the capabilities of artificial visual systems, with some systems rivaling human performance in limited domains. Furthermore, the field of visual psychology has also seen recent progress in relating visual semantic information to cognitive phenomena, like memorability of images. Taken together, it may now be possible to automatically predict the cognitive relevance of visual information and produce effective video summarizations. This project combines deep neural networks for visual object recognition, recurrent networks for contextually embedded temporal information, and user measurement of interest, memorability, and uniqueness. The primary technical objective is to determine whether a system can automatically predict human-produced video summarizations.
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Big Blue Technologies LLC
STTR Phase I: Continuous Production and Collection of Magnesium via Carbothermal Reduction
Contact
10526 W 106TH Pl
Westminster, CO 80021–3604
NSF Award
1622824 – STTR PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
07/01/2016 – 06/30/2017
Abstract
This STTR Phase I project addresses the problem of embedded energy in the manufacture of magnesium metal for use in vehicle light-weighting. Improving fuel economy by incorporation of light metals, especially magnesium, does not save on total lifecycle energy consumed if the magnesium was produced using conventional methods. The most energy efficient production method known is a process technology that was commercially viable during the 2nd World War but not at any other time in history. The project innovation is based on reinvestigation and reinvention of this dated process, discovering and addressing the reasons for technical and economic failure. Domestic magnesium production using the proposed state-of-the-art energy-efficient practices will lead to opportunity and growth for downstream manufacturing methods that support a wide range of military, industrial, and consumer products such as car parts, electronic devices, titanium production, and canned beverages. The economic and environmental benefits of the innovation in the long term will be ever more prescient given the unprecedented rise in use of magnesium metal over the past 100 years and expected continuance of this rate of adoption. Production of magnesium using carbothermic chemistry can be realized at temperatures below 1250 degree C using a combination of three operational parameters: 1) reduced pressure atmosphere, 2) addition of a catalytic material, and 3) extensive size reduction of the reactant materials. In conjunction with a continuous condensation and collection system, magnesium produced from this process entails at least a 50% reduction in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions compared to the predominant Pidgeon process. The project will employ a variety of high temperature experimental systems and methods to investigate performance of pelletized reactant materials and obtain recovered metal yields above 85%. An optimized composition will be statistically determined and used in a low-temperature prototype reactor system for continuous production of crude magnesium. The goal of the project is to produce a casted magnesium product and prove the reduction of energy intensity and economic feasibility with a techno-economic analysis.
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Bioo Scientific Corporation
SBIR Phase I: Amplification-Free Small RNA Sequencing
Contact
7050 Burleson Road
Austin, TX 78744–1057
NSF Award
1248728 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
01/01/2013 – 12/31/2013
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to make next generation sequencing technology for small RNA more quantitative and less biased. High throughput sequencing has transformed the landscape of genomic research with its ability to produce gigabases of data in a single run. This has enabled researchers to perform genome wide and high depth sequencing studies that would normally not be possible. Despite this capacity, amplification artifacts introduced during PCR increase the chance of duplicate reads and uneven distribution of read coverage. Accurate profiling using deep sequencing also has been undermined by biases with over or under-represented miRNAs. The presence of these biases significantly limits the incredible sensitivity and accuracy made possible by next generation sequencing. The goal of this proposal is to develop novel, bias-reducing technology for making amplification-free small RNA libraries. The company's kits and protocols will ramp-up considerably the rate at which global microRNA profiles can be determined, and that between-sample and within-sample differences (as well as newly discovered small RNAs) can be subsequently validated. This product will result in a major shift in the way small RNA sequencing is performed and pave the way for unbiased measurements in the clinic. The broader impact of this project will be the accurate measure of small RNAs, and the clinical utility of such a profile. Products of the same microRNA gene that vary in length by one or two nucleotides are involved in a whole host of diseases, including cancer. The value for developing a method to measure the true profile of microRNAs in a sample would be immense for the research community studying transcriptional regulation, and would open the doors to clinicians interested in capitalizing on the diagnostic value of microRNA profiling. Companies whose sole model is to extract prognostic information from microRNA profiles would benefit from the wealth of date generated from accurate non-biased high throughout sequencing. The size of the next generation sequencing market is expected to pass $4 billion by 2014. Growth in the sequencing diagnostic market is just beginning. Unique diagnostic kits developed from this technology will fulfill an unmet market opportunity with the potential to exceed $15 million in the first 3 years.
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Bioo Scientific Corporation
SBIR Phase I: Biomolecular Detection of microRNA
Contact
7050 Burleson Road
Austin, TX 78744–1057
NSF Award
1047285 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
01/01/2011 – 12/31/2011
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes to examine high throughput methods to quantify intacellular microRNA (miRNA) concentrations in cells that have shown to be associated with normal physiological processes as well as diseases including cancer. Currently, there are no rapid, quantitative methods available to measure miRNA expression in living cells or tumor tissue. All current in vitro approaches require extensive preparation involving extraction, reverse transcription of miRNA into cDNA, and amplification. These methods are not only time consuming, but require that the low abundance miRNA be several fold greater than background to give a significant result. To meet the demand for a diagnostic/prognostic tool, we propose development of a biomolecular detection device based on a single electron transistor to bind and measure the concentration of miRNAs, giving a researcher or clinician an accurate profile to make proper clinical assessments. In addition, we propose development of fluorescent probes designed to bind to miRNAs intra-cellularly and fluoresce upon recognition. Developing these high-throughput methods to detect miRNA at the single cell level will give us direct information on intracellular miRNA levels, miRNAs that are essential for identifying tumor maintenance or metastasis, thus creating new diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities. The broader/commercial impact of this project will be to enhance current diagnostic and prognostic tools for early detection of disease. Today, early cancer detection and treatment offers the best outcome for patients. This has driven the search for effective diagnostics. The identification of a universal tumor-specific epitope or marker has remained elusive. While many types of serological and serum markers have included enzymes, proteins, hormones, mucin, and blood group substances, at this time there are no effective diagnostic tests for cancer that are highly specific, sensitive, economical and rapid. This deficiency means that many cases of malignancy go undetected long past the time of effective treatment. The goal of this research is to develop clinical diagnostic tools where miRNA profiles can be examined from patient samples immediately in a hospital or clinical setting. The current size of the in vitro diagnostic market is estimated to be over $40 billion. Unique diagnostic kits developed from this technology will likely fulfill an unmet market opportunity with the potential to exceed $100 million in the first 3 - 5 years.
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Bioo Scientific Corporation
SBIR Phase I: Improved in Vivo Delivery of SiRNA
Contact
7050 Burleson Road
Austin, TX 78744–1057
NSF Award
0738167 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$146,910
Start / end date
01/01/2008 – 12/31/2008
Abstract
PARS Summary This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I research project aims to develop an improved method for the delivery of small inhibitory ribonucleic acids (siRNA) into cells. The proposed methodology will utilize chemically induced immuno-conjugates or direct linking of siRNAs to antibodies as the mechanism for improving siRNA delivery into the cells. Use of siRNA to silence genes of interest has become a very important mechanism to regulate gene expression both in experimental settings as well as in diseases. One of the current limitations to using siRNA therapy in vivo is the low uptake by the cells. Methods that improve siRNA uptake by target cells would therefore be of great benefit to the scientific and medical communities. The use of the cellular uptake mechanisms for the delivery of these potent regulatory molecules into cells further opens the possibility of using specific gene silencing molecules as therapeutic modalities in vivo.
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Blue River Technology Inc
SBIR Phase I: Use of Machine Learning Techniques for Robust Crop and Weed Detection in Agricultural Fields
Contact
575 N Pastoria Ave
Sunnyvale, CA 94085–2916
NSF Award
1143463 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
01/01/2012 – 06/30/2012
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to understand the fundamental visual cues and characteristics of plants found in agricultural facilities for the purpose of rapid automated identification of plant species. The human eye, coupled with the brain?s processing power , can readily distinguish between different plant species. This capability was one of the basic needs for humans to become an agrarian society (farming requires weeding), which helped start enormous social advancement. Similarly, to bring automated systems to the next generation of capability, computer vision must interact with the natural world with greater fidelity. Today?s computer vision has ability to detect a ?splotch? of vegetation versus no vegetation. This project will advance computer vision by developing the equipment and software algorithms necessary to automatically distinguish plant types. The project team will build a computer vision algorithm based on a field customized support vector machine (SVM) that can automatically and reliably identify a known crop versus a foreign plant (i.e. weed) for use in a larger system for automated weeding. By creating the ability for computers to distinguish between plant types, we will enable food to be grown with reduced amounts of chemical herbicides. The broader impact/ commercial potential of this project is to increase the competitiveness of vegetable farms, particularly organic ones, while improving human health and the environment. Today, organic farms represent 5% of the U.S. agricultural economy and are growing at a pace to double organic acreage every 4 years. A key feature of organic farming is the lack of herbicides. Consequently, organic farms are normally weeded by hand. Weed control represents approximately 50% of operating costs for organic farms, compared to less than 10% for conventional ones. With an estimated $700M spent annually on weeding organic farms, there is a substantial commercial opportunity to create a system that can weed farms automatically. This project will develop a system that uses a computer system towed behind a tractor to automatically detect and eliminate weeds at early plant stages. The system can be developed and deployed at less than 1/5 the life-cycle costs of hand weeding. The technology is also applicable to conventional crop thinning where it can significantly reduce the amount of herbicides used. Additionally this technology has a profound health and sustainability benefits by eliminating human exposure to chemical herbicides through food and avoids herbicides leaching into the soil.
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Bluefin Lab, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Semi-Automated Sports Video Search
Contact
21 Cutter Ave
Somerville, MA 02144–0000
NSF Award
0810428 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
07/01/2008 – 06/30/2009
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop new technology that will enable precise search of sports videos. Users will be able to search for specific players, teams, and plays from large archives of recorded video sports broadcasts. The proposed research will build on early results of a sports video search engine developed by the team at MIT. The approach combines semantic information mined from speech transcriptions with visual information extracted using video analysis algorithms. The proposed research will extend the existing software algorithms that have been developed for baseball video to other professional and college sports. Additional software tools will be developed to increase the accuracy of the search system, and new user interfaces based on natural language processing algorithms will be designed to enable simplified user access to video. The anticipated result of this research is a method for accurate video search and indexing that enables queries by natural language and requires significantly less human labor to initially tag video than existing techniques. The broader impact of this research comes from the commercialization of this technology as a service layer which provides search and indexing solutions to multiple market segments that together represent a multibillion dollar industry in the United States. The research meets the needs of at least three market segments: (1) Sports professionals, who will gain powerful video access tools enabling better player evaluation, recruiting, coaching, and game analysis; (2) Sports news providers, who will be able to link news stories to related video clips thereby adding value to their media offerings; (3) Sports fans, who will be able to search and browse sports video archives with ease, providing new opportunities for advertising. Initial market research suggests that the access enabled by this technology would have broad impact on how sports video is used. Furthermore, the approach may later be extended to apply beyond sports to other video domains.
Errata
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Addenda
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Branch Technology LLC
SBIR Phase I: Additive Manufacturing in Construction
Contact
100 Cherokee Blvd
Chattanooga, TN 37405–3878
NSF Award
1520482 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
07/01/2015 – 12/31/2015
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is in the availability of an additive manufacturing (3D printing) process suitable for full-scale building construction. The construction industry represents a critical nexus in the American economy. Building construction impacts nearly every economic sector, particularly manufacturing, transportation, energy, consumer products and appliances, and real estate. Simply, a building is perhaps the most essential economic stimulus there is. Yet, the practice of building has seen little of the technological revolution that has transformed virtually every other industry. As a result, the construction industry produces significant material and financial waste, and its productivity has steadily declined over the past several decades. Additive manufacturing is the most efficient and cost-effective approach to creating custom products, of which buildings are by far the most valuable and most widely purchased. Customization is increasingly driving demand by today?s consumers. Additive manufacturing in construction could reduce costs and material waste while providing unparalleled design freedom and driving innovation through the consolidation of many isolated industrial activities into one highly flexible and efficient manufacturing process, which directly serves industry professionals and clients at an individual level. The intellectual merit of this project stems from the vast potential of Additive Manufacturing to transform design and making. In a broad sense, the proposed method of construction aims to make the complexity, efficiency, and freedom of digital architectural design accessible to the average consumer. Phase I research will serve to scale and develop a new large-scale additive manufacturing process, and to evaluate the performance of the physical products in their functions as building components. The proposed method may potentially impact other types of large-scale manufacturing as well, including aerospace and automotive. Our technology is rooted in observations of the processes in which forms are created in the natural world. Structures in nature have long fascinated scientists and engineers, due to their remarkable efficiency and complex forms. 3D printing now allows us to manufacture products of similar efficiency and complexity which reflect our observations of nature. We believe that if the genius of natural organisms can be applied to the way we create shelter, provide transportation, design infrastructure, or construct cities, the resulting innovations could profoundly, and very literally, shape the way our societies develop, and transform our relationship with the natural world.
Errata
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BriteSeed, LLC
SBIR Phase I: Label-free imaging for real-time, intraoperative blood vessel visualization
Contact
4660 N Ravenswood Avenue
Chicago, IL 60640–4510
NSF Award
1520502 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$174,997
Start / end date
07/01/2015 – 04/30/2016
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to develop a novel, intraoperative imaging technology to addresse the problem of inadvertent cuts to vasculature during minimally invasive surgeries. Patients who suffer vascular injury face increased risks of developing nosocomial infections and, in up to 32% of cases, mortality. These patients are burdened with longer hospital stays and corrective procedures that add tens of thousands of dollars to their healthcare expenses. This is compounded by obesity, a risk factor that is associated with higher rates of conversion from minimally invasive to open surgery due to limitations in the surgeon?s ability to visualize and navigate vasculature. Hence, there is a critical need to identify and assess hidden vasculature in real time. The proposed technology provides users with blood vessel visualization and size metrics before a cut is made. Importantly, this system will be designed for seamless integration into a suite of surgical instruments for multiple applications. Long term, the company aims to provide surgeons with the preeminent imaging platform to view, assess, and characterize a range of vessels (i.e. arteries/veins, ureters and bile ducts) in real-time for improved surgical guidance and outcomes. The proposed project will develop a novel blood vessel detection and visualization platform using low-cost optical imaging sensors and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The proposed technology will provide visual and quantitative information about vessel presence and size in real-time that can supplement a surgeon?s technique. This system will be simple, cost-effective, easy to employ, and highly accurate, and will be based on science similar to that found in pulse oximetry technology. Traditionally, the avoidance of blood vessels during minimally invasive surgery is accomplished by visualization or costly intraoperative imaging. The proposed technology will use pulsatile light absorption characteristics of blood vessels to provide quantitative information about vessel presence and size in real-time, supplementing a surgeon?s technique. This project will also add significant value to the body of research conducted in the areas of signal processing and image analysis. In addition, the proposed technology will remove the risk of data loss due to artifacts in general and motion artifacts in particular. The proposed technology will be validated ex vivo and in vivo using a porcine animal model.
Errata
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Camras Vision, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Feasibility of The Use of a Debris Cartridge in an External Drainage Device
Contact
PO Box 12076
Rtp, NC 27709–2076
NSF Award
1248632 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$149,978
Start / end date
01/01/2013 – 10/31/2013
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will demonstrate the feasibility of the use of a debris cartridge in an implant to prevent obstruction in debris-releasing glaucomas, such as uveitic, pigment-dispersion, and pseudoexfoliation glaucomas. Glaucoma is a group of chronic eye diseases that result in permanent vision loss for millions of suffers in the US alone. The innovation of this device lies in its potential ability to provide predictable, adjustable and personalize care to minimize disease progression. However, the device requires a filter to prevent infection that may clog overtime, especially with debris-releasing glaucomas. This Phase I research project will test the feasibility of a novel filter to prevent clogging and its safety in an animal model for debris-releasing glaucoma. The validation of the cartridge will provide the option for glaucoma suffers that may have been otherwise excluded from the advantage that this implant would provide. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be, if successful, a more effective treatment for patients with an advanced, cumbersome and difficult to treat type of glaucomas. In 2015, the US glaucoma market is estimated to be over $2 billion and our addressable market, glaucoma surgical therapies, is estimated to be $534M. The incidence for glaucoma increases with age, and as the baby boomer population gets older, there will be a growing need for glaucoma treatments. Debris-releasing glaucomas are especially difficult to treat and can affect children. These patients often are required to endure invasive surgeries throughout their lives that are difficult to manage with current therapies. If successful, our novel device and cartridge would radically change the treatment paradigm of glaucoma, providing the first personalized, long lasting, and adjustable therapy that can treat the most advanced cases of glaucoma. Ultimately, the advancements with the filter will minimize the risk of blindness and improve the quality of life for glaucoma patients.
Errata
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Camras Vision, Inc.
SBIR Phase I:Feasibility of Adjustable Eye Pressure Control within an External Shunt
Contact
PO Box 12076
Rtp, NC 27709–2076
NSF Award
1447738 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$179,999
Start / end date
01/01/2015 – 12/31/2015
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project allows for a more effective glaucoma treatment by tailoring eye pressure based on disease progression for each patient. In 2015, the US glaucoma market is estimated to be over $2 billion and our addressable market, glaucoma surgical therapies, is estimated to be $534M. The incidence for glaucoma increases with age, and as the baby boomer population gets older, there will be a growing need for glaucoma treatments. To treat the glaucoma, patients will undergo lifelong drug regimens, multiple laser procedures, and invasive surgical procedures. However, even with all these treatment options glaucoma patients still go blind from glaucoma. Our novel design and approach to glaucoma will personalize the treatment for patients and remove the need for numerous and costly procedures. Most importantly, the personalization of glaucoma therapy will optimize visual protection for every patient. The proposed project will demonstrate the feasibility of the first external glaucoma drainage device to adjust and set pressure in the eye. Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness and is only treatable by reducing eye pressure. Surgical treatments are unpredictable with suboptimal success rates based primarily on the choice of drainage site. This novel device drains to a new area of the eye to avoid the complications and unpredictability associated with the current glaucoma surgeries. The device also can provide the first-ever personalized treatment for millions of glaucoma suffers by fine-tuning pressure based on the needs of the patient throughout his or her lifetime. Preliminary studies have shown safety and feasibility of the device; however, the customizable and adjustability of replaceable component has yet to be investigated. Therefore, this Phase I research project will test and optimize the replaceable component within the device and determine the risk of biofouling. The ability to set a stable pressure safely, reliably, and predictably would be a major advancement in glaucoma treatment.
Errata
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Care Progress, LLC
SBIR Phase I: Leveraging health information technology to improve communication between cancer patients and providers
Contact
7315 Wisconsin Ave.
Bethesda, MD 20814–3202
NSF Award
1415819 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$149,683
Start / end date
07/01/2014 – 12/31/2014
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to improve outcomes for patients in cancer treatment. Such patients often suffer from side effects of cancer treatment, such as dehydration and nausea. By enhancing communication between providers and patients, the project seeks to better manage such symptoms and thereby improve outcomes for patients, including lower readmission and emergency department visits and associated costs for Medicare, Medicaid and private payors. The project will enhance scientific and technological understanding by creating a knowledge base of symptoms patients are experiencing. If we are successful we will be able to improve cancer treatment and lower costs in the United States at a time when the number of cancer patients is projected to increase significantly. These benefits are likely to create strong commercial demand for our product from hospitals, Accountable Care Organizations and outpatient cancer centers, which are increasingly under pressure by legislation and private payors to reduce treatment costs. The proposed project seeks to address the problem of poor communication between providers and cancer patients (which is partially responsible for extremely high readmission and emergency department visits) who are experiencing nausea, dehydration, neutropenia and other side effects. The project seeks to obtain patient symptoms and report them to providers for potential earlier intervention and outcome improvement. The methods to be employed include assembling an expert panel, creating software and then conducting a feasibility trial. Key goals include demonstrating the feasibility of obtaining patient symptoms and that providers find the information useful and actionable.
Errata
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Chirp Microsystems
SBIR Phase I: Ultrasonic 3D Rangefinding for Mobile Gesture Recognition
Contact
1452 Portland Ave.
Albany, CA 94706–1453
NSF Award
1346158 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
01/01/2014 – 06/30/2014
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project proposes the development of an ultrasonic three-dimensional (3D) rangefinder system for mobile gesture recognition. Optical gesture recognition has been introduced for gaming and will soon be launched for personal computer (PC) interaction, but optical gesture sensors are too large and power-hungry to be incorporated into tablets, smartphones, and smaller devices. The proposed 3D rangefinder uses an array of tiny piezoelectric ultrasound transducers which are built on a silicon wafer using microfabrication techniques. Custom electronics are used to control the transducers. In operation, the system emits sound into the air and receives echoes from objects in front of the transducer array. The system infers the location of the objects by measuring the time delay between transmission of the sound wave and reception of the echo. The system will be designed for incorporation into smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to bring contextual awareness to everyday devices, which currently have very little idea about what is going on in the space around them. The proposed ultrasonic 3D rangefinder has the potential to be small and low-power enough to be left on continuously, giving the device a way to sense the physical objects surrounding it in the environment. While today's optical 3D ranging systems work across a small room and are capable of sufficient resolution, they are too large and power hungry to be integrated into battery-powered devices. Mobile contextual awareness will enable 3D interaction with smartphones and tablets, facilitating rich user interfaces for applications such as gaming and hands-free control in automobiles. Looking beyond the smartphone and tablet market, the proposed rangefinder would be well-suited for wearable devices that are too small or simply don't allow for a full-function touchscreen, such as head mounted displays and smart watches. These products currently have limited input options since the area available for buttons and touch-sensor inputs is only slightly larger than a finger. Ultrasonic contextual awareness has the potential to revolutionize the user interface for tiny consumer electronics.
Errata
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Addenda
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Clerio Vision, Inc.
STTR Phase I: Refractive correction using non-invasive laser-induced refractive index change
Contact
312 Susquehanna Rd
Rochester, NY 14618–2940
NSF Award
1549700 – STTR PHASE I
Award amount to date
$269,999
Start / end date
01/01/2016 – 06/30/2017
Abstract
This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project enables the development of laser-induced refractive index change (LIRIC) for non-invasive vision correction in cornea and hydrogel materials. In the United States, 150 million adults use some form of vision correction, and this number is projected to increase steadily with the aging population. LIRIC has the potential to transform how laser refractive surgery is performed and how hydrogel-based solutions (e.g., contact lenses, intraocular lenses) are produced. For use in the cornea, LIRIC is a process that can alter the optical quality of the cornea without cutting, ablating or removing tissue. Also, only a thin layer of the cornea is treated, which allows a patient to continuously adjust their optics as their prescription changes over their lifetime. This is vastly different from current laser refractive surgery techniques, which are highly invasive and do not allow for future adjustment. In hydrogel materials, traditional manufacturing techniques use diamond-turned molds to achieve desired lens shape. LIRIC can change the production paradigm by enabling just-in-time manufacturing, reducing inventory costs. Additionally, because arbitrary refractive corrections are achievable with LIRIC, patients will be able to receive prescriptions with customized corrections. This capability is unavailable using today's typical manufacturing methods. The intellectual merit of this project resides in operating an ultrafast femtosecond laser below the damage threshold to modify the refractive index of corneal or hydrogel material. By dynamically changing laser parameters (power and/or scan velocity), it is possible to create arbitrary refractive-index profiles in cornea or hydrogel, enabling the optical correction of myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, presbyopia and higher order aberrations. Research objectives for this proposal are centered around the optimization of the LIRIC process. By investigating the impact of laser parameters and optical design of the laser delivery system, it will be possible to enhance the efficacy and safety of in-vivo LIRIC. In addition, visual performance will also be assessed in eyes wearing LIRIC contact lenses. By correcting the eye's wavefront aberrations, LIRIC optical devices are expected to significantly improve visual quality in patients beyond the capacity of currently available techniques.
Errata
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Construction Robotics, LLC
SBIR Phase I: Automated Mortar Dispensing for a Semi-Automated Masonry Robotic System
Contact
3966 Kinder Lane
Jamesville, NY 13078–9664
NSF Award
1215340 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
07/01/2012 – 12/31/2012
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is aimed at developing an automated mortar dispensing system, a major component of a semi-automated masonry (SAM) robotic system. The current technology challenge is the development of a mortar dispensing system that can accurately replicate the art of manual mortar preparation and application. This means a system that can account for the variability of mortar batch production as well as maintaining the chemical and material requirements to relevant standards. This technical effort will focus on key variables involved, such as reaction heat, pH, viscosity, moisture retention, time variables and temperature/humidity conditions. One of the major challenges of an automated mortar dispensing system is the variability created by onsite weather conditions. This Phase I project will allow us to investigate the feasibility of developing a measurement and control system that can accurately determine the quality of the mortar and adjust as necessary to produce consistent mortar that meets the requirements of the SAM system. Masonry jobs are dynamic work environments that need to be adjusted and corrected in real time, presenting numerous challenges for automation, but if successful, the potential benefits are enormous. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project, the SAM robotic system, is intended to revolutionize the masonry construction industry. The system will significantly increase the throughput of brick masonry production. Our core technology incorporates proprietary sensing and control systems, with the dispensing of mortar to achieve information-driven automated bricklaying. Brick-based construction represents a significant portion of the global and US economies with over $20 billion spent on all masonry work in the US, and over $5 billion spent on commercial brick masonry. This segment of the construction industry has seen little innovation over the recent decades. The SAM system will provide a per-job cost savings of over 30% based on increased productivity of the masonry crew. This significant increase in the efficiency of masons will make brick masonry more affordable. By using more technology in the masonry industry, it will be easier to recruit younger talent to an industry with an aging work force. The increase in the use of bricks in construction, especially in regions that are susceptible to extreme weather conditions, will provide many environmental and customer benefits such as increased durability, insulation, fire resistance, and lower maintenance. These in turn will lead to energy and resource conservation.
Errata
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Couragion Corporation
SBIR Phase I: Couragion STEM Career Literacy
Contact
649 Marion Street
Denver, CO 80218–3431
NSF Award
1548757 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$179,999
Start / end date
01/01/2016 – 12/31/2016
Abstract
This SBIR Phase I project will improve the awareness and perception of careers that require science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) competencies. Career influencers such as parents, educators, and counselors are often not in the position to inform students of potential options and expose unnecessary bias. If kids understood the opportunities, they could pursue academic pathways to amass skills that better prepare them to enter the workforce. STEM competencies are in high-demand and many high-skill jobs sit vacant for long periods of time. This results in lost productivity and exorbitant recruiting fees to pluck qualified candidates from existing jobs. Our nation could be more successful with access to highly skilled resources, especially in the face of the retiring baby boomer population. Career exploration and readiness focused on helping individuals select rewarding and suitable degrees, training, and careers will increase the likelihood that individuals stay in those careers, exhibit greater creativity, and decrease the number of people who invest in education they never use. As more individuals are inspired to pursue STEM, taxpayers will benefit from increased innovation which in turn will provide tax dollars to invest in such things as healthcare, national security, education, or humanitarian assistance. The project will combine big data, perceived capacity building, continuous STEM programming, and self-reflection to create a commercialized STEM career and self-discovery application and companion data visualization tool. Together, the career application and visualization tool will boost the intent of students to pursue STEM competencies and careers and improve the retention, productivity, and innovation of STEM workers. The project will address the technical hurdles of amassing and managing massive amounts of structured and unstructured data, designing a notification and tracking mechanism to deliver students ongoing programming, developing a smart recommendation engine to drive the best fit STEM careers for students, performing database mining and predictive modeling and creating data visualizations to derive meaningful workforce development insights. The research team will design survey tools and conduct controlled experiments and usability tests to collect student data and business/education entity feedback. The team will analyze experimental, historical, and survey data to validate and refine the data models, scoring algorithms, and application content and functionality. The ultimate goals of the R&D and experiments are to validate that the resulting application, predictive models, scoring algorithms, and data visualizations have the desired result of boosting student outcomes regarding STEM intentions and pursuits.
Errata
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CueThink
SBIR Phase I: Development of a Media-Rich, Game-Based Social Learning Paradigm for Improving Math Process Skills Both Inside and Outside the Classroom
Contact
8 Furbish Pond Lane
North Reading, MA 01864–2636
NSF Award
1248801 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
01/01/2013 – 06/30/2013
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposal explores an innovative approach to improving math problem solving skills using a game-based peer-to-peer mobile learning platform. Mathematics education is struggling in the U.S today. By the time our students reach middle school, many of them are already disengaged with and even afraid of mathematics. Research shows that schools often emphasize low-level procedures over higher order problem-solving skills and learners are taught using a top-down, one-strategy-fits-all approach. However, students bring their own strategies and techniques to problem solving and need opportunities to share these processes and get effective feedback. In Phase I, the firm will prototype a mobile version of a social learning platform that supports a student's thinking and learning process for pre-algebra topics in grades 6-8. The core of the platform is the scaffolded creation, curation and evaluation of multimedia vignettes of a student's thought process. The Phase I research will focus on evaluating this approach and concept framework and developing data mining algorithms required to convert inherently qualitative information into measurable and actionable data. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project offers tremendous promise for changing math education and engagement both in and out of the classroom. The CueThink platform should help students develop confidence and skills in solving complex problems, refine their math communication and improve their meta-cognition through the review of other students work and equip teachers with real-world examples of multiple learning styles and typical student errors and misconceptions. This enables CueThink to harness a substantial market opportunity for online instructional technology for math both inside and outside the school classroom - $2.4 billion market in 5 years. In addition, the team has identified portable opportunities for their solution in special education and higher education STEM learning, both of which should have a strong positive social impact while offering a huge scale-up potential via new markets. The company team brings to the table a diverse mix of educational, technical and business skills that will be critical to successful commercialization of the proposed math education innovation.
Errata
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CueThink
SBIR Phase I: An embedded and in-context professional learning platform for math problem-solving instruction
Contact
8 Furbish Pond Lane
North Reading, MA 01864–2636
NSF Award
1549094 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$177,500
Start / end date
01/01/2016 – 12/31/2016
Abstract
This SBIR Phase I project proposes to research and develop a web-based prototype that provides teachers with individualized, interactive, and timely supports for improving students? problem-solving skills and math communication. Despite the expectations placed on math teachers by the Common Core State Standards, most of them are insufficiently prepared to teach students how to become effective problem solvers. Research shows that the largest struggle for teachers is not learning new strategies to teaching but actually implementing them in the classroom. This project addresses this challenge by offering professional development that is embedded and ongoing and sets the stage for educators to develop essential 21st Century skills including critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. These are essential job skills not only for educators but for the young minds they coach and mentor. Additionally, teachers who themselves approach problem solving with confidence and enthusiasm inspire students to do the same. This has great implications for how many students will continue to seek and enroll in STEM programs. The annual market for professional development is expected to grow to $1.8 to $2 billion dollars within 5 years just for math and science in K-12 schools, a significant market for this project to target. The proposed project will result in a prototype that works seamlessly with the existing student-facing peer-to-peer application, developed by the same company and already in the marketplace. In order to achieve this level of embedded instruction, the project intends to build a sophisticated recommendation engine that not only analyzes the teacher's user profile but also their actions in using the student-facing platform and responds with suggested pathways to improve their teaching. This is a unique approach to professional development, enabling educators to determine how to introduce, instruct, and assess problem-solving skills in a sustained manner. This study is anchored in National Council on Teachers of Mathematics' (NCTM) "Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All" and is designed to directly address three of their eight recommended essential practices and six of the specific recommended actions. The proposed project consists of a five-month iterative, formative evaluation-based development phase followed by a one-month pilot study where classroom teachers will evaluate the functional prototype.
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CycloPure, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Porous Cyclodextrin Polymers: A Sustainable and Highly Effective Platform for Water Treatment
Contact
171 Saxony Road, #208
Encinitas, CA 92024–0000
NSF Award
1721809 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
07/01/2017 – 12/31/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to remove organic pollutants using newly developed adsorbent materials derived from cyclodextrins. The chemical contamination of water resources due to agricultural, industrial, and human activities is known to have adverse effects on the environment, especially aquatic ecosystems, and human health. Currently utilized adsorbents, particularly activated carbons, typically have limitations in removing micropollutants effectively at environmentally relevant concentrations, ranging from parts per trillion (ppt) to parts per billion (ppb). This project will focus on the fundamental development and manufacture of polymer adsorbents from building blocks derived from corn starch that rapidly sequester many pollutants more effectively than activated carbons. These polymers exhibit tiny pores and high surface areas, and are structurally programmable to target specific contaminants and separation challenges. Current water filtration systems found in homes, hospitals, industrial settings, and municipal wastewater treatment sites will benefit from these activities. This SBIR Phase I project will develop a sustainable materials solution to address the problem of emerging organic contaminants in water. Promising materials are derived from a cyclodextrin monomer and a crosslinker, which react to provide a rigid porous network. Materials derived from this approach remove contaminants from water more effectively than leading adsorbents, such as activated carbons. Previously, initial polymers were prepared at laboratory scales in relatively low yields. The objective of this proposal is to develop polymerization conditions that provide high yields and are amenable to large-scale manufacturing processes, while maintaining the pollutant removal performance of the polymer. This objective will require a systematic study of reaction conditions to minimize side reactions and maximize polymerization efficiency. Structural characterization using various spectroscopies and porosimetry will be used to evaluate the polymerization process as a function of the reaction conditions. The polymer's ability to bind pollutants will also ensure that improved yields still maintain performance. Determining the optimal polymerization conditions and processing protocols will be critical for validating the technical feasibility of the proposed porous cyclodextrin polymer and will also be criteria for the success of this SBIR Phase I project.
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CytoVale, Inc
SBIR Phase I: Hybrid Deformability and Fluorescence Cytometer for Biomarker Development and Validation
Contact
384 Oyster Point Blvd
South San Francisco, CA 94080–1967
NSF Award
1315895 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$184,998
Start / end date
07/01/2013 – 07/31/2014
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will address the challenge of integrating two powerful single-cell analysis tools with the aim of developing and validating new biomarkers for malignancy. The deformability of invasive cells has long been hypothesized to confer their ability to migrate through tight tissue barriers and form metastases. Recently, this idea has been supported by mechanical measurements of cells either isolated from or directly in biological fluid specimens. This convergence of ideas from both biological and physical sciences represents a mechanical biomarker, and tools to be employed clinically to assay these properties are rapidly being developed. Cytovale?s technology measures cell deformability at a throughput of several thousand cells per second, comparable to the ubiquitous flow cytometer, which allows immediate measurement of cells directly in biological fluids. This technology has a demonstrated utility: highly sensitive detection of malignancy in cellularly heterogeneous clinical pleural effusions. Its integration with fluorescence in this project will provide a transformational research and clinical tool, well-aligned with the critical aims of improving patient care and reducing costs through automation, early detection of disease, and use of quantitative, novel biomarkers. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is realized by appreciating the applicability of the technology across research and clinical settings. Even without integration with fluorescence (flow) cytometry the technology has demonstrated its utility as a sensitive detector of malignancy in clinical specimens, specifically, pleural effusions. However, cell mechanics is an attractive biomarker for invasiveness, and is likely conserved throughout cells found in many biological fluids, including urine and fine needle aspirates. The proposed activity will further enhance the technology?s diagnostic accuracy. The instruments developed by Cytovale will be placed in clinical cytology labs to complement gold standard cytological methods, performing high sensitivity screens of biological fluids and eliminating unnecessary, invasive, and costly follow-up procedures. The hybrid instrument will also be an especially powerful tool for exploring connections between cell mechanics and traditional markers, which greatly extends the number of research laboratories which would benefit from this enabling technology.
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DeepScale, Inc
SBIR Phase I: Energy-Efficient Perception for Autonomous Road Vehicles
Contact
1232 Royal Crest Dr
San Jose, CA 95131–2912
NSF Award
1648576 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
12/15/2016 – 05/31/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be to allow consumers to buy vehicles enhanced by Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) that are more robust and more accurate. Advanced Driver Assistance Systems in general, and fully autonomous vehicles in particular, promise a number of advantages, such as: (1) reducing the number of traffic fatalities in the US and abroad, (2) enabling humans to spend less time driving and more time on other activities, and (3) reducing fossil-fuel emissions. Practical implementations of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems require a few key elements: sensors, perception systems, motion planning systems, and control/actuation systems. Based on extensive discussions with key individuals at automakers and automotive suppliers, developing robust and accurate perception systems is the biggest obstacle toward developing mass-producible autonomous road vehicles. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will create perception systems that utilize the rapidly evolving technologies of deep learning for computer vision. Specifically, the company will utilize deep learning to provide perceptual systems that are: 1) more robust in the presence of diverse and rapidly evolving sensor configurations; 2) more accurate due to the early fusion of sensor data; and 3) more accurate due to the application of state-of-the-art deep learning algorithms for computer vision. The company is already engaged in developing partnerships with automotive OEMs and semiconductor suppliers that will enable it to deliver proofs-of-concept of its unique approach.
Errata
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Addenda
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DropWise Technologies Corp.
SBIR Phase I: Heat exchanger coating retrofit pre-treatment feasibility study
Contact
1035 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02210–2384
NSF Award
1520205 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$149,564
Start / end date
07/01/2015 – 12/31/2015
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will address the challenge of retrofit cleaning and pretreatment of steam condenser tubes prior to the deposition of a performance-enhancing coating. By eliminating the buildup of the insulating film of liquid that normally forms on condenser surfaces, the coating increases the vapor-side heat transfer coefficient by more than a factor of seven, allowing the condenser to pull more steam through the turbine. The successful application of this coating would enable significant increases in cycle efficiencies of in the installed base of steam power plants that generate the vast majority of national electricity, leading to substantial reductions in fuel costs, greenhouse gas emissions, and thermal pollution. This coating technology can be extended to other systems including desalination and heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC/R), which also rely on condensers to operate efficiently. The intellectual merit of this project comprises the acquisition of systematic knowledge of metal-oxide fouling and deposits in industrial environments, and the development of scalable pretreatment strategies to bridge the gap between laboratory and field-deployed coating depositions. Because this application of hydrophobic coatings has not been achieved at a commercial scale, there currently exists little to no systematic research on the condition of heat exchanger surfaces. The results of this study will be applicable to industrial coatings on industrial equipment beyond just heat exchangers, including distillation columns and moisture separators.
Errata
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Ecovative Design LLC
SBIR Phase I: Using Mycelium As A Matrix For Binding Natural Fibers And Core Filler Materials In Sustainable Composites
Contact
70 Cohoes Avenue
Troy, NY 12183–1518
NSF Award
1045849 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$149,301
Start / end date
01/01/2011 – 06/30/2011
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project seeks to address the steadily growing but unsustainable polymer matrix composite (PMC) market. PMCs are leveraged for their high strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight ratios as compared to conventional engineering materials, but are notoriously unsustainable, energy-intensive to manufacture, and non-recyclable. Researchers have investigated encapsulating natural fibers with both petroleum-based polymers and biopolymers (e.g. cellulosic plastic) to produce more biocompatible composites with varying degrees of experimental and commercial success, but all attempts have still fallen short of an ideal "bio-composite". In this project, we will create and characterize an entirely new bio-composite material. The basic idea is to use mycelium as a matrix for binding natural fibers and core filler materials together in sustainable composite parts. First, the core bulk material is bound together over time by mycelium growing into and around common bulk agricultural waste such as cotton hulls. Then, reinforcing layers made from natural fibers (e.g., hemp) inoculated with fungal cells are applied to the core faces, allowed to infiltrate the laminate and bind to the core material, and then heated to inactivate the growth process to make a resilient composite sandwich structure. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project encompasses the development of mycelium composite materials that are customizable for a broad range of markets including, but not limited to, automotive, transportation, architectural, biomedical, sports, and recreation. These materials are truly sustainable since both the laminates and cores consist of renewable materials. These composites will also require significantly less energy to make than other biocompatible composites because the material is grown instead of synthesized, and the material is completely compostable at the end of life. The outcome of the proposed research and development will be a basic understanding of how to manufacture the composites, the range of material properties obtainable, and how to adjust material properties for particular markets. Through this project, we will partner with researchers and students at two local universities with known expertise in composites manufacturing and testing. If successful with mycelium composites, these materials will find applications in a very high-margin market (i.e. composites) that is sorely needing more sustainable innovations.
Errata
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Ecovative Design LLC
SBIR Phase I: Method of Disinfecting Precursor Materials using Plant Essential Oils for a new Material Technology
Contact
70 Cohoes Avenue
Troy, NY 12183–1518
NSF Award
0944529 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$180,581
Start / end date
01/01/2010 – 12/31/2010
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project seeks to further reduce the economic and environmental costs associated with sterilization of precursor materials for the Mycobond platform. Mycobond is a revolutionary material that is grown from agricultural byproducts and a vegetative growth of a filamentous fungus (basidiomycete mycelium). To ensure adequate growth all raw materials are either sterilized or pasteurized, which represents up to 24 hours of process time and 50% of the material cost. This research intends to use an emulsion comprised of phenolic compounds from plant essential oils (PEOs) to inactivate competitive organisms on all feedstocks while reducing manufacturing costs. Preliminary trails have yielded favorable results, indicating a potential reduction of the disinfection costs by 88%. Furthermore, this procedure can significantly reduce both the capital expense associated with production and the environmental footprint by removing high entropy processes. Achieving successful disinfection with PEOs, and later inoculation with the desired mycelium, will allow the Mycobond? technology to retail at prices below those of expanded polystyrene (EPS), granting a competitive advantage that would aid in gaining rapid market adoption. The technology benchmarks well against EPS, and has interested early adopters in the protective packaging and rigid board insulation industries. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the development of sustainable, high-performance composite materials for the packaging and insulation industries. 10% of the petroleum imported into the United States is allocated to the production of inherently unsustainable materials. The Mycobond platform is a direct replacement for many these materials, applicable for products from protective packaging to structural cores. The use of a PEO emulsion seeks to further reduce the energy consumption of material production by closely emulating nature. The biological composites and related processes can reduce energy consumption fivefold and greenhouse gas emissions by tenfold when compared to an identical volume of EPS. Furthermore, since the raw materials used are byproducts from American industries, a new revenue stream will result, bolstering local economies. The plants and related compounds utilized in the procedure are rapidly renewable and the proposed disinfection platform is an open system which reduces dependence on a solitary feedstock. The use of PEO emulsions to disinfect materials has value beyond composites production, and will find applications in agriculture industry and commercial cultivation of mushrooms. The effective replacement of high-embodied energy processes will support local manufacturing by increasing the feasibility of low-cost, regional production.
Errata
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Ecovative Design LLC
SBIR Phase I: Gel-Assisted Casting of a Self-Assembling Biocomposite Material
Contact
70 Cohoes Avenue
Troy, NY 12183–1518
NSF Award
1113674 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$149,900
Start / end date
07/01/2011 – 12/31/2011
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop an innovative, environmentally benign process for forming net shape products of superior quality and performance from dissimilar biomaterial components. Plastics and foams are dependent upon inherently unsustainable raw materials, require a high embodied energy to produce, and do not readily biodegrade at the end of their useful lives. This project will focus on the further development of an alternative material system: a self-assembling biocomposite which is literally grown in the dark using fungal tissue to bind heterogeneous particles of agricultural waste. The biodegradable material exhibits mechanical properties that rival synthetic foams and offers the potential to transform the multi-billion dollar protective packaging and structural cores industries. However, the thin-walled plastic forms used to shape resulting products during growth have a limited service life and must be replaced frequently. Removing or reducing dependence on these forms, through development of a gelatinizing growth substrate and process, will increase sustainability and yield, and reduce costs to further incentivize widespread adoption. The proposed research will answer questions that will determine whether this gel-assisted casting process is technically and commercially feasible, and therefore laying the groundwork for a Phase II project. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is difficult to overstate. Conventional methods of producing low-cost, high strength-to-weight ratio materials for protective packaging and building construction use up to 10% of the world's petroleum as feedstock and consume considerable energy in the production process. Mycological material technology eliminates the need for fossil fuel feedstock and currently requires only one-eighth of the energy to produce an equivalent volume as compared to synthetic foam. In addition, the products are non-toxic, fire-retardant, and readily biodegradable. The commercial potential is high, as products made of this material, as currently manufactured, already successfully compete in the marketplace with products made of expanded polystyrene and expanded polypropylene. The benefits to society at large include safer materials, the transition to regional manufacturing which will bolster local economies, the use of domestic byproducts as the primary raw material, lower energy consumption, and a production method which creates less waste and pollution. The successful completion of this project will help United States manufacturers to emerge as world leaders in the production and supply of sustainable materials, with the potential to serve numerous global markets.
Errata
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Edify Technologies, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Music Education Through Composition on Mobile Devices
Contact
1232 Detroit St.
Denver, CO 80206–3330
NSF Award
1548401 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$165,000
Start / end date
01/01/2016 – 12/31/2016
Abstract
This SBIR Phase I project will culminate in an application which teaches beginners to compose their own music. Music is traditionally taught using physical instruments and sheet music, both of which are complex and present imposing financial and practical barriers to creativity. As a result, even though parents value music education highly and research has shown that studying music is beneficial to cognitive and emotional development, the majority of beginning music students drop out during the first year of instruction, before having a chance to express their creativity through music. By using mobile devices as modular teaching tools, the proposed solution will make composition accessible as a first step in learning music. Increasing creativity in beginning music education will decrease the dropout rate for people already studying music, and also make music education accessible for the millions of families nationwide who value music but cannot afford private lessons. By expanding a market for lessons that is already roughly $3 billion per year in the United States, this project has significant revenue and growth potential, in addition to increasing the accessibility and quality of education in the U.S. and worldwide. This project uses an intuitive gestural composition interface to make it possible for beginners to compose music visually and hear it played back in real time. By using simplified representative block notation, the proposed software makes composition accessible even to those with no knowledge of music notation and no experience on an instrument. Using a musical system based on music theory and arranging concepts, the complexity of music composition is reduced at the beginning to make a user's first compositions sound good to them, encouraging them to explore further. More complexity is gradually introduced through a scaffolded, project-based curriculum as users learn musical concepts through creative exploration and engaging games. This curriculum includes a gradual step-by-step transition between simplified block notation and full traditional music notation. The curriculum will be developed in two phases: 1) piloting a modular teaching tool that allows music teachers to increase the creativity and individualization of their assignments by incorporating composition into their teaching, and 2) developing an autonomous teaching tool for the consumer market that combines free creation with educational games to teach musical concepts with or without the aid of a teacher.
Errata
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Edify Technologies, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Enabling Musical Creativity for People with Special Needs
Contact
1232 Detroit St.
Denver, CO 80206–3330
NSF Award
1819802 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
06/15/2018 – 11/30/2018
Abstract
This SBIR Phase I project is dedicated to producing software that makes it easy for people with special needs, especially those on the autism spectrum, to compose their own music. A wide base of evidence shows that music can be a powerful emotional and creative outlet for people with disabilities. Multiple studies show that music can help children on the autism spectrum improve their skills in social interaction, verbal communication,initiating behavior, and social-emotional reciprocity. However, public access to music education has declined dramatically in the United States over the last 40 years. The 6.6 million students in the US with special needs face further barriers to music education because of the significant financial resources and demanding degree of physical dexterity required by instrument lessons. Within this context, private sector innovation is more necessary than ever to increase the accessibility of music education. By offering affordable and intuitive software this project has the potential to make a major impact on the economy by helping to reduce education and health care costs for parents of children with special needs, school special education programs, and adults with disabilities. Just as importantly, democratizing the joy of musical creativity will make a powerful contribution to unlocking the passion, talents, and productivity of people with special needs. To make it easy for people with special needs to make their own music, this project will employ gestural composition, responsive design, and data science to produce a software interface that adapts to a users' accessibility preferences based on their previous interactions with the program. A second focus of the project is to produce interactive music lessons focused on self-expression and socio-emotional intelligence. Lessons will utilize and expand upon the creative interface to guide users to write songs that express their mood. Robust user testing and intelligent application of machine learning will be required to ensure that the interface smoothly evolves to enable user creativity. Considerable experimentation will also be required to build lessons which strike a balance between supporting users through linear instruction and empowering users to make expressive decisions and take ownership of their emotions. To mitigate the project's technical risk special needs experts and health professionals will be consulted at every stage of user testing and development. In sum, these innovations address the significant and urgent challenge of opening music up as a medium of creativity, communication and self-expression for people with special needs, especially those on the autism spectrum. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
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Ekso Bionics, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Cooperative Overground Gait Rehabilitation
Contact
1414 Harbour Way South
Richmond, CA 94804–3628
NSF Award
1248509 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$180,000
Start / end date
01/15/2013 – 12/31/2013
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to address the significant technical barriers associated with an untethered overground cooperative gait rehabilitation exoskeleton. Current gait rehabilitation techniques available to patients with gait abnormalities include conventional therapist based rehabilitation and more recently Body Weight Support Treadmill (BWST) robotic rehabilitation. The leading BWST devices employ a cooperative gait rehabilitation approach that varies the assistance to the user based on their ability. The conventional therapy approach is extremely labor intensive, but while the BWST therapy is the leading alternative it has shown mixed results. Researchers hypothesize that this is due to differences in the trained gait between BWST walking and overground walking. Mobile exoskeletons have emerged to better imitate overground walking, but to date no mobile device has implemented a cooperative control strategy, mainly due to the technical issues associated with its use. This SBIR intends to develop novel advances in cooperative rehabilitation control strategies along with innovative actuator designs to make possible the first mobile overground gait rehabilitation exoskeleton that implements a cooperative strategy. Specifically, it will address the major technical barriers to achieving this goal to increase the chances of successfully developing this technology in Phase II. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project could directly impact the lives of patients with impaired gaits from a variety of symptoms including post-stroke, incomplete spinal cord injury, and multiple sclerosis. It is estimated that nearly 2 million patients in the U.S. could currently benefit from improved gait rehabilitation therapy. This technology can be sold directly to rehabilitation hospitals through existing distribution channels. This technology will have a significant impact on the lives of patients undergoing gait rehabilitation. It will enable a new level of effectiveness by providing a novel cooperative rehabilitation approach on an overground device. Existing conventional therapy often causes patients to transition to therapist-assisted overground walking prematurely, resulting in a gap in the progression of care. This device addresses that gap by supporting a patient from acute therapy until they are strong enough for therapist-assisted overground walking. Finally, this device will expand our technical understanding of the limits and effectiveness of robotic gait rehabilitation. The device will serve as a platform to develop the next generation of even more effective robotic rehabilitation control strategies, both for the investigators and the greater research community.
Errata
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Ekso Bionics, Inc.
STTR Phase I: In-Home Rehabilitation System for Post Stroke Patients
Contact
1414 Harbour Way South
Richmond, CA 94804–3628
NSF Award
0712462 – STTR PHASE I
Award amount to date
$200,000
Start / end date
07/01/2007 – 12/31/2008
Abstract
This Small Business Technolongy Transfer (STTR) Phase I research develops an in-home training device that allows a post-stroke patient to undergo rehabilitation with little or no assistance. Approximately 500,000 Americans survive a stroke each year. Miraculously, most stroke survivors can relearn skills such as walking that are lost when part of the brain is damaged. They can relearn walking most effectively if they are aided in making the correct motions by a machine or a physical therapist while part of their body weight is supported. This training is expensive and requires the patient to go for regular visits to a stroke center. Utilizing recent breakthroughs in the design of ""human exoskeletons"", this research will create a lightweight robotic exoskeleton which cradles a patient''s lower extremities and torso, and maneuvers their paralyzed limbs for them. Using this completely portable device, the patient will not have to go to a rehabilitation facility for daily therapy sessions. The patient can relearn ambulation in the privacy of his/her home with some help from his/her spouse, children, or friends. This device would allow the patient to walk, maneuver and have a more enjoyable, longer duration rehabilitation experience. Ultimately, creating such a device will also give clinicians an alternative to the wheel chair for patients who have more permanent problems, but would benefit enormously from functioning upright and with significant load on their bone structure. The broader impact of this project will be to adddress the needs of millions of people affected by stroke, muscular dystrophy, trauma, neurological disorders or even chronic arthritis, the medical and sociological implications to improve their quality of life and health.
Errata
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Ekso Bionics, Inc.
STTR Phase I: Lower Extremity Exoskeleton Assist Device for Reducing the Risk of Back Injuries among Workers
Contact
1414 Harbour Way South
Richmond, CA 94804–3628
NSF Award
0739552 – STTR PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
01/01/2008 – 12/31/2008
Abstract
This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project seeks to create exoskeleton assist devices for workers in distribution centers and automobile assembly plants. By using these assistive devices, workers can dramatically reduce the load in the vertebrae of the lower back when maneuvering parts and boxes. Such collaboration between humans and machines has the benefit of the intellectual advantage of humans coupled with the strength advantage of machines. The proposed project involves the University of California at Berkeley as research partner, General Motors Corporation, and the U.S. Postal Service. The end goal is a reduction in back injuries in the workplace which are considered by OSHA the nation?s number one workplace safety problem. The broader impacts of this research are reduced worker?s compensation insurance costs, reduced disability payments, increased worker productivity, and the ability for workers to keep working into their older years; in short, improve worker quality of life. Furthermore, these new devices will open an entirely new market which will serve an important role in establishing the United States as the number one player in the emerging field of bionics. The potential impacts to worker safety and American quality of life are large and diverse.
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Ekso Bionics, Inc.
STTR Phase I: Integrated Powered Knee-Ankle Prosthetic System
Contact
1414 Harbour Way South
Richmond, CA 94804–3628
NSF Award
0810782 – STTR PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
07/01/2008 – 06/30/2009
Abstract
This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I research project proposes the development of the design features, sensory system and the control algorithm of an integrated powered knee-ankle power regenerative prosthesis. Despite significant advances in lower limb prosthetics over the past decade, all presently commercially available lower limb prostheses incorporate passive ankle joints. That is, the joints of the prostheses can either store or dissipate energy, but cannot provide any net power over a gait cycle. The inability to deliver joint power significantly impairs the ability of these prostheses to restore many locomotive functions, including level walking, walking up stairs, walking up slopes, running, and jumping, all of which require significant net positive power at the knee joint, ankle joint, or both. The objective of this proposal is to investigate the use of integrated powered knee and ankle joints in transfemoral prostheses that use sensory information from the ground and the wearer. The hypothesis is that a prosthesis with actively powered knee and ankle joints will significantly enhance the mobility of transfemoral amputees while walking on level grounds, as well as stairs and slopes. The proposed work will result in new theoretical frameworks for both the control, sensory system, and design of such systems. Major intellectual contributions will include the design of power systems; development of the sensory system to obtain information from the ground and from the user; the development of a control framework for the interactive control of prostheses; and the development of adaptive and robust controllers for impedance modulation during locomotion. This project intends to create principles that provide significantly greater functional capabilities for above-knee amputees. Specifically, the proposed work will enable more natural, stable, and adaptable prostheses. These research elements in this proposal will also form a foundation for powered orthotic systems. Additional significant benefits of this work include fostering a broader awareness and increased sensitivity of young engineers and educational institutions to disability issues. Limb loss also affects a growing number of military personnel serving in recent conflicts, as well as a far larger number of veterans from previous wars.
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Elementum 3D
SBIR Phase I: Reactive Additive Manufacturing
Contact
405 Young Ct
Erie, CO 80516–2401
NSF Award
1647373 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
12/01/2016 – 05/31/2017
Abstract
This SBIR Phase I project addresses the lack of materials available for advanced 3D printing. 3D printing is and will likely be used to produce products that encompass every aspect of day-to-day life. Current technology is primarily focused on the aerospace and medical fields. New metallic materials and more efficient processing methods are needed to transition to other more ubiquitous markets. This project is aimed at broadening the materials selection through a new production technique that complements existing technologies. The growth of the 3D printing industry will bring very competitive manufacturing jobs back to The United States. This project will investigate the feasibility of an innovative reactive additive manufacturing (RAM) process to create a range of materials including nickel metal matrix composites, tungsten carbide composites, and nickel titanium intermetallic compounds. Each material system will be designed, fabricated, and characterized for a range of properties including microstructure, product phases, density, porosity, and hardness. For each of the three materials systems, the iterative development process will include modification of composition and process parameters to determine their effect on the material microstructure and properties and determine the feasibility of the RAM process to produce each material type commercially. The expected outcome of this activity is that the RAM process will be proven feasible for one or more of the investigated materials systems. The results of this work will be developed further and will subsequently lead to commercialization and sales of the novel materials mixtures and RAM process parameters for use in commercial powder bed fusion additive manufacturing systems already in use.
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Elidah, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Design and validation of a novel skin-contacting electrode to provide pelvic floor toning for treatment of female stress urinary incontinence
Contact
810 Main St. Ste C
Monroe, CT 06468–2809
NSF Award
1519784 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$179,999
Start / end date
07/01/2015 – 06/30/2016
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is the expedited development of a novel non?]surgical medical device and therapeutic treatment for the approximately 1 in 3 women over the age of 30 who suffer from urinary incontinence, two thirds of whom, in part due to notable deficiencies of available solutions, elect to live without treatment while their symptoms progressively worsen. Urinary incontinence, although a very private concern, has far?]reaching physical, psychological, social, and economic implications. For example, urinary incontinence has been found to reduce health-related quality of life measures on par with depression, incontinence is the number one reason for admittance into nursing homes, and the annual cost to the US healthcare system is estimated at $25 billion. Through design and validation activities this project will demonstrate the functionality of a wearable device that provides discreet, comfortable, easy?]to?]use therapy for female stress urinary incontinence. The technological understanding gained through this work lays the groundwork for subsequent development of a commercially viable, FDA cleared product that will enhance the lives of tens of millions of American women. The proposed project provides a new framework for wearable therapeutics by enabling the patient to treat incontinence via discreet surface electrical stimulation without interruption to daily activity. Current non?]surgical care often involves electrical stimulation via intravaginal probe, a treatment most woman are not willing to adopt or maintain. The goal of this project is to demonstrate the ability of a contiguous array of cutaneous electrodes placed proximate the perineal tissue to deliver sufficient electrical muscle stimulation to promote pelvic floor toning, and further to maintain this efficacy under conditions associated with continuous wear. Building on a successful proof?]of?]concept prototype, multiple candidate designs will be developed, fabricated and validated using benchtop models. Testing will explore challenges with maintaining electrode?]skin contact during patient mobility and effective management of bodily fluids (i.e. leakage). Throughout the project, increasingly complex models will be utilized, concluding with assessment in human cadaveric tissue. The project is expected to identify a preferred candidate electrode design suitable for future evaluation in a human clinical study, FDA clearance and product commercialization.
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Enable Biosciences Inc
SBIR Phase I: Development of an ultrasensitive, high-throughput autoantibody discovery platform using agglutination-PCR
Contact
675 Sharon Park Drive, Suite 202
Menlo Park, CA 94025–6908
NSF Award
1622257 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$269,772
Start / end date
07/01/2016 – 06/30/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is the development of a tool to accelerate the discovery of new autoantibody biomarkers for the early detection and personalized treatment of human diseases. Autoantibody biomarkers are broadly used to diagnose a variety of conditions, such as autoimmune disorders, infectious diseases and cancers. However, the limited reproducibility, cost and sensitivity of current autoantibody profiling methods frustrate the discovery of new biomarkers to improve management of these diseases. A cost-effective autoantibody profiling platform that is highly sensitive and robust could reveal changes in the autoantibody repertoire that might have been missed by current methods. Such a tool would serve as an invaluable pipeline for the discovery of new biomarkers, augmenting the ability to detect, treat and understand numerous diseases. In the $7.4 Billion/yr biomarker discovery array market, the proposed tool, sold as a service or as micro-arrays kits for client use, meets must-have needs of several customers, including biopharmaceutical companies seeking for new disease targets, improving clinical trials and academic groups pursuing better understanding of human biology. This SBIR Phase I project proposes to develop a highly multiplexed and sensitive autoantibody biomarker profiling tool to expedite biomarker discovery. The proposed approach uses agglutination-PCR, a novel technique developed at UC Berkeley and Stanford. Agglutination-PCR detects autoantibodies in the solution-phase to ensure proper folding of antigen probes while leveraging the sensitivity and multiplex power of standard qPCR instruments. This project employs an innovative synthetic strategy to prepare and optimize a large panel of probes at low cost. While a traditional synthetic route would take up to 3 months, the proposed strategy could reduce the time down to one week. In addition, the probe library for autoantibody detection will be validated using banked serum/plasma from healthy patients or patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This experiment will serve as a powerful proof-of-principle, as SLE displays many distinct autoantibodies that are challenging to detect with other methods. The analytical sensitivity and reproducibility of the proposed product will be compared to standard protein microarrays. The platform will be tested to ensure reproducibility and ease-of-use. The probe library and protocols will function as a minimum viable product and the prototype for applications in other diseases.
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Endectra, LLC
SBIR Phase I: Novel Solid-State Cerenkov Detector for Portable and Wearable Neutron Radiation Sensors
Contact
U-M Venture Accelerator
Ann Arbor, MI 48109–5001
NSF Award
1448519 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$165,000
Start / end date
01/01/2015 – 12/31/2015
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to bring a disruptive neutron detector technology to market, filling an urgent need for real-time, portable and wearable radiation detectors. Successful commercialization of this innovative technology will serve a broad customer base in the nuclear detection and verification industry. This includes nuclear power industry workers, national lab staff, and homeland security personnel, all of whom need to detect the presence of neutron-emitting radioactive materials and assess the health physics risks in real time. This multi-billion dollar market is currently well served with gamma ray and x-ray detection devices, but the capabilities for wearable neutron dosimeters and detectors are currently less well developed. The proposed technology closes this gap and thus addresses new commercial opportunities across a targeted array of markets: in addition to supporting U.S. technology leadership and safer low-carbon nuclear energy generation, this project will explore new kinds of directional arrays for neutron imaging and portal detectors, helping to make the nation's borders more secure against illicit nuclear materials and providing improved tools for nuclear safeguards and verification. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will evaluate the feasibility of a novel compact, wearable neutron detector/dosimeter based solely on solid-state technology. Research objectives include a thorough quantitative assessment of the detector front-end material response to neutron radiation, evaluation of its optoelectronic characteristics, and gamma discrimination. This will be the first detector of its kind, enabling portability, low cost, real time signal capability and complete integration with semiconductor microdevice technology. The novel device concept combines a directional optical converter (neutrons to secondary electrons to light) with state-of-the-art optoelectronic detection to provide a digital output which is compatible with wireless reporting protocols and internet integration. The proposed device can therefore be reconfigured for many radiation detection tasks that are currently not feasible with larger, bulky devices using conventional gas proportional and scintillator detector technology. The anticipated result is a novel disruptive neutron detection approach. The research to be performed at the forefront of neutron detection science includes a thorough evaluation of the neutron-capture process, and aims for the first time to better understand the radiation response of a high density of large capture cross-section nuclei in a high-purity optical medium.
Errata
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Addenda
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Ginkgo BioWorks
SBIR Phase I: Novel Proteolysis-based Tools for Metabolic Engineering of Amino Acid Producing Strains
Contact
27 Drydock Ave Floor 8
Boston, MA 02210–2413
NSF Award
1113506 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
07/01/2011 – 06/30/2012
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to engineer microbes for the cost-effective production of the amino acid, L-Threonine. Currently, engineered microbes bear mutations that increase the production of Threonine of interest by inhibiting the cell?s ability to produce other amino acids. These mutations are critical as they effectively channel the cell?s metabolic flux toward Threonine, thereby boosting production efficiency and easing downstream purification. Unfortunately, these mutations also decrease cellular fitness and, thus, the growth media must be supplemented with costly nutrients. Technical research herein will assess the feasibility of applying novel regulated proteolysis technology to direct metabolic flux toward Threonine production in the absence of costly media supplementation. The project has 3 key objectives: 1) generate E. coli strains containing off-pathway metabolic enzymes tagged for degradation by a growth-phase dependent proteolysis system, 2) test the ability of these strains to grow on supplement-free media, and 3) assay for production of Threonine by these engineered strains. We anticipate that our engineered strains will grow robustly on minimal, un-supplemented media. Upon induction of our proteolysis system, we expect our strains to specifically eliminate off-target metabolic pathways, leading to a substantial increase in production of our target product, Threonine. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the generation of more cost-efficient L-Threonine producing microbial strains. Purified amino acids are estimated to constitute a U.S. market of $1.30 billion by 2013. These chemicals are used as animal feedstock supplements, precursors in production of the artificial sweetener aspartame, and have potential as biofuel precursors. Currently, key amino acids are produced commercially using highly engineered microbes that convert low-cost sugar sources (e.g. glucose) to the final amino acid product. To improve the conversion efficiency and ease downstream purification, the microbe?s ability to synthesize other, off-pathway amino acids is often eliminated. However, because these other amino acids are critical for bacterial growth, they must be added as a supplement to the growth medium, substantially increasing production costs. The technology proposed here would allow for efficient, robust production of easily purified amino acids without the need for media supplementation, dramatically reducing production costs. Moreover, the regulated degradation technology developed herein will provide next-generation regulatory tools for other industrial metabolic engineering applications.
Errata
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Ginkgo BioWorks
SBIR Phase I: Bioproduction of Feedstock Amino Acids
Contact
27 Drydock Ave Floor 8
Boston, MA 02210–2413
NSF Award
1248790 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$180,000
Start / end date
01/01/2013 – 12/31/2013
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to produce microbes capable of cost-effective production of amino acids used as animal feed supplements. Technical research herein will test the feasibility of applying cutting edge synthetic biology and metabolic engineering techniques to develop engineered strains capable of sustainable and cost-effective production of purified animal feed supplements. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to provide a reliable, sustainable and safe source of animal feed supplements using biotechnology. Many plant-based animals feeds, such as those based on maize, are deficient in key nutrients needed for growth. To improve feed efficiency and animal growth rates, these deficiencies have been historically overcome with supplementation with animal waste or protein-rich plant products including soy. Recent BSE (Mad Cow Disease) outbreaks combined with dioxine toxicity (from supplementation with fish products) however, have discouraged the use of animal products. Further, supplementation with soy supplies excess, unnecessary amino acids that the animals excrete as nitrogen-rich waste, a significant environmental pollutant. Feed supplementation using purified amino acids produced via biotechnology offers a superior approach from a safety and environmental sustainability perspective.
Errata
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Ginkgo BioWorks
SBIR Phase I: Creating Plant Inspired Fragrences Via Fermentation
Contact
27 Drydock Ave Floor 8
Boston, MA 02210–2413
NSF Award
1448068 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$179,999
Start / end date
01/01/2015 – 12/31/2015
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to produce low-cost and customizable aromas that are inspired by plant extracts. The fragrance industry uses fragrant extracts from flowers and other plant materials as basic building blocks for haute-couture finished fragrances. These extracts are expensive due to the limited availability of suitable plant materials, and due to the fact that the extracts are too complicated to replicate by mixing pure chemicals. This project will generate novel fragrance blends via fermentation ("cultured aromas"). These cultured aromas will be customized for the exacting requirements of professional perfumers, offering a degree of creativity that does not exist with plant extracts. This technology will present a disruptive entry into the multi-billion dollar market for finished fragrances. Beyond fragrances, this technology will allow the development of new customizable extracts with the beneficial properties of plant extracts, including flavors, dyes, and antioxidant activity. This SBIR Phase I project proposes to apply advanced synthetic biology tools to produce sustainable alternatives to complex plant extracts. Conventional metabolic engineering projects focus on the optimized production of a single target compound; this project instead will engineer microbial strains that produce a range of components found in high-value plant extracts used in the fragrance industry. The goal is to rapidly screen and characterize novel plant enzymes for use in conjunction with existing strains that produce key fragrance molecules. These novel enzymes are expected to produce multiple fragrance molecules and the profile of the resulting blends will be compared to those derived from plants via high throughput metabolomics. The cultured aroma blends can then be customized to a perfumers' specification by tuning the biosynthetic pathways.
Errata
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Ginkgo BioWorks
SBIR Phase I: Volatile gene expression reporters for use during fermentation
Contact
27 Drydock Ave Floor 8
Boston, MA 02210–2413
NSF Award
0912541 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$99,981
Start / end date
07/01/2009 – 06/30/2010
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project proposes to develop a set of novel, versatile measurement tools for use during fermentation and scale-up in metabolic engineering. The tools will be based on the production of odorants and enable real-time time monitoring of gene expression levels during fermentation. Metabolic engineering holds great promise for enabling a range of important applications including cellulosic biofuels, therapeutics production, and bio-based, environmentally-friendly chemical manufacturing. But any such project requires that an engineered organism expressing the relevant biosynthetic pathway be scaled up from lab-sized cultures to large-scale commercial fermentation. This is not a straightforward task, and is different for every project, because the fermentation conditions required for each engineered strain are different. The new measurement tools will enable more detailed quantification of cell state during fermentation so that strain and pathway optimization is more informed. The broader impacts of this research are to enable more informed strain optimization for large-scale fermentation thereby reducing R&D costs for the bio-based manufacturing industry. With the growing interest in clean technology and alternatives to petroleum-based manufacturing, many new companies and existing companies are moving into the bioengineering and biomanufacturing industries. However, all of these companies face a common hurdle of scaling up production of their fuel, specialty chemical or biomaterial to commercial scale. The companies spend significant R&D money and time optimizing pathway yield during fermentation. For example, Dupont took 7 years and $400M to scale-up microbial production of 1,3-propanediol. Jay Keasling, a founder of Amyris Biotechnologies, a leading synthetic biology company, reported that Amyris spends 95% of their time trying to find and eliminate unintended interactions between components in their engineered metabolic pathways. Reducing the R&D costs in the biofuels and industrial biotechnology industries would open up new application areas to environmentally-friendly, bio-based production solutions. This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
Errata
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Addenda
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Ginkgo BioWorks
SBIR Phase IB: Volatile gene expression reporters for use during fermentation
Contact
27 Drydock Ave Floor 8
Boston, MA 02210–2413
NSF Award
1003426 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$49,989
Start / end date
01/01/2010 – 06/30/2010
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes to develop a set of novel, versatile measurement tools for use during fermentation and scale-up in metabolic engineering. The tools will be based on the production of odorants and enable real-time time monitoring of gene expression levels during fermentation. Metabolic engineering holds great promise for enabling a range of important applications including cellulosic biofuels, therapeutics production, and bio-based, environmentally-friendly chemical manufacturing. But any such project requires that an engineered organism expressing the relevant biosynthetic pathway be scaled up from lab-sized cultures to large-scale commercial fermentation. This is not a straightforward task, and is different for every project, because the fermentation conditions required for each engineered strain are different. The new measurement tools will enable more detailed quantification of cell state during fermentation so that strain and pathway optimization is more informed. The broader impacts of this research are to enable more informed strain optimization for large-scale fermentation thereby reducing R&D costs for the bio-based manufacturing industry. With the growing interest in clean technology and alternatives to petroleum-based manufacturing, many new companies and existing companies are moving into the bioengineering and biomanufacturing industries. However, all of these companies face a common hurdle of scaling up production of their fuel, specialty chemical or biomaterial to commercial scale. The companies spend significant R&D money and time optimizing pathway yield during fermentation. For example, Dupont took 7 years and $400M to scale-up microbial production of 1,3-propanediol. Jay Keasling, a founder of Amyris Biotechnologies, a leading synthetic biology company, reported that Amyris spends 95% of their time trying to find and eliminate unintended interactions between components in their engineered metabolic pathways. Reducing the R&D costs in the biofuels and industrial biotechnology industries would open up new application areas to environmentally-friendly, bio-based production solutions. This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
Errata
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GridBridge, Inc
SBIR Phase I: Proof of Concept for a Manufacturable, Cost-effective, and Highly Efficient Solid State Transformer, Enabling Grid Modernization
Contact
1009 Capability Drive, Suite 200
Raleigh, NC 27606–3901
NSF Award
1315275 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$179,995
Start / end date
07/01/2013 – 06/30/2014
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project demonstrates a proof of concept for a solid state transformer (SST) that is commercially feasible and can ultimately meet electric utility requirements: highly efficient, cost-competitive, manufacturable within a specific market window, and scalable both to high power and high voltage. Although there has been early work in the area of SST research, current state of the art designs are based on components that aren?t yet commercially available, limiting the ability to commercialize and manufacture at a reasonable cost. GridBridge will introduce revolutionary circuit topology and uniquely incorporate commercially available devices in order to achieve the project goals. This project facilitates a cost-effective and electrically-efficient solution, which will prove SST feasibility to the market and ultimately enable complementary grid technology. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the successful transformation of fundamental research into a commercially feasible and customer-desirable product: the solid state transformer, or SST. Specific to the proposed revolutionary SST circuit topology, the proof of concept is enabling technology for numerous applications: electric vehicle chargers, energy storage devices, and renewable integration. Phase I results are therefore worthy of paper submissions to various IEEE divisions, including Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition. This project will also predict an SST market introduction and the results will therefore be disseminated through pre-existing utility partnerships, via industry white-papers, and through conference presentations. The societal benefit of a commercially feasible SST is colossal, as it is the step-function change required to truly orchestrate a modern grid: sending or receiving signals, making decisions, regulating power flow, and easily accommodating green technology. As a direct replacement to today?s 100-year-old-design of the distribution transformer, the SST will eventually replace numerous installed units and an incremental number purchased annually. Savings in electrical efficiency can be calculated in the trillions of dollars.
Errata
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Ground Fluor Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: PET Radiotracer Synthesis
Contact
2124 Y St. Flat 101
Lincoln, NE 68503–2495
NSF Award
1215217 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$180,000
Start / end date
07/01/2012 – 12/31/2012
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will support a new synthetic chemical approach for the creation of positron emission tomography (PET) imaging products to manage neurodegenerative disorders, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. Creating these imaging products relies on the rapid and efficient labeling of tracer molecules with a radioisotope ([18F]fluoride). The difficulties inherent in radiofluorination chemistry have severely limited the scope of radiotracers available for clinical use. This NSF SBIR Phase 1 project addresses this critical problem using the company?s proprietary single-step fluorination technology. This technology advances the current state-of-the-art with simple, fast, and highly efficient radiofluorination, permitting an entire new class of drugs to be labeled with no-carrier-added [18F]fluoride for the first time. The project will focus on the synthesis of clinically relevant radiotracers for pediatric cancer and Parkinson?s disease. Technical studies to be performed using this support include optimization of this new radiofluorination manufacturing methodology across multiple radiosynthesis platforms. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to provide technology to expand the scope of PET as a platform for determining the identification and staging of diseases, and assessing the efficacy of treatment regimens. PET is an underutilized diagnostic imaging technique that is stymied by the lack of highly efficient, broadly applicable radiofluorination methods. The radiotracer manufacturing technology developed here is extremely general and applicable to the preparation of new imaging agents for PET. The availability of this general labeling technique can also speed development of new drugs by providing in vivo biomarkers of new therapeutic agents which can be used to determine optimal dosing of new drugs and variability of biodistribution in target populations. The commercial potential of PET imaging is significant; the worldwide market for PET is expected to grow to $15 billion by 2015. There is also room for significant expansion of this market as new imaging agents become available.
Errata
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Guiding Technologies Corporation
SBIR Phase I: Using Data Mining to Optimally Customize Therapy for Individuals with Autism
Contact
1500 JFK Blvd Suite 1825 2 Penn
Philadelphia, PA 19102–1710
NSF Award
1448289 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$169,999
Start / end date
01/01/2015 – 12/31/2015
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project includes innovations in data mining and the treatment of autism. Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy is the gold standard in treating autism. Applying data analytics to data from ABA therapy sessions will contribute in several important ways: a) patterns may be discerned across individuals with autism to better understand variations in autism and create therapies to target these differences; b) patterns may be matched with other data, such as genomic data, to identify cross-patterns that may be useful in better understanding autism and ways to improve therapy; and c) the frontiers of data mining will be expanded to provide guidance in real time. This project will have the following societal impacts: 1) many more individuals with autism across the globe will receive early, quality, cost-effective treatment regimens that will enable them to live more fulfilled lives and reach their full potential; 2) families whose children are good candidates for treatment and receive it will experience reduced stress and better family life; and 3) the additional lifetime cost of not effectively treating children with autism, which is approximately ten-fold the cost of treatment, will be reduced. The proposed project is to extract informative sequential patterns from trial sequences of an individual student, use them to accurately predict trial outcomes, and utilize the predictive model to provide individualized recommendations about how to modify trials and steps of student training. To achieve this goal, predictive data mining will be used. To develop accurate predictive models, the project will build on a large body of recent work in machine learning on temporal predictive modeling and sequential pattern mining, including some of the previous results of the project team. Special attention will be paid to the recent work in educational data mining and intelligent tutoring. Specific key objectives include: 1) Representation of Trial Data for Predictive Modeling: how to represent the raw sequential data in a way that is most suitable for prediction modeling; 2) Development of Models for Prediction of Trial Outcomes: which model is the most suitable for prediction of outcomes in sequential trials and how to train a prediction model from highly-dimensional multi-therapy recipient sequential data; and 3) Guiding Therapy of a Child with Autism Based on an Early Classification Model: how to adjust and extend the previously developed approach by the project team to guide trials.
Errata
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HealthMyne, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: An Integrated Search, Analytics, and Imaging (SAI) Platform for Clinical Decision Support and Mobile Health
Contact
918, Deming Way, 3rd Floor
Madison, WI 53717–1945
NSF Award
1345927 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$179,999
Start / end date
01/01/2014 – 12/31/2014
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I Project proposes to develop and deliver to health care enterprises a next generation imaging, analytics, and search solution that meets not only the current needs of multi-enterprise medical image viewing, but satisfies emerging demands related to clinical decision support and mobile health. The project addresses one of the ?Big Data? problems of medical imaging, i.e. providing access anywhere within the healthcare enterprise to large studies, advanced imaging tools, and image-based analytics across a spectrum of devices from powerful personal computers to mobile devices. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to translate novel research using quantitative imaging biomarkers into actual clinical practice. Medical imaging is commonly used for cancer screening, treatment planning, and monitoring but the results that come from purely qualitative interpretations of these images are not always definitive. Recent progress has shown that high-throughput extraction and analysis of advanced quantitative imaging features from medical images (?radiomics?) can be used to increase the accuracy and confidence of cancer screening in certain cases. The goals of this project are to incorporate these analytics into a commercially available system for medical image display and distribution which is necessary for widespread clinical adoption. These advances will enable health care providers to lower costs associated with unnecessary follow up exams as well as to improve patient outcomes through identification of tumors that are more likely to be resistant to treatment and to more efficiently and accurately monitor the response to treatment using medical imaging.
Errata
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Hummingbird Nano, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Innovative Platform Technology for Rapid Three Dimensional Micro Fabrication
Contact
1500 Bull Lea Rd. #9
Lexington, KY 40511–1268
NSF Award
1415497 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$149,265
Start / end date
07/01/2014 – 06/30/2015
Abstract
This SBIR Phase I project will reduce health costs and increase accessibility to diagnostics by reducing the cost of manufacture, and increasing manufacturing volume of superior quality microfluidic devices. The proposal seeks to develop a platform technology that produces the same manufacturing benefits as rapid prototyping and rapid manufacturing, though the resolution and surface finish will be optical grade on the micro scale. This may enable a variety of things including less expensive drug making, to faster disease diagnosis, to health benefits to the third world, to eliminating the backlog of rape-kits awaiting analysis. The end results - the lowering of medical expenses, faster diagnosis of disease, a boost in research, lowered pharmaceutical costs - are likely to be broadly beneficial. The technical innovation is a leap forward in the conceptual basis of Small Form Factor designs. The novelty of the idea opens and enables new research areas in engineering and chemical disciplines. The project will address manufacture of very low cost (~1/10th the current market price) capillary electrophoresis (CE) chips by developing a platform technology for fast prototyping microfluidic chip layouts. The technology allows the formation of a three dimensional ?shell? of micron sized scale parts. The research will take a two-pronged approach: developing an improved understanding of interactions of the prototyping components and combining it with experimental development of a prototype ?T-shaped? CE chip. The theoretical aspect of the microfluidic molding, which has been demonstrated by a laboratory proof-of-concept experiment, will focus on understanding the feasible operating range and defining the performance limitations of the system. The experimental aspect will be dedicated to manipulation of the system to reveal the configuration required for the ?T-shaped? CE chip.
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IOTAS, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Automated Pairing and Provisioning
Contact
2547 NE 16th Ave
Portland, OR 97212–4231
NSF Award
1550231 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$179,999
Start / end date
01/01/2016 – 12/31/2016
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be on the Real Estate Industry, specifically targeted at the Multi-Family-Home (MFH) industry, to help them increase revenue potential by digitizing their apartments through Smart Home Automation. It is estimated that the Smart Home Automation industry will reach $71B by 2018. The MFH industry will participate through additional charges to the residents for smart home automation support. However, the bigger increase in revenue will most likely come from better data and insights on their buildings which leads to opportunities to monetize that data and sell software targeted at MFH buildings. In addition to increased revenue, there is potential to save costs through more efficient use of labor and materials and through better management of energy. The MFH industry can also get insights on their entire building portfolio versus a single building and more efficiently manage their entire portfolio. The MFH industry implementing Smart Home Automation technology has huge societal benefits by integrating with smart grids and utility demand response programs. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to enable the deployment of a scalable and maintainable infrastructure through the use of mechanisms including automatic pairing, tiered authentication, and network isolation in low cost, resource-constrained Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The problem with existing IoT pairing methods is that they are targeted at Single-Family-Home deployments and the number of nodes that needs to be paired are relatively minimal. However, this is not a scalable model when trying to address the needs of the Multi-Family-Home (MFH) industry. In the multi-family dwelling, the sheer density of nodes creates new problems. The issue is that all the devices could easily be paired but to differentiate the nodes so that they authenticate and provision to the right apartment is the challenge. Developing a cost effective, scalable solution for this high-density scenario is a key component to fulfilling the value proposition of mass deployment in the Multi-Family-Home industry. The anticipated result of this project is that a proof of concept will be developed that gives directional guidance on the best way to solve the issue of pairing large quantities of end nodes and authenticating them appropriately to the correct apartment.
Errata
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Imprint Energy, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Integration of Custom, Printable Batteries in Robotic Technologies
Contact
1320 Harbor Bay Parkway
Alameda, CA 94502–0000
NSF Award
1153446 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$179,864
Start / end date
01/01/2012 – 12/31/2012
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research(SBIR) Phase I project will demonstrate the feasibility of printing and integrating custom, unconventional form factor batteries utilizing a zinc-metal oxide battery chemistry with a novel ionic liquid gel electrolyte into next generation robotic systems. Conventional batteries have been unable to address the inherently challenging power system needs of robots: light and mobile, inherently safe, composed of cheap and sustainable materials, easily integrateable into non-planar formats, and able to survive extreme environments. As the field of robotics advances, what is being demanded of its batteries is a fundamental evolution in its materials, engineering, and architecture. Solution-based print manufacturing is used because the fabrication method is dynamic and enables batteries to be manufactured in a variety of form factors and on planar and non-planar substrates. In robotic devices, batteries can be incorporated into structural materials, conformably coated onto surfaces, or integrated within the electronic circuit boards to enable greater power performance that will increase the run-life and functionality of the robot. The aims of this project are to benchmark its battery technology's cycle life and extreme environmental stability capabilities, demonstrate the printing of custom series and parallel battery system configurations, and showcase its unique flexibility properties. The broader impacts/commercial potential of this project are the establishment of a new battery technology and manufacturing paradigm which can be disruptive to markets requiring novel device functionality and form factors. The significant reduction of the cost and environmental impact of batteries offer an opportunity to key segments such as robotics the opportunity to repurpose and revitalize the printing industry to manufacture next generation batteries. Success in this project will showcase this battery technology's feature set and manufacturing methodology to further differentiate itself from its competitors, increase customer interest, secure early customer development funding or partnerships, and meet specifications needed to scale towards producing commercial products. Past approaches to battery miniaturization have been met with significant barriers that have limited market acceptance and restrained development of a variety of burgeoning fields requiring portable power. A prime example is the robotics market and more specifically the wireless and wearable technologies sectors, which could be revolutionized by the battery technology and manufacturing approach presented in this project.
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InsightFinder Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Providing Automatic Anomaly Prediction and Diagnosis Software as a Service for Cloud Infrastructures
Contact
154 Grand Street
New York, NY 10013–3141
NSF Award
1548867 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$171,250
Start / end date
01/01/2016 – 12/31/2016
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be to greatly improve the robustness and diagnosability of many real world cloud computing infrastructures. The proposed technology will significantly reduce the downtime of production cloud systems, which can attract more users to adopt cloud computing technology and thus benefit the expanding segment of society and the economy that depends on cloud technology. The project will also advance the state of the art of cloud system reliability research by putting research results into real world use. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will transform system anomaly management for production cloud computing infrastructures. The novelty of the company's solution lies in three unique features: 1) it provides automatic multivariate anomaly detection that can enable high-fidelity anomaly alerts without imposing any configuration burden on the user; 2) it provides early anomaly alerts before big system problems occur; and 3) it provides anomaly diagnosis that can generate hints on why an anomaly occurs. The proposed research will produce novel and practical anomaly prediction and diagnosis solutions that will be validated in real world cloud infrastructures. Specifically, the project consists of two thrusts: 1) online multivariate anomaly prediction that explores new light-weight unsupervised learning algorithms for achieving high-fidelity anomaly alerts and providing time-to-failure estimations; and 2) automatic anomaly diagnosis that can identify possible causes of an anomaly to greatly expedite the anomaly troubleshooting process in the cloud. The company will implement the software products and carry out case studies with partners on real world cloud computing infrastructures.
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Intentionet, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Proactive Network Configuration Analysis
Contact
16625 Redmond Way Ste M241
Redmond, WA 98052–4444
NSF Award
1621685 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
07/01/2016 – 06/30/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project stems from technology that automatically analyzes network configurations for errors. Computer networks are so tightly woven into the fabric of modern business and society that the delivery of almost all products and services relies on them. Yet networks are notoriously difficult to manage correctly today, and configuration errors that compromise availability, security, and performance are common. Today operators are left to simply wait for bad things to happen and then diagnose and repair the errors as quickly as possible to mitigate the damage. The technology developed in this project will enable organizations to identify network security and availability errors before they are introduced into the running network, thereby saving significant time and money, preventing unauthorized access to customer information, and minimizing down time. The project will also lead to a better understanding of the most prevalent kinds of network configuration errors and how to design networks to prevent them. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will perform the research and development necessary to demonstrate the technical feasibility of a proactive approach to detecting network configuration errors, as instantiated in a software tool. The key innovation underlying the approach is the ability to comprehensively and precisely model and validate the behavior of a network solely by analyzing the network's configuration files. The proposed work has three primary technical goals. First, configuration languages are extremely diverse and complex, so the tool currently only supports features that have been used by the networks to which it has been applied. A key challenge is to augment the logical model underlying the tool to support other features that are used by real-world networks. Second, the tool is currently computationally expensive for large networks. Scalability will be improved by leveraging the structure inherent in network configurations and topologies to perform configuration analysis modularly. Third, to be usable by network operators, the tool must integrate with existing source-control repositories and must provide an expressive interface enabling operators to explore the analysis results. In summary, these research directions will turn the software tool from a research prototype into an expressive, scalable, and usable tool for analyzing real networks.
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JEEVA WIRELESS INC
SBIR Phase I: Passive Radio for the Internet of Things
Contact
4000 Mason Road Ste 300
Seattle, WA 98195–0001
NSF Award
1622232 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$224,999
Start / end date
07/01/2016 – 06/30/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to enable Wi-Fi and other radio transmissions at up to 10000 times lower power than has been possible. The technique for the first time can generate Wi-Fi and other radio transmissions using backscatter communication, for orders of magnitude lower power than conventional techniques. These backscatter transmissions can be decoded on conventional Wi-Fi Access Points, phones, and other devices. Given the increasing interest in the Internet-of-Things where small computing devices are embedded in everyday objects and environments, improving the energy efficiency of communication by up to 10,000 times will substantially extend battery life. As a result, this project would make the Internet of things more viable economically and environmentally, since batteries will travel to landfills at a slower rate. Economically, reducing or eliminating batteries from pervasive sensors will lead to growth in the semiconductor industry, and also in other businesses, which will be able to allow their customers to search the physical world, thanks to the new sources of data about the physical world. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project introduces the key insight that the power-hungry, high-frequency analog and RF components found in battery-powered radios can be grouped together into a wall-powered device called the helper node. The energy constrained, battery-powered mobile/embedded endpoint device contains only low frequency and mostly digital components, making its power consumption negligible. The mobile devices transmit data by reflecting RF signals generated by the helper. This novel partitioning of the radio system allows the Endpoint to communicate far more efficiently than was possible with active radio techniques. This project aims to create a complete network stack that enables passive devices to coexist with conventional active devices in the ISM band. The system consists of ultra-low energy endpoint sensors, wall-powered helper devices, and commercial off the shelf active radio routers. The project involves building working networking hardware, designing and implementing a network stack matched to the project?s unique needs, and testing the resulting system with real customers. If successful, the project will have delivered the critical enabling technology for the vision of pervasively connected devices with billions of devices connected to the Internet without the need to replace batteries.
Errata
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Addenda
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KANDRA LABS INC
SBIR Phase I: Zulip threaded group chat
Contact
235 Berry St Ste 306
San Francisco, CA 94158–1629
NSF Award
1722461 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
07/01/2017 – 02/28/2018
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is group chat technology that enables knowledge workers to collaborate more effectively than ever before. It is the first tool built that empowers users to efficiently carry out both real-time and asynchronous conversations in the same system, with each user reading only those conversations that are important to them. In particular, the technology empowers teams to make decisions in virtual meetings that take place asynchronously over periods of hours or days. This is in contrast with existing group chat technology, where conversations usually end as soon as someone starts talking about something else. This ability to conduct long running, virtual meetings is invaluable for large teams that need to coordinate work across different locations and time zones. Large, distributed teams are fast becoming the norm for how organizations operate, as instant communication and globalization make such teams the workforce of the future. Coordinating the efforts of such teams is a huge pain point for companies, and this technology is a leap in the state of the art in this space. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project has two key research objectives: scaling the technology to work for teams of size 10,000+, and determining the feasibility of porting the technology to mobile. A major scalability research area is search. The company envisions the technology to be the primary place where decisions are made, and hence a primary place where knowledge is stored, so fast, full-text search is important, despite the fact that chat generates much more traffic than email. One research area on mobile is the HCI challenge of displaying rich options for conversation navigation on a small mobile screen. The problem is unique to this technology, since having long running, asynchronous conversations means that users do not typically read messages in a strictly chronological fashion. The company anticipates the Phase I grant will enable it to develop a working solution to the search scalability problem, and a working prototype of a performant and productive mobile user experience.
Errata
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Killer Snails, LLC
SBIR Phase I: Learning from nature - Marine educational games that assess scientific knowledge transfer through game play
Contact
3203 Beverley Road
Brooklyn, NY 11226–5519
NSF Award
1549231 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
01/01/2016 – 06/30/2016
Abstract
This SBIR Phase 1 project will create an engaging online learning game using venomous marine snails as a conduit to explore scientific issues in nature through creative problem solving. The USA is currently ranked 52nd in the world in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This is detrimental intellectually and economically to the future of American society. Recent studies have indicated it is not what we teach, but how we teach that enhances student-learning abilities, particularly as it pertains to STEM. A strong case is being made for using learning games to convey educational content. This project is driven by the research objectives to understand how children learn specific science content and why certain game elements are better suited to convey scientific material. The outcome of this project will be a propriety digital learning game including a unique parent/player assessment tool used to measure novel STEM content during game playing and extending opportunities for learners to engage in ongoing scientific research ("citizen science"). Commercialization of the products created in this project will transform scientific discoveries in predatory marine snail research for social and economic benefit to meet the NSF's mission of supporting education initiatives that improve the lives of U.S. Citizens, and generate income for tax revenue and jobs via the employment of software designers, educators and scientists. This project will build proprietary assessment tools into online games that continuously engage users in the scientific process of discovery and application of science learning using a novel player/parent data aggregator dashboard. Our inventive two-sided player/parent dashboard will allow players to measure their progress and attain unique, educational rewards such as unlocking new game components, and identifying local citizen science projects to enhance their STEM learning. The goal of this project is to disrupt the status quo of STEM learning and address STEM learning market needs by combining gameplay, content learning, and assessment tools to develop high-quality, creative, science learning games. A three-component Play-Break-Fix strategy will be used to design and develop all games: 1. Iterative prototyping to generate novel ideas and integrate any existing content. 2. Repetitive evaluation to test the usability of demos and the initial feasibility of the learning games created and parent/player dashboard concept. 3. Commercialization testing of the products from this project that are the best of the build and analyze model. The parent/player assessment dashboard developed in this project will provide a template for furthering parental engagement with children's learning to significantly improve STEM knowledge and will engage players in citizen science experiences that will strengthen their connection to STEM learning.
Errata
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LambdaVision, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Development of a Protein-Based Retinal Implant
Contact
400 Farmington Ave
Farmington, CT 06032–1913
NSF Award
1448244 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$179,937
Start / end date
01/01/2015 – 12/31/2015
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to develop and commercialize a high resolution, protein-based retinal implant intended to restore vision to the millions of patients suffering from retinal degenerative diseases, particularly retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. These currently incurable and blinding diseases affect between 30-50 million people worldwide, and lead to a loss of independence for the individual, as well as an increased burden on their caregivers. Additionally besides the emotional and physical burden of vision loss, the cost of vision problems in the US alone is estimated at $139 billion. The work outlined in this SBIR proposal has the potential to significantly impact our understanding of retinal degenerative diseases, as well as the field of retinal prosthetics. The subretinal implant under development provides the framework for the next generation of high-resolution retinal prosthetics, while offering a cost-effective solution to vision restoration, and will help these patients regain independence and thus improve their quality of life. ------------------ The proposed project seeks to quantify the spatial resolution of a flexible, protein-based, ion-mediated retinal implant, as well as to perform an initial evaluation of the implant in vivo. The retinal implant under development is the first implantable technology to use the light-activated protein, bacteriorhodopsin, to convert light energy into an ion gradient that is capable of activating the remaining neural circuitry of the degenerate retina. The retinal implant will replace the function of the damaged photoreceptor cells. Spatial resolution will be evaluated ex vivo using excised retinas obtained from a transgenic rat model of retinitis pigmentosa. Extracellular microelectrode array experiments will be carried out to demonstrate the resolution of the implant, which is critical for meaningful vision. Safety and efficacy of the implant will be evaluated in vivo via a 6-week feasibility study on domestic swine. These in vivo studies are critical to establish the surgical procedures and biocompatibility and biostability of the implant in preparation for long-term, rigorous, preclinical efficacy testing of the implant as part of Phase II investigations. These experiments are critical value creation milestones that will demonstrate the commercial viability of the retinal implant under development.
Errata
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Living Ink Technologies, LLC
SBIR Phase I: Engineering novel pigmented cyanobacteria for the use in the ink, printing and colorant industries
Contact
3185-A Rampart Road
Fort Collins, CO 80521–2025
NSF Award
1648499 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
12/15/2016 – 11/30/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is developing and producing a sustainable ink for the printing industry. Ink is commonly used in a variety of applications, and billions of pounds of ink are produced annually. The majority of chemicals within ink are petroleum based and are mined from the earth. These chemicals also are toxic to humans and the environment. Nature has produced a multitude of molecules capable of replacing components currently utilized in ink. While many organisms that produce these replacement molecules are slow growing and require energy sources like sugar, photosynthetic microbes, specifically cyanobacteria, are capable of being engineered to generate some of these replacement molecules in an efficient manner to produce pigments in ink formulations that are safe, renewable and 100% biodegradable. This ink will be used by businesses for printing packaging, marketing material, and other printed products. Developing and integrating these ink products will decrease the overall detrimental impact of traditional inks on the environment and human health. This SBIR Phase I project proposes to develop sustainable ink formulations using engineered cyanobacteria cells capable of generating cellular pigments that will make the cultures optically black in appearance. These optically black cells will act as pigments that replace mined pigments found in traditional ink formulations. This project uses entire cyanobacteria cells in ink formulations so that extraction of pigments/dyes is not necessary, thus saving energy and reducing cost. While currently utilized pigments used for ink are minerals mined from the ground such as carbon black, which is a finite material, cyanobacteria are a renewable source of biomass for bio-products, as these organisms leverage sunlight, carbon dioxide, wastewater and land otherwise unsuitable for conventional agriculture to rapidly generate biomass. In addition to the development of renewable cyanobacteria strains considered to be optically black, this project will develop optimal growth conditions as well as techno-economic models leveraging these strains within several subsets of the ink industry. Using cyanobacteria to produce ink products is a novel application, which will be a major breakthrough for the algal bio-products industry.
Errata
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Looking Glass Ventures, LLC
SBIR Phase I: EasyAuthor - An End User Authoring Tool for Open and Intelligent Technology-Enhanced Assessments.
Contact
202 Sequoia Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94306–1043
NSF Award
1646935 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
12/01/2016 – 08/31/2017
Abstract
This SBIR Phase I project will research the feasibility of a cloud-based, collaborative authoring tool to achieve an order-of-magnitude reduction in technical skills required to author technology-enhanced assessments (TEAs). Additionally, it will seek to advance the frontiers of TEA authoring beyond individual assessments to encompass the creation of personalized TEA pathways for diverse learners. The effort will explore novel technologies including a symbolic abstraction to enable visual design and implementation of complex programming constructs, and the representation of TEAs as "intelligent objects" interoperable with disparate and proprietary assessment platforms. This effort seeks to break the stranglehold of large organizations on a growing assessments market that marginalizes educators due to barriers of cost and technology skills. It will empower educators by making available easy-to-use tools that enable creation and sharing of open TEAs and TEA pathways to support deeper learning at scale, allowing educators to distribute TEAs in a classroom without being restricted by a proprietary assessment system, triggering the evolution of a peer-to-peer marketplace for teacher-created assessments. This disruption bears the potential to empower educator communities at scale and impact all learners in secondary and tertiary education settings through equitable access to quality assessments. This project will feature two distinctive innovations. The first is a visual programming environment with symbolic abstraction of complex programming constructs that are imperative for the design and creation of TEAs. This will enable intuitive authoring of complex TEAs by non-programmers (an impossibility today) and break down the biggest friction point for achieving access to TEAs at scale. The second is an open format for representation of TEAs as intelligent objects that are platform agnostic and "embeddable" in any assessment delivery system. This will facilitate distribution and usage of TEAs in browsers and thin client environments without the need for server side functionality mandated by proprietary systems. This will eventually break the stranglehold of proprietary assessment delivery systems that tie TEA access to their platforms. The project will pursue two primary research questions: How efficient and useful is the TEA authoring experience for non-technical educators? Are the TEAs effective in eliciting targeted reasoning and thinking processes? These research questions will help validate the technical feasibility of our innovative use of the proposed tool to enable easy TEA creation and distribution, and the efficacy of the complex TEAs created using the proposed project in providing evidence of target learning.
Errata
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Lygos Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Production of high-value chemicals using industrial yeast hosts
Contact
1249 8th St.
Berkeley, CA 94710–1413
NSF Award
1345920 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
01/01/2014 – 06/30/2014
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes to develop a metabolic engineering and synthetic biology toolkit for a scalable, industrial yeast host. Currently, the vast majority of synthetic biology tools are directed toward engineering E. coli or S. cerevisiae, model laboratory organisms that are often poorly suited for industrial fermentations. Furthermore, there is an absence of available synthetic biology tools for those hosts that are well suited for industrial fermentations. This research addresses this problem through the development of a foundational set of synthetic biology tools in an industrially tractable, but under researched yeast strain. The research objectives include construction and characterization of a series of expression vectors that facilitate transfer of genetic material into host cells, construction of a genetic library designed to perturb host metabolism and redirect carbon flux toward production of target small-molecules, and demonstration of an approach to reduce expression of competing metabolic pathways. Proof-of-principle application of the tools will be used to demonstrate improvements in malonic acid biosynthesis in engineered yeast. The broader/commercial impacts of the proposed project, if successful, will be technology that enables genetic modification and engineering of a robust, industrial yeast host, removing significant technical barriers that have traditionally inhibited both commercial and academic research. In addition, the industrial yeast host genetic toolkit may accelerate research and development on, and improve the commercial economics of, a range bio-chemicals with over $30B in aggregate market value. The vast majority of these products are currently produced petrochemically, but there are potential cost and environmental advantages if they can be produced biologically. The technology will first be applied to commercialize malonic acid, a high-value specialty chemical currently derived petrochemically.
Errata
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Mallinda, LLC
SBIR Phase I: Development of Advanced Composite Materials for Athletic Equipment
Contact
1954 Cedaridge Cir.
Superior, CO 80027–4489
NSF Award
1520520 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$149,686
Start / end date
07/01/2015 – 12/31/2015
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is for the development of end user-moldable advanced polyimine composite inputs for the athletic protective gear market (which is valued at $16.6 billion). Currently, plastic products must be produced using industrial manufacturing techniques that have high tooling costs. As a result, manufacturers produce a small range of predetermined sizes and shapes, which do not provide a custom fit for end users. In the case of athletic gear, there is a growing market for hard-shell protective equipment which can be custom molded for a better fit. Polyimine polymers and advanced composites offer a compelling blend of strength and malleability in order to create more user-friendly lightweight and durable advanced composites that may be shaped by the end-user. In addition to creating greater user customization, both the virgin polyimine polymer and advanced composites that incorporate polyimines are easily and economically recyclable. The total U.S. composite materials market is a $30 billion market, representing 36% of the global composites sector. Polyimine polymers and advanced composite derivatives will reduce environmental waste and increase manufacturing efficiencies across a broad range of vertical markets in the composites sector including personal protective equipment, aerospace, automotive, and infrastructural materials. The intellectual merit of this project derives from the development of the unique chemistry of polyimine polymers. Polymers can be broadly grouped into two categories, thermosets and thermoplastics. Thermosets are strong due to the chemical characteristics of the plastic. However, once cured, thermosets cannot be reshaped. As a result, thermosets are neither repairable, nor are they efficiently recyclable. In contrast, thermoplastics, which are weaker than thermosets, may be molded and remolded. However, remolding requires very high industrial temperatures of between 400 and 600 deg. F. Polyimine polymers are moldable and remoldable thermoset materials. Importantly, these polymers combine high rigidity and tough mechanical properties with mild molding temperatures. This Phase I research project will include developing end user moldable composite materials that are a maximum of ¼ inch in thickness and meet industry standards for limb joint protective equipment. Material testing and mechanical characterization will relate to testing requirements arising from composite prototype development including but not limited to: delamination, fiber-dependent moldability, fiber-dependent flex, fiber-dependent tensile, fiber/resin-dependent pass-through impact force, and failure analysis.
Errata
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Manus Biosynthesis, Inc.
STTR Phase I: Overcoming Metabolic Pathway Limitations through De Novo Pathway Design for Terpenoid Biosynthesis
Contact
1030 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02138–5390
NSF Award
1321442 – STTR PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
07/01/2013 – 06/30/2014
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (STTR) Phase I project aims to develop a novel, high flux terpenoid precursor pathway by circumventing limitations of the bacterial methyl erythritol-phosphate (MEP) pathway for the renewable production of monoterpenoids. Monoterpenoids are natural chemical precursors for several consumer products, and many are produced via highly polluting chemical processes. In the proposed project the plan is to sidestep some of the MEP pathway limitations by designing de novo metabolic pathways. The designed/predicted enzymes will be characterized individually and assembled into a pathway. Further, multivariate-modular metabolic engineering (MMME) approaches will be used to assemble the upstream and downstream pathways to optimize the metabolic flux for the overproduction at commercially viable levels. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project, if successful, will be to develop a microbial monoterpenoid production platform from renewable sugars that will retain and develop sustainable manufacturing of monoterpenoid-derived products in the US. By this strategy, terpenoids can be made at much higher productivities than the native bacterial MEP pathway. While the immediate focus is on the $1B+ monoterpene/derivative market, this approach will benefit US manufacturing of all terpenoids, in total a $5B+ market. Overall, this project will provide a new sustainable production route for these natural chemicals.
Errata
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Manus Biosynthesis, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Engineering Microbial Biosynthesis of a Non-caloric Natural Sweetener
Contact
1030 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02138–5390
NSF Award
1214339 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$180,000
Start / end date
07/01/2012 – 06/30/2013
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will address the potential of synthetic biology and metabolic engineering technologies to generate microbial strains over-producing a non-caloric natural sweetener. Current production and utilization of natural sweeteners is limited due to the high cost of the cultivation and production from native plant sources. So, although natural sweeteners have been used for thousands of years, and are known for their healthy and non-caloric properties, their high production cost prevents them from directly competing with synthetic sweeteners extensively used in beverages and carbonated soft drinks. Our objective is to develop a fermentation process for biosynthetic production allowing increased adoption of low-calorie, natural sweeteners in consumer markets. Metabolic engineering approaches will be used to transfer the natural biosynthetic pathway from the plant to a bacterial host and optimize the metabolic flux for the overproduction at a commercially viable level. We anticipate that a high-productivity strain will be obtained, suitable for continued commercialization efforts. Overall, this project, if successful, will provide a new sustainable production route to the non-caloric natural sweeteners. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the development of a microbial process for the economical and sustainable production of non-caloric natural sweetener, with a potential $3 billion global market. The use of this sweetener will improve taste profiles and expand adoption of low-calorie beverages, confectionaries, baked goods, dairy products, and so on, thus benefitting public health by reducing incidence of diabetes and other obesity-related diseases. Such benefits will translate to reduced healthcare cost both in the U.S. and globally. Additionally, this research will develop generalizable synthetic biology techniques for the high-volume production of natural products with many applications for human health and wellness.
Errata
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Manus Biosynthesis, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Engineering Bacteria for Low Cost Renewable Biochemical Production
Contact
1030 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02138–5390
NSF Award
1248229 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
01/01/2013 – 12/31/2013
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a custom-designed microbial biocatalyst for the renewable production of high value terpenoid biochemicals. Terpenoid biochemicals derived from essential oils are used in numerous consumer products and as food additives. Many of them accumulate in nature in various stereo-isomeric forms, each of which possesses unique properties and applications. These molecules are believed to function principally in ecological roles, serving as herbivore-feeding deterrents, antifungal defenses, and pollinator attractants. The research objective is to develop a fermentation process for biosynthetic production allowing increased adoption of such natural alternatives to synthetic chemicals. Multivariate-Modular Metabolic engineering (MMME) approaches will be used to transfer the natural biosynthetic pathway from the plant to a bacterial host and to optimize the metabolic flux for the overproduction at a commercially viable level. A high-productivity strain is anticipated, suitable for continued commercialization efforts. Overall, this project, if successful, will provide a new sustainable production route for these natural chemicals. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the development of a microbial process for the economic and sustainable production of high value terpenoid biochemicals. These terpenoid biochemicals have applications in a variety of industries ranging from agro-chemicals, petro-chemicals and flavor and fragrance (F&F) chemicals; specifically they are commonly used as flavor agents, bio- herbicides, sprout inhibitors and as bio-pest repellents. In all, the total potential addressable markets exceed $3 Billion. Microbial production will benefit society by improving the renewability of the production process and by relocating production from overseas to the US. In summary, the development of microbes capable of producing the target will enable sustainable production of the target as well as create jobs in the US. This research will develop generalizable microbial strain engineering techniques for the high-volume production of natural products through a sustainable manufacturing process.
Errata
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Manus Biosynthesis, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Development of a low-cost production platform through engineered bacteria for a novel natural acaricide.
Contact
1030 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02138–5390
NSF Award
1621420 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
07/01/2016 – 12/31/2016
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project will be to reduce the incidence of Lyme Disease through the biomanufacturing of a novel natural acaricide. New cases of Lyme Disease have grown by nearly 50% over the past decade while the existing synthetic acaricides are dwindling in use due to regulatory and consumer safety concerns. The CDC and USDA have begun to champion a highly effective natural acaricide extracted from grapefruit. This target molecule is a GRAS-approved natural product, which has been used extensively as a food ingredient for decades. It is thought that this compelling safety benefit combined with potent efficacy will spur increased spraying in public areas and private residences. However, the cost of producing this natural acaricide has been prohibitive, and there is an opportunity to develop alternative sustainable production technologies. This SBIR Phase I project proposes to develop a microbial process for the economical and sustainable production of a highly potent natural acaricide. Increasing wariness of synthetic insecticides combined with the need to prevent tick-borne illnesses creates a tremendous opportunity for natural acaricides. The project's terpene target has long been known as a highly effective acaricide; however, its commercialization has been hampered by a high cost of production. The aim is to develop an alternative fermentation process for biosynthetic production enabling the cost reductions required to effectively penetrate the acaricide market. The main objective for this project is to increase titers by an order of magnitude. This will be accomplished by employing established and novel metabolic and protein engineering approaches. Overall, this project will provide a new sustainable, cost-effective production route, thereby enabling acaricide commercialization.
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Massachusetts Materials Technologies LLC
SBIR Phase I: Hardness Strength and Ductility Tester for Field Assessment of Structures
Contact
810 Memorial Drive
Cambridge, MA 02139–4662
NSF Award
1548845 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$149,877
Start / end date
01/01/2016 – 06/30/2016
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will support commercialization of a portable instrument capable of probing the hardness, strength and ductility of existing infrastructure without service interruption. Catastrophic failures of pipelines, buildings and bridges result in loss of life and billions of dollars in repair, remediation, and liability. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) estimated the total cost incurred to remediate pipeline failures at $7 billion over the past 20 years. The new portable instrument will enhance the ability of those responsible for integrity management and condition assessment to prevent accidents and failures by determining the pressure capacity of pipelines for which original quality records are unavailable. It will be a safer, less invasive, and more economical alternative to removing a sample of material for laboratory testing. It will supersede existing in-field surface mechanical assessment based on indentation hardness testing. The initial market size for characterization services to oil and gas pipelines is $25 million per year. Additional applications for condition assessment of transportation, energy and naval infrastructures are expected. The instrument may also serve in quality control testing for imported steel products and for advanced manufacturing industries including aerospace. The intellectual merit of this project includes the transfer from laboratory to field service of a contact mechanical test of frictional sliding to measure mechanical properties of materials. Measurements from the new instrument serve as an input into non-empirical predicting equations for the material stress strain curve. The equations are adapted from previous academic research where parametric finite element and dimensional analysis provide a unique material stress strain curve from measured characteristics of the residual surface profile. Unlike indentation hardness, frictional sliding allows for continuous characterization of gradients in properties through welded joints, a frequent location of field failures. This project improves upon existing concepts of stylus self-alignment and field surface profiling techniques with the objective to validate accuracy of the instrument for the pipeline integrity market. The main effort includes integrating instrumentation to measure the material response with the action of sliding the stylus on the surface. Also, a dual-stylus unit will be implemented to improve the instrument accuracy through acquiring the material response to two different geometries of contact. Through this research, a prototype field testing unit will be implemented for further validation testing of the method for use on pipeline infrastructures.
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Mental Canvas, LLC
SBIR Phase I: In-Situ Sketching: Drawing on the Real World
Contact
61 Hartford Avenue
Madison, CT 06443–2743
NSF Award
1315663 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$179,999
Start / end date
07/01/2013 – 06/30/2014
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) Phase I project demonstrates the feasibility of a sketching system that bridges traditional drawing and three-dimensional modeling, offering a novel way to develop, explore and share visual ideas in 3-D. Using a fusion of hand-drawn strokes and captured imagery that can replicate the spatial and geometrical relationships found in the real world, these scenes are developed in 3-D at a speed and flexibility impossible with existing technology. The success and widespread adoption of the technology depends on the creation of a compelling and intuitive user experience. In order to confirm feasibility and bring the new platform to the market, the primary objective of this project is to complete the development of a tablet-based version of the system. The proposed research necessary to achieve this goal includes four interrelated parts: capture and exploration of exterior scenes, development of a user interface tailored to the new sketch paradigm, expansion of the sketching system to leverage data captured dynamically in situ, and a thorough evaluation of the user experience. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to develop technology that will directly impact creative design as practiced by professionals (e.g., architects, film makers, engineers, artists) by offering a new platform for creating and editing 3-D scenes, and will also impact the communication of ideas, where D representations predominate. In today's market place, the competitive position of many firms is often determined by their ability to rapidly design products, generate concepts, and evaluate new solutions. Moreover, over 70% of design costs are committed during the conceptual design phase. This technology has the potential to markedly speed this phase while qualitatively improving the development of these ideas. 3-D printing technology presents another application for this technology, whose commercialization (even to home users) has increased the demand for CAD software by hobbyists, independent inventors, and small businesses. The technology developed through this project will seize on this market opportunity and will also generate other business opportunities in software authoring tools, direct content creation, and consulting services. The core technology will also have applications in areas of cultural heritage, consumer marketing, and advertising.
Errata
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Modular Genetics, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Production of an Acyl Glycinate Surfactant by Fermentation
Contact
12-T Cabot Road
Woburn, MA 01801–0000
NSF Award
1248115 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
01/01/2013 – 06/30/2013
Abstract
This Small Business Innovative Research Phase I project is aimed at demonstrating that acyl glycinate surfactant can be produced by a novel bacterial fermentation route. The objective of this project is to construct a bacterial strain that produces acyl glycinate, and to provide a sample of that surfactant for commercial evaluation. A successful outcome will demonstrate that acyl glycine can be produced by fermentation. Surfactants are the bubbly components of cleaning products that give them their cleansing power. Surfactants are currently manufactured from petroleum or from seed oils, such as palm oil. The use of those raw materials increases greenhouse gas pollution and also leads to deforestation of rainforests. Retailers are demanding greener products, and regulatory agencies are demanding new minimally toxic chemicals. The demand for greener chemicals creates an opportunity to replace current surfactants with greener alternatives. The broader/commercial impact of the proposed innovation would be commercialization of the acyl glycinate surfactant. Additional benefits to society are that chemicals produced using this technology will be manufactured using domestically grown renewable raw materials, which do not compete with food sources. Furthermore, the energy required to produce these chemicals is low since the fermentation reaction is performed near ambient temperature. The chemicals are inherently safer than traditional chemicals because toxic solvents are not used, and the surfactants are biodegradable and do not contribute to increased greenhouse gas accumulation. Successful completion of the project will generate significant new scientific and technical information on new routes to making such surfactants.
Errata
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Addenda
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Modular Genetics, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Production of an Acyl Ethanolamine Surfactant by Fermentation
Contact
12-T Cabot Road
Woburn, MA 01801–0000
NSF Award
1621495 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
07/01/2016 – 06/30/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project would be commercialization of a surfactant (acyl ethanolamine) made from renewable raw materials, which do not compete with food sources. Surfactants are the bubbly components of cleaning products that give them their cleansing power. Surfactants are manufactured from petroleum or from seed oils, such as palm oil. The use of those raw materials increases greenhouse gas pollution and contributes to deforestation of rainforests. Society is demanding environmentally sustainable (greener) products with reduction or removal of toxicity. The demand for greener chemicals creates an opportunity to replace today's surfactants with greener alternatives. The surfactant chemicals produced in this project are inherently safer than traditional chemicals because toxic solvents are not used, and the surfactants are biodegradable and produced from renewable raw materials such as sugars, and as a result do not contribute to increased greenhouse gas accumulation. The acyl ethanolamine surfactant is designed to replace current commercial surfactants, which are contaminated, during the current manufacturing process, with the carcinogen 1,4 dioxane. The surfactant produced by the effort described here will not contain any 1,4 dioxane. Successful completion of this project will demonstrate a new technology for the production of nonionic surfactants. This is significant since nonionic surfactants represent about 40% of the $30 billion surfactant market. The technical objective of this Phase I research project is to construct a Bacillus strain that produces an acyl amino alcohol surfactant, namely, acyl ethanolamine. Certain naturally existing peptide synthetase enzymes catalyze the linkage of particular amino acids to other particular amino acids. In addition, certain peptide synthetase enzymes catalyze the linkage of particular fatty acids to particular amino acids. Past work demonstrated that this system can be engineered to catalyze the creation of unique molecules, such as acyl glycinate (fatty acid linked to glycine). During enzymatic synthesis of acyl glycinate, glycine is covalently attached to the synthetase via a thioester bond. Product release is catalyzed by a thioesterse domain. Release by a thioesterase results in production of fatty acid linked to the amino acid glycine. Certain naturally occurring peptide synthetase enzymes use reductase domains to release products. We hypothesize that release of acyl glycine via a reductase domain will result in the synthesis of acyl ethanolamine, rather than acyl glycine. The objective of this Phase I project is to create a chimeric peptide synthetase enzyme that converts acyl glycine into acyl ethanolamine during the process of release of the product from the enzyme.
Errata
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Molecular Vista, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Nanometer Scale Raman Force Microscopy for Topographic, Strain, and Chemical Analysis
Contact
100 Great Oaks Blvd. #140
San Jose, CA 95119–1456
NSF Award
1247448 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$179,998
Start / end date
01/01/2013 – 12/31/2013
Abstract
This Small Innovation Research Phase I project aims to demonstrate the feasibility of the Raman Force Microscope (RFM) to provide a new metrology tool for in situ topographic, strain, and chemical analysis with nanometer spatial resolution. Feature size reduction in the semiconductor industry requires that metrology methods must routinely measure properties down to the atomic scale. Novel materials and geometries add to the complexity of measurements. RFM technology is a combination of Raman microscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM), where an AFM tip provides a nanometer scale light source to generate stimulated Raman scattering, and at the same time measures the force gradient arising from the Raman scattering. The use of the AFM tip as the Raman scattering detector significantly simplifies Raman signal acquisition and system configuration. By combining a high-speed AFM scheme, this technology allows for in-line characterization of physical and chemical properties of nanoscale materials and structures in the manufacturing environment, i.e. stress in the channel layer and chemical characterization defects. The objectives of the proposed Phase I study are (1) to demonstrate reflection mode RFM for Raman signal measurement of Si wafers and (2) to demonstrate measurement of stress-induced Raman shifts in nanometer-sized features. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be felt not only in the semiconductor industry but across many disciplines and industries, both in academia and industry. RFM can be used to measure and characterize a wide variety of nanoscale materials and structures, e.g. high- and low-k dielectric films and other emerging materials (such as graphene) used in advanced semiconductor processes. It can be also widely used across disciplines, e.g. for the measurement of nanoparticle homogeneity or optimization of self-assembled monolayers in surface chemistry. The RFM technique also has the capability to image individual biomolecules in situ, such as for the real-time monitoring of membrane protein dynamics on cells, which will provide unprecedented utility in biomedical and clinical research. A reliable label-free imaging tool with the capability to identify chemical bond information at the molecular level will potentially bring about revolutionary advances in many fields of basic and applied biological science, including drug discovery, proteomics, structural biology, and personalized medicine. The RFM technique will be simpler to implement as compared to other hybrid instruments involving high resolution microscopy, resulting in an affordable instrument for academic and research institutions.
Errata
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Addenda
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Multicore Photonics, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Fiber Optic Based Nitrogen Oxides Sensor
Contact
5832 N. Dean Rd.
Orlando, FL 32817–3249
NSF Award
1548591 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$149,496
Start / end date
01/01/2016 – 06/30/2016
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be the enhanced ability to monitor Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) optically using a novel approach that is fundamentally different from zirconia-based voltage biased diffusion technology commercially deployed today. NOx are a major pollutant and precursor to acid rain, surface ozone and smog formation. Worldwide regulatory bodies are driving NOx regulations to increasingly lower levels, presenting even greater challenges for real-world emissions. Addressing these regulations, industry will be increasing deployment of after-treatment technologies including selective catalyst reduction systems and lean NOx traps. Both of these technologies will benefit from a less expensive, more robust, and faster responding NOx sensor. If successful, the new NOx sensor has the potential to significantly reduce emissions levels through a more accurate and much faster detection mechanism than current NOx detection techniques. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will characterize and prototype an optical based Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) sensor technology that is not based on conventional techniques such as oxygen sensor derivatives. This effort will optimize the design and materials needed for a novel thermo-catalytic NOx sensing mechanism through experimentation and testing, including validation of earlier prototypes where near instantaneous NOx detection was observed. Increasing the number and type of catalytic sensing elements and integrating them into existing NOx sensor OEM packaging will accomplish this. Sensor calibration equations and response lookup-tables will help validate our new method for NOx detection with successful results serving as a model for a new category of sensors based on this architecture. Current commercially available NOx sensors do not meet response time, accuracy and price requirements as used in the automotive industry where such parameters are critical. In this program, the optical NOx sensing mechanism will be optimized, and planned designs of experiment will help refine this technology into a more optimized and robust device. Additionally, the detection mechanism simultaneously measures carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons as part of the measurement process, thus providing additional utility for any combustion application.
Errata
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Addenda
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NGCodec Inc.
SBIR Phase I: A Cloud Client Service for Next Generation of Mobile Computing, Leveraging Low Latency Video Encoder Algorithms
Contact
1145 Mariposa Ave.
San Jose, CA 95126–2620
NSF Award
1448012 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
01/01/2015 – 12/31/2015
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be to enable various low latency video applications that are not possible today. One of the most interesting is in the area of cloud computing, in which a server in a data center somewhere on the Internet runs a client's application remotely, and delivers the frame-by-frame video to the client's viewer. This allows for a very cheap client device, consisting of just a video decoder and an input such as a mouse pad, while graphic or compute intensive tasks run on powerful servers in the cloud that can be leased to the client on an as-needed basis. This server-client model could also be used internally at a company or school, greatly simplifying IT requirements. And for high security applications there is also an advantage, as all data is stored remotely. There is nothing local on the user's device to be compromised. Cloud computing services such as these are already coming on line, but the range of applications they can run is limited by the lack of good low latency video encoding. Solving this problem opens up a whole new paradigm of how people purchase, maintain and use personal computers and software. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project investigates techniques for real-time ultra low latency video compression. The goal of the research is to enable the encoding and transmission of video over a communications medium such as the Internet, cell phone network, satellite network, etc. such that the video may be viewed at the receiving end with no more than 1 frame of latency from when it was encoded at the source. The best and newest industry-standard video compression specification, called H.265, will be used as a framework such that the resulting compressed video can be readily decoded by widely available software or hardware. Framework tools and techniques to monitor and adjust the bit rate of the compressed video will be developed and tested to achieve the low latency goals while maintaining high visual quality of the compressed video. The result of this research will be a set of algorithms that can be used in the design of an H.265 video encoder that will achieve the low latency goal, as well as a characterization of the limitations of these algorithms such that their applicability to various real-world opportunities can be assessed.
Errata
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Addenda
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Neural Analytics
SBIR Phase I: A Novel Non-Invasive Intracranial Pressure Monitoring Method
Contact
2127 Sawtelle Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025–6249
NSF Award
1448525 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$149,294
Start / end date
01/01/2015 – 06/30/2015
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be to improve the treatment and decrease the high costs associated with treating patients who suffer severe traumatic brain injuries. This project aims to develop an accurate, affordable (<$100 per use) and non-invasive device to monitor a patient?s intracranial pressure following traumatic brain injury. Increased intracranial pressure can result in serious condition or death, if left untreated. However, the only available method to monitor intracranial pressure is expensive (~$10,000 per patient) and requires neurosurgery. The lack of a method to accurately screen patients to determine who needs surgery results in misdiagnoses and incorrect treatment in about 46% of patients among an estimated 50,000 patients in the US alone, and hundreds of thousands more globally. Successful commercialization of product is expected to result in savings in the range $250 million ever year to the US healthcare system. The proposed project will test the feasibility of developing a non-invasive intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring method for use outside of the neuro ICU. To develop an accurate, affordable, and non-invasive ICP monitoring device, the team will first write and validate a software framework that analyzes Cerebral Blood Flow Velocity (CBFV) waveforms. CBFV waveforms are acquired non-invasively by using transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasonography. In order to use CBFVs to predict ICP, two novel signal-processing methods will be developed. First, the high noise levels typical to TCD-acquired waveforms will be reduced within a machine-learning framework. Second, we will use a method to track morphological features that predict ICP from the CBFV waveform. Both these approaches to signal processing to analyze CBFV waveforms are entirely novel. This approach is expected to allow for accurate (>92% of area under the diagnostic ROC) non-invasive real time monitoring at an affordable price point that is within current reimbursement limits for TCD procedures.
Errata
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Addenda
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Neuvokas Corporation
SBIR Phase I: Development of High Speed Process Technology for the Manufacturing of Cost Effective Polymer Rebar
Contact
25280 Renaissance Rd
Calumet, MI 49913–2701
NSF Award
1416025 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$177,590
Start / end date
07/01/2014 – 06/30/2015
Abstract
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will focus on the development of a superior infrastructure material with wide-reaching applications. Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) rebar materials offer significant performance advantages as compared to uncoated steel rebar. These advantages include a sevenfold weight reduction, the elimination of corrosion, a 30% reduction in concrete usage (which translates to a 15 billion ton reduction in CO2 emissions), and equivalent tensile strength at smaller diameters versus traditional steel rebar. FRP rebar is being produced in small quantities, but has limited market acceptance due to its high cost. The material and process to be developed will allow price parity and enable dramatic improvements in production speeds as compared to the current FRP state-of-the-art. When combined, these improvements will open the FRP market of $1.8 billion and create opportunities in the broader $60 billion global market for rebar. Additionally, global basalt mine waste dumps will be explored and, if possible, utilized as a raw material for fiber production. If successful, this would eliminate a significant waste stream and lead to better environmental stewardship. This effort will focus on developing the process required to produce this new rebar. A thermoset resin and basalt fiber will be used as the primary reinforcements within this composite. Over the past 20 years, FRP rebar has been developed into a viable product, representing $1.2 billion in cumulative revenue. However, no FRP rebar product is currently offered at price parity with uncoated steel rebar. In order to reach price parity, this effort will focus on development of a novel high-speed manufacturing process for this material. Basalt fiber is an emerging material that has potential to replace carbon fiber in a variety of applications. Additionally, thermoset resins not commonly used in pultrusion can offer improved performance characteristics that cannot be achieved with typical FRP rebar resins. Completion of this project will create further understanding of material interactions in this system, which will create the potential for additional composite technologies.
Errata
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Addenda
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Novan, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Scale-up Manufacturing of Nitric Oxide Nanotechnology for Healthcare Infections
Contact
4222 Emperor Blvd
Durham, NC 27703–8030
NSF Award
1013531 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$140,761
Start / end date
07/01/2010 – 12/31/2010
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to develop a scale-up manufacturing process of nitric oxide-releasing silica nanoparticles. The main challenge is controlling the nanoparticle crystal size while maintaining high levels of nitric oxide storage. In this project, critical process parameters including reactant addition rate, reaction temperature and mixing rate will be studied. The Balanced-Nucleation and Growth (BNG) Model will be utilized to transform process data into predictors of controlled particle size. The broader/commercial impact of this project will be the potential to provide large-volume nitric oxide-releasing silica nanoparticles for placement in products aimed at the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. Availability of large-quantity nitric oxide-releasing silica nanoparticles is important to combat the rising number of nosocomial infections. However, the necessary scale-up technology to manufacture nitric oxide-releasing silica nanoparticles is not available. This project is expected to provide the processes to manufacture large quantities of nitric oxide-releasing silica nanoparticles for anti-infective product development.
Errata
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Addenda
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OceanComm Incorporated
SBIR Phase I: Megabit-Per-Second Underwater Wireless Communications
Contact
60 Hazelwood Drive
Champaign, IL 61820–0000
NSF Award
1448641 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$179,999
Start / end date
01/01/2015 – 12/31/2015
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project lies in addressing a long-standing roadblock to the further development of undersea technology. Today, there is no wireless broadband communication available underwater. Each remotely operated vehicle requires a tether for communication and a support ship for tether management. The proposed modem technology is video-capable and would obviate the need for tethering and expensive support ships. In 2013, the subsea industry demanded more than 123,000 ROV days and these are expected to increase to at least 140,000 days in 2017. An ROV support ship costs about $120k/day totaling over $7B spent on ROV support ships in 2013. The proposed video-capable modems would be sold to ROV manufacturers and operators that want to eliminate the need for ROV support ships and much of the $7B in associated cost. The proposed modem technology connects remotely operated vehicles and machinery to wired infrastructure, enabling safe operation of heavy subsea machinery without the possibility of cables or tethers getting tangled, causing damage or worse. This project will create 10 new jobs in the next three years, with many more to be added as the production is scaled-up. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes to develop a faster, cheaper, more reliable wireless communication system for the sub-sea industry. Current state of the art communication links for the deep ocean are either tethered, requiring long, bulky, expensive cables to connect machinery and systems, or have extremely low data rates, enabling only the most rudimentary of tasks. The proposed underwater wireless communication system will provides data rates in the Mbps (megabits/sec) range - 1000 times faster than existing underwater wireless communication technologies - and enable video streaming and real-time control of subsea infrastructure, machinery, and mobile underwater vehicles. Since radio signals do not propagate far underwater, the proposed technology uses sound waves, as whales and dolphins do, for communication. The speed of sound is 200,000 times slower than the speed of radio propagation, and mobile acoustic transmitters and receivers hence suffer from severe Doppler distortion. The proposed technology dynamically measures, tracks, and compensates for this distortion, to enable wireless communication at data rates never before possible underwater.
Errata
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Addenda
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One Million Metrics Corp
SBIR Phase I: Feasibility of estimating musculoskeletal injury risk of material handling workers with novel wearable devices
Contact
450 West 33rd Street
New York, NY 10001–0000
NSF Award
1548648 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$179,999
Start / end date
01/01/2016 – 12/31/2016
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project consists of three major pieces. First is the reduction of musculoskeletal injuries for manual laborers, which already affects 600,000 workers each year. This will improve the quality of life of laborers, since an injury at work affects both their work life and their personal life. Second is to reduce the high costs associated to these injuries that need to be paid by employers, and which are estimated to be $15.2bn a year. These costs challenge the competitiveness of these companies. Thirdly, the worker injuries affect employee morale, absenteeism, productivity loss and employee turnover, all of which are challenges to the efficient running of a company. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will study the feasibility of automatically evaluating the risk of musculoskeletal injury in the workplace using smart wearable devices. These injuries affect hundreds of thousands of workers per year in the US, and cost US companies more than $15bn in direct costs. This research goal depends on the achievement of two technical objectives (i) to prove that the sensors and developed algorithms can differentiate lifting events from other worker activities, and (ii) to demonstrate that the data collected by the sensors can be used to accurately predict the output of the NIOSH lifting equation, an ergonomics risk model widely accepted in industry. Estimations of the outputs of the equation performed by our device will be compared by those computed manually by a certified ergonomist. These wearable devices can quantify the risk of musculoskeletal injuries continuously over time, providing a deeper understanding of the factors that affect risk and the ability to take measures to reduce that risk before an injury occurs.
Errata
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Addenda
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OneBreath, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: A novel and cost effective mechanical ventilator for pandemic preparedness and underserved communities
Contact
425B Forest Ave
Palo Alto, CA 94301–1420
NSF Award
1314423 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
07/01/2013 – 12/31/2013
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will support development and testing of a novel cost-effective mechanical ventilator. The H1N1 pandemic ignited concern in the healthcare community over the state of preparedness of our nation?s healthcare system in the event of a critical care emergency. If a 1918-like flu pandemic were to occur today, tens of millions of people could die from respiratory distress. Unfortunately, the United States does not have enough ventilators to support patients with respiratory distress. When considered on a global scale, the disparity in critical care and emergency resources between wealthy and impoverished nations is alarming. The goal of this proposal is to progress from a high-level prototype to pre-production status. Iterative performance testing and redesign will be followed by human factors validation and interface design with simulated use modeling. Completion of Phase I will place the company in a position to begin verification testing and validation of mechanical components and software in Phase II. The next step is regulatory approval following a 510k pathway and sales expected to begin within 2 years of the Phase I start date. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to conquer one of the most difficult problems in critical care: delivering high precision, high reliability and low cost in a mechanical ventilator. If a flu pandemic were to occur today, millions of people could die from respiratory distress. Unfortunately, the United States does not have enough ventilators to support patients with respiratory distress in even a mild pandemic. Respiratory illness is a leading cause of hospitalization and death in emerging nations. Each year thousands of patients die in rural community hospitals because of lack of access to mechanical ventilation. Despite improvements in infrastructure and economies, ventilators remain out of reach for many hospitals. At present, the mechanical ventilation market is more than $2 billion globally and growing at 7%. Commercialization of this novel ventilator design would provide a viable option for stockpiling ventilators in the event of a mass casualty event and hospitals in emerging markets will finally be able to afford high performance ventilation for their intesive care units.
Errata
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Openspace
SBIR Phase I: Fast Creation of Photorealistic 3D Models using Consumer Hardware
Contact
3802 23rd St
San Francisco, CA 94114–3321
NSF Award
1721381 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
07/01/2017 – 06/30/2018
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be large: a successful project would transform the construction industry, making it far more efficient by reducing legal conflicts, schedule slips and poor decision making; the project has the potential to make real estate sales and marketing more efficient by allowing buyers and sellers to accurately represent properties online, reducing the need for on-site visits. The proposed work will enable the fast and easy creation of 100% complete visual documentation of a physical space; this documentation can be generated many times throughout the course of construction. In so doing, the proposed project will allow professionals in the construction industry to track progress and communicate with their teams far more efficiently than ever before. A second exciting effect of the proposal will be the creation of vast, detailed, never before seen datasets of construction projects and real estate, allowing technical innovations in artificial intelligence and computer vision to impact one of the largest industries in the nation and the world. For example, systems could be trained to automatically spot safety concerns, augmenting the efforts of safety managers and keeping workers safer than ever before. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop a fast, easy to use and cheap method to create photorealistic 3D models using off the shelf consumer hardware. Technical hurdles include validating the quality and efficacy of models generated with consumer hardware, near instantaneous creation of 3D models on device, and automatic creation of routes through the 3D space without human annotation. With these hurdles cleared, advanced work might include automated analytics between and among 3D models of the same site captured over time. Because of the system's ease of use, it will enable the collection of large, totally novel datasets. The goal of the research is to produce a prototype that a layperson can use to create a 3D model of a physical site in order to document it. The plan to reach these goals includes iterative software development against the hurdles listed above, as well as continuous user feedback to guide and refine development.
Errata
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Addenda
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Persimmon Technologies Corporation
SBIR Phase I: Spray-Formed Soft Magnetic Material for Efficient Hybrid-Field Electric Machines
Contact
200 Harvard Mill Square
Wakefield, MA 01880–3239
NSF Award
1113202 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
07/01/2011 – 12/31/2011
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to develop a novel soft magnetic material for electric motor cores, a fabrication process to make components from the material, and an electric motor configuration leveraging the benefits of the material and fabrication process. The approach is to utilize a new single-step net-shape fabrication technique based on uniform-droplet spray deposition in a reactive atmosphere to produce an isotropic metal microstructure characterized by small domains of high permeability and low coercivity with a controlled formation of insulation boundaries that limit electrical conductivity between neighboring domains. This design is expected to provide a superior magnetic path while minimizing losses due to eddy currents, and eliminating design constraints associated with anisotropic laminated cores of conventional motors. The broader/commercial impact of this project will be the potential to provide spray-formed winding cores for hybrid-field motors to increase output, improve efficiency and reduce material scrap during fabrication, thus lowering the cost of electric motors. Considering the extensive use of electric motors in numerous applications, including industrial machinery and automation, robotics, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, appliances, power tools, medical devices, automotive applications, electric vehicles, military equipment etc., there is an increasing need for electric motors with improved performance, higher efficiency, and lower cost. This project is expected to have a significant commercial and environmental impact by providing low-cost and high-efficiency electric motor cores.
Errata
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Precision Polyolefins, LLC
SBIR Phase I: Reactive Polyolefins (x-PAOs) as Advanced Organic Phase Change Materials
Contact
Suite 4506, Bldg 091
College Park, MD 20742–3371
NSF Award
1746976 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
01/01/2018 – 12/31/2018
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project seeks to reduce the cost and complexity of incorporating energy-saving phase change materials (PCMs) into end-use products by developing a new class of form-stable PCM-modified resins that contain a unique reactive-polyolefin component. Importantly, the development of new PCMs for the passive thermal regulation of electric vehicle (EV) batteries has the potential to increase EV safety, range, and affordability, representing an addressable market currently valued at $87m and that is growing at 20% per year. Validation of these advantages should significantly benefit society by increasing electric vehicle performance and reducing the frequency of expensive battery replacement, thus increasing the adoption of energy efficient vehicles and reducing green-house gas emissions. This project can also result in an increase in the penetration of energy efficient PCM technology in additional markets worth a combined $370m, including building materials, textiles, electronics, and packaging, which can have a large positive economic impact on society. Finally, successful realization of the goals of this SBIR Phase I program will further enable scientific / technological understanding of PCMs that are based on organic materials. The intellectual merit of this project is the validation of a new paradigm for a bottoms-up approach to the design, production, and optimization of structurally-well-characterized reactive polyolefins of tunable molecular weight and narrow polydispersity that possess superior performance and stability characteristics as organic phase change materials (PCMs) for waste heat management as compared to conventional paraffin-based PCMs that have remained virtually unchanged for the past half century. To achieve this goal, reactive polyolefins that are the best candidates for commercialization will be identified through optimization of molecular structure, stereochemical tacticity, and the temperature and kinetics of main-chain and side-chain phase transitions. Reaction variables will also be optimized to provide the highest yields of reactive polyolefins under industrially-relevant and scalable process conditions. The development of PCM-modified thermoset resins based on reactive polyolefins will provide access to commercial waste heat management applications that employ physical constructs obtained from casting or injection molding and should benefit from lower production costs, a wider range of applications, and greater long-term stability.
Errata
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Precision Polyolefins, LLC
SBIR Phase I: Pilot-Scale Production of Stereoblock Polypropylene (sbPP) Thermoplastic Elastomers
Contact
Suite 4506, Bldg 091
College Park, MD 20742–3371
NSF Award
1345834 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$179,999
Start / end date
01/01/2014 – 12/31/2014
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project seeks to demonstrate successful pilot‐scale production of stereoblock polypropene (sbPP) thermoplastic elastomers that can be produced, in programmed fashion, over an unlimited range of different fundamental forms by virtue of the ability to exert external control over the relative rates of reversible processes that are competitive with the rate of propagation. The research effort will involve investigation into the rate of these processes in order to develop a commercially viable procedure for the production of sbPP materials. The anticipated result is that commercially relevant volumes (> 1 kiloton)of sbPP thermoplastic elastomers can be produced with tailored physical properties as technologically viable replacements for existing commercial materials. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is that the large-‐scale (>1 kiloton) production of sbPP thermoplastic elastomers as technological replacements for existing commercial materials will serve to capitalize on the increased availability of inexpensive propylene monomer that is the product of a recent shift by the petrochemical industry from crude oil to abundant North American natural gas. This shift has contributed significantly to increased cost volatility and global shortages of crude oil derived higher carbon-numbered monomers that have been historically utilized for the commercial production of thermoplastic elastomers. Successful realization of the stated goals of this project will serve to deliver, with high chemical efficiency, a variety of different grades of high purity sbPP materials with tailored properties that can be transformational for the adhesives, film-packaging and medical markets. The procedures developed during this project will also facilitate future commercial production of a wider range of propylene based polymers utilizing the same catalyst technology. Society will further benefit from the introduction of a more environmentally benign andsustainable chemical technology that provides an alternative to current commercial thermoplastic elastomers.
Errata
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Protein Dynamic Solutions, LLC
SBIR Phase I: Novel, Accurate and Reproducible Platform for the Developability Assessment of Protein Therapeutics
Contact
11 Audubon Road
Wakefield, MA 01880–0000
NSF Award
1447918 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$179,999
Start / end date
01/01/2015 – 12/31/2015
Abstract
Broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to (1) improve the decision making towards protein therapeutics development (also known as developability), (2) reduce Research and Development costs for the Biotechnology industry in general, (3) improve timelines of new protein therapeutic candidates, thus proceeding to clinical phase trials sooner, (4) resulting in fewer candidate withdrawals from clinical trials, (5) reduce risk associated with protein aggregation and immunogenicity, a potentially fatal outcome; leading to (6) overall quicker times for approval-to-market, and finally (7) a reduction of product recall risk. The market opportunity for protein characterization and identification market by instruments also known as life sciences tools is estimated to be $ 80-85 billion dollars. Our product is an innovative patented technology platform and related services which will support the developability evaluation of new protein therapeutic candidates in the biologics and biosimilars product portfolio. As an additional funding source, we have adopted the production of a high quality aggregate free potential diagnostic candidate biomarker for prostrate and pancreatic cancer to allow for further research and development in other research institutions. Completion of Phase I in the evaluation of formulation conditions of protein therapeutics including monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) will ensure progress towards the development of a high throughput platform for Phase II evaluation. The proposed project will address the current bottleneck of new protein therapeutics within the biologics and biosimilars industry due to protein aggregation. This is the single most prevalent reason that has hampered the release of biotherapeutics into the market. Protein aggregation leads to loss of efficacy and potentially to immunogenicity risks. Formulation is critical to downstream processing, dosing, storage, and delivery of protein therapeutics. Our goal is to test different formulation conditions through the use of Design of Experiment strategies to identify the formulation conditions under which the monoclonal antibody candidate is stable and aggregation free, even under stress. We have designed an innovative patented platform using two dimensional infrared (2D IR) correlation spectroscopy and perturbation correlation (PC) analysis which is accurate, reproducible and does not use probes to determine the mechanism and extent of aggregation, and stability of a mAb. A potential outcome will be the developability assessment of novel candidates ensuring a pipeline of protein therapeutics early in the research and development. If successful, Phase II will involve a high-throughput platform to address the evaluation of protein aggregation in plasma and final IV delivery conditions, for the design of a predictive model for immunogenicity risk assessment.
Errata
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QC Ware Corp.
STTR Phase I: A Cloud-Based Development Framework and Tool Suite for an Adiabatic Quantum Computer
Contact
125 University Ave, Ste 260
Palo Alto, CA 94301–1664
NSF Award
1648832 – STTR PHASE I
Award amount to date
$224,258
Start / end date
01/01/2017 – 12/31/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will be to enable affordable access to quantum annealing quantum computers and to take the complexity out of the programming and application hosting tasks, which currently poses a major barrier of entry for potential users. The company expects quantum computing technology in the next few years to disrupt significant portions of the high-performance-computing environment for optimization problems, which has previously been characterized by slow and incremental performance improvements. This project would yield a platform that both increases the efficiency and lowers the cost of analyzing complex optimization problems, which could spur fast-paced innovation in wide areas of the economy that tackle such issues. These sectors include energy distribution, pharmaceutical design, cancer research, data analytics, cybersecurity, autonomous systems, planning and scheduling activities, financial services such as risk management and portfolio optimization, and basic and applied research in physics and chemistry. In each of these disciplines, there are optimization-based computational problems that are currently intractable. The results of this research should enable a much larger community of experts to use the power of quantum computing to solve these important but currently intractable problems. This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project addresses the need for a cloud-based platform for using quantum annealing computing technology. Quantum annealing computers have come to market in the last few years, and research laboratories and universities have used these machines to explore algorithms that could eventually be solved efficiently on them. Despite advances in performance of quantum annealing computers, little effort has been directed toward developing programming environments and tools that provide simple and inexpensive access to quantum computing capabilities. This project researches a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) with a suite of front-end and back-end tools that efficiently transform high-level computing problems into binary optimization formulations suitable for quantum annealing, simplifying and automating the low-level details and domain knowledge currently necessary to perform useful calculations. This project will further develop the PaaS to include a classical-quantum computing environment and framework for analysis of large data sets using standard distributed computing tools. The research explores the best software tools and platform methods to integrate emerging quantum computing capabilities into workflows by streamlining and making affordable the processing of data and by decomposing real-world problems into sub-problems amenable to quantum computers of today and in the future.
Errata
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Radial Analytics, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: System for Patient Risk Stratification through Electronic Health Record Analytics
Contact
50 Beharrell Street Suite A
Concord, MA 01742–0000
NSF Award
1416215 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$179,999
Start / end date
07/01/2014 – 06/30/2015
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project focuses on using analytics and technology to drive greater efficiency and effectiveness in healthcare. Recent legislative changes are driving all players within the healthcare ecosystem toward greater accountability. This Phase I project specifically includes technologies to automatically assess patient risk and thereby reduce post-discharge readmissions rates. This Phase I project has the potential to support a broad range of customers across both the provider and the payer landscape, by providing cost-effective readmissions control solutions that respond to new legislative pressures. In terms of commercial potential, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies has estimated that preventable hospital readmissions account for $20 billion/year in wasteful healthcare spending. The addressable market for the proposed Phase I proof-of-concept for patient risk stratification to support readmission control is approximately $100MM. In the future, this research project will serve as a foundation to support broader population health analytics, the addressable market for which exceeds $500MM/year and is growing at a rate of 24% annually. The proposed project aims to develop a data mining system to capture and analyze information from electronic medical records in order to risk-stratify patients after they have been discharged from hospital. Leveraging interoperability standards that are required by federal regulation, the system will seamlessly aggregate data from multiple electronic medical record systems in a vendor-agnostic manner. A custom analytics engine will detect emergent patterns and draw inferences about each patient?s risk of readmission. If successful, this research will validate the end-to-end concept and suggest the broader applicability of this approach to some of the greatest challenges in population health.
Errata
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Radial Analytics, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: User-Centered System for Improved Coordination across the Continuum of Care
Contact
50 Beharrell Street Suite A
Concord, MA 01742–0000
NSF Award
1621996 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
07/01/2016 – 06/30/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project focuses on using analytics and technology to benefit patients who require recovery care to get fully well after being discharged from the hospital. Transitions of care from acute (hospital) to post-acute (short-term rehabilitation and skilled nursing) settings impact millions of Americans every year. Seniors overindex on utilization of post-acute care, as a consequence of natural age-related degeneration and the need for longer recovery periods. By improving post-hospital coordination of care across the continuum, clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction stand to improve for America?s aging population. If successful, this project will help reduce costs of care for healthcare providers, payers, and government/society. The proposed project aims to incorporate and improve upon methods for user-centered data capture in healthcare. Our proposed platform will combine advanced machine learning techniques with a patient/family-centered business model. The innovation will harness multiple streams of healthcare data, such as electronic health records and claims data from both acute and post-acute care settings. If successful, this research will impact the state-of-the-art in healthcare analytics and outcomes measurement.
Errata
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Refactored Materials, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: High Performance Ballistics Fibers from Spider's Silk
Contact
344A PRENTISS ST
San Francisco, CA 94110–6141
NSF Award
1013948 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$175,000
Start / end date
07/01/2010 – 06/30/2011
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will demonstrate the commercial feasibility of producing high-toughness spider silk fibers for use in personal ballistic armor. Spider silk is one of nature's most remarkable materials, possessing high tensile strength and high extensibility, giving it an unrivaled toughness as compared with common synthetic fibers. In addition, it is lightweight, breathable, and flexible making it an ideal material for use in protective clothing such as body armor. Previous approaches to produce synthetic spider silk proteins have been based on incomplete silk sequences and previous efforts to create a silk spinneret have not sufficiently replicated the conditions inside the silk gland. In this project, the latest advances in genetic engineering and synthetic biology will be used to redesign a natural silk gene to enable expression of silk protein in a recombinant host. This methodology is similar to recent work which enabled the production of chemicals and fuels from renewable sources. Advanced microfluidics manufacturing will be used to create a spinneret that replicates a natural spider's silk gland. Combined, these technologies will result in a reproducible, scalable, and "green" method of manufacturing the next generation of high performance fibers for personal protective armor. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the creation of high-performance and lightweight body armor utilizing a better material at a lower price than current ballistic fibers. The market for body armor in the US is in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually; the proposed product will be able to achieve a significant profit margin due to its low initial costs and straightforward scale-up. Tougher, more comfortable, and cheaper bulletproof vests will benefit police, soldiers, guards, and anyone else who faces harm from projectiles. Lightweight and tough fibers have applications in numerous other markets, ranging from textiles to sporting goods. In addition, the ability to precisely control silk fiber properties will enable better understanding the assembly mechanisms of protein-based fibers and enable the creation of novel materials with mechanical properties tailored to application requirements. Finally, the research proposed herein will enable the inexpensive production of protein materials (specifically, silk materials) for use in a wide variety of non-fibrous systems including tissue engineering scaffolds, medical devices, and optical sensors.
Errata
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Renuvix
STTR Phase I: Novel Multifunctional, Bio-Based Coupling Agents for Wood Plastic Composites
Contact
1854 NDSU Research Cir N
Fargo, ND 58102–5706
NSF Award
1416983 – STTR PHASE I
Award amount to date
$224,981
Start / end date
07/01/2014 – 11/30/2015
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project involves a significant enhancement in the properties of wood polymer composites (WPCs) by the commercialization of a highly effective bio-based coupling agent made from renewable sources such as plant oils instead of petroleum. By significantly enhancing the properties of WPCs, substantial benefit to society will result by providing new application opportunities for these relatively low cost, light weight biocomposites. Globally millions of metric tons of WPCs are produced each year. Currently, WPCs are used for applications that do not require high load bearing characteristics due to limitations in modulus, strength, and creep. The technical concepts proposed for the Phase I effort are expected to enable higher modulus and strength, by facilitating the use of higher wood flour (WF) loadings, as well as lower deformation by introducing crosslinks into the matrix phase. Although this proposal is focused on the utility of these novel bio-based copolymers as high performance coupling agents, these copolymers have also been demonstrated to be excellent binders for coatings. Thus, commercialization of these copolymers is expected to have a broader impact on society beyond use as coupling agents. This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project will determine the feasibility of novel bio-based polymers to serve as highly effective coupling agents for WPCs. The most common WPCs are based on WF as the dispersed-phase and high density polyethylene (HDPE) as the matrix. WF is a very desirable reinforcement for composites because it is inexpensive, abundant, biodegradable, high modulus, high strength, light weight, and non-abrasive toward processing equipment. The major technical challenge for HDPE/WF composites is obtaining adequate compatibility between the WF fibers and the HDPE matrix. Although the modulus and tensile strength of WF fibers is approximately 40 and 20 times higher than that of the HDPE matrix, respectively, the mechanical property enhancements provided by the WF cannot be fully realized without effective compatibilization. It is the team?s belief that the bio-based polymers proposed for the project possess the ideal chemical composition for effectively coupling the HDPE matrix to the WF fibers to maximize mechanical properties. In addition, the polymers are capable of introducing crosslinks into the matrix phase, which are expected to reduce polymer creep. For the Phase I project, the effect of the chemical composition of the bio-based coupling agent will be a primary factor investigated.
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RightHand Robotics, LLC
STTR Phase I: Versatile Robot Hands for Warehouse Automation
Contact
21 Wendell St Apt 20
Cambridge, MA 02138–1850
NSF Award
1448975 – STTR PHASE I
Award amount to date
$224,977
Start / end date
01/01/2015 – 12/31/2015
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is clear from the size of the market in warehousing and logistics. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the annual cost of moving inventory by hand in warehouses is 5 billion dollars. Industry is eager to adopt new robotic technology, and it has already made a significant impact in many aspects of this problem, speeding shipments and lowering costs. However, handling individual items has not yet proven viable when the range of objects is large. The grasping robot developed in this project will meet this need, and reduce the cost of logistics for manufacturers, distributors, and customers. Additionally, the creation of robot grasping systems that can automatically grasp a wide range of objects will open up the benefits of robotic technology to workers in other industries. This is critical to making robots accessible to small manufacturing shops, and will significantly improve the performance of telepresence systems used for military, rescue, and consumer applications such as home assistance for the elderly. This Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase I project is based on a decade of university research on the design and construction of robots for grasping using passive mechanisms. Through the carefully tuned structural compliance of the fingers, robot hands can be designed to compensate for variation in the size, shape and location of grasped objects to obtain reliable grasps. During the course of this project, a commercial product will be developed capable of picking and placing a wide range of items at extremely low error rates, something that has hitherto been considered a hard problem in sensing and planning. The new compliant grippers, combined with breakthroughs in low-cost tactile sensing and simplified grasp planning, will enable a level of performance that meets the needs of real-world customers. The new picking robot will be validated against a set of realistic items picked from bins in a simulated warehouse environment.
Errata
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Rochal Industries LLP
SBIR Phase I: Correlation of Surface Free Energy and Cytocompatibility of Amphiphilic Biomaterials
Contact
12719 Cranes Mill
San Antonio, TX 78230–1957
NSF Award
1110189 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
07/01/2011 – 12/31/2011
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will provide the basis for producing a unique cytocompatible, liquid adhesive bandage that will facilitate wound healing. This project is based upon a correlation of surface free energy of hydrated, amphiphilic polymers and their ability to support cell functions, such as growth and proliferation, deposition of extracellular matrix proteins, and patterns of substrate surface coverage and morphology. Current commercially available liquid adhesive bandages for professional applications on humans are used in a variety of wound coverage applications. However, there is no liquid adhesive bandage commercially available for human use that serves as a cell substrate as well as protecting a wound from foreign contaminants. The research will determine the surface free energies of a variety of amphiphilic polymers, ranging from highly hydrophilic to highly hydrophobic, and then correlate the surface free energy data to the cytocompatibility of the respective polymer films. It is anticipated that this approach will result in a selection of polymers in a narrow range of surface free energies that can accelerate tissue regrowth for wound healing. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the creation of a new form of medical treatment for acute wounds (e.g., surgery sites, injuries), for chronic wounds (e.g., ulcers) and for burn wounds utilizing a simple, low cost, intimately conformal, protective polymer coating material that is capable of facilitating tissue regeneration. Such a coating will function as a synthetic skin substitute that will allow wounds to heal rapidly, without external contamination, such as from bacteria and other microorganisms, because of its ability to facilitate cell adhesion and proliferation. Importantly, this polymer coating will self-remove over time as the wound heals, in contrast to typical bandages that can cause new tissue abrasion and rupture when manually removed. This project will demonstrate how enhanced cytocompatibility of liquid adhesive bandages, and synthetic skin substitutes in general, can be obtained in topical wound care, thus leading to a reduction of patient suffering and a reduction in this nation's health care costs. The commercial impact of this product will be game-changing for topical wound treatment in that future materials should facilitate healthy tissue regrowth.
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Roundtable Analytics LLC
STTR Phase I: Data-Driven Decision Support Services for Emergency Department Operations
Contact
1601 Crafton Way
Raleigh, NC 27607–6032
NSF Award
1448898 – STTR PHASE I
Award amount to date
$269,999
Start / end date
01/01/2015 – 06/30/2016
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project is very significant. Suboptimal operational decision-making in emergency departments leads to inefficiencies that result in extreme patient wait-times, the diversion of ambulances to other emergency departments, wasted resources and patients who either leave before being treated or against medical advice. By connecting modern analytical approaches, including statistical modeling and systems engineering methods, to real-time data routinely collected in emergency departments, the proposed project promises to result in a tremendously valuable analytics platform that will assist emergency departments in making dozens of operational and staffing decisions each day. This informed decision-making will not only improve emergency department efficiency, it will lead to both healthier and more satisfied patients and simultaneous dramatic increases in revenue and profit. The technology proposed will have the potential to add significant value to the approximately 5,000 emergency departments in the U.S., often on the order of millions of dollars annually. Hospitals and health systems now realize the value of effective analytics, and the analytics platform proposed here will be an obvious investment for any emergency department whose goal is to provide the best care to its patients at lower costs. The proposed project promises to yield a decision-support platform upon which emergency departments will base their decisions each day. Substantial investments by hospitals and health systems on information technology, and in particular, electronic health records, have set the stage for evidence-based, data-driven decisions. These decisions will effectively leverage real-time data along with analytical methods such as statistical forecasting and event-simulation modeling. In particular, this proposed project will create a software platform, based on these analytical methods and linking to real-time data sources, tailored to emergency departments. This project will involve 1) understanding the capacity and real-time availability of data in emergency rooms, 2) developing a statistical and simulation modeling platform that maximizes the potential of these data, in real-time, and specifically reflects emergency departments, and 3) ultimately ensuring that actionable insights are delivered in a timely and intuitive manner to key stakeholders. These actionable insights that derive from the data and sophisticated methods must be delivered to the right decision-maker at the right time and in the right format, but will then have the capacity to substantially improve both the quality and efficiency of care-delivery in an emergency department.
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Runtime Verification, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Runtime Verification for Automobiles
Contact
102 E. Main Street
Urbana, IL 61801–2744
NSF Award
1519846 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$179,999
Start / end date
07/01/2015 – 06/30/2016
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is that it will offer the automotive industry higher reliability from the software systems powering automobiles, by enabling runtime monitoring while providing the maximum possible correctness guarantees for the generated monitors. Cars will be safer and more rigorously assured. This project will address a slew of recent problems with software failures, security compromises, and other unintentional software behaviors that occur inevitably as systems become more complex, potentially saving lives and making millions of vehicles safer, easier to upgrade, and better tested. The commercial value follows the need of manufacturers to retain the basic vehicle safety guarantees while pursuing the commercial necessities of competing on complex software-driven features, ultimately minimizing software development costs and expensive car recalls. The enhanced scientific and technological understanding from this technology will come as it is deployed in the field, giving manufacturers an impetus to formalize and standardize existing requirements, bolstering their understanding of the software systems in the car. The technology will also foster the formalization of both open and proprietary specifications, further increasing the understanding of complex automotive systems by facilitating complete analysis. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will for the first time explore the application of provably correct runtime verification software to real-time systems. An efficient and certifying framework allowing for the expression of a diverse range of specifications will enable applications of runtime verification in automobiles, aeronautics, and beyond. One research objective is to develop a system that can monitor any safety property, generating high-performance C code capable of running on virtually any hardware. This will combine efficient monitoring with maximal formal guarantees in terms of correctness. Formal verification was previously realized only for mathematical models of monitors, or in systems with very low expressiveness. A second research objective is to study the applicability of runtime verification by collecting properties from automotive industry standards, evaluating the complexity of specifying the properties, the possibility of recovering from detected violations, and the performance requirements of the resulting monitors. It is anticipated that hundreds or even thousands of such properties will be monitored simultaneously.
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SYNVITROBIO INC
STTR Phase I: An On-Demand Protein Engineering Platform
Contact
953 Indiana St.
San Francisco, CA 94107–3007
NSF Award
1549773 – STTR PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
01/01/2016 – 06/30/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) project will be the development of a platform technology for high-throughput protein expression. The current standard for expressing panels of proteins involves extensive bioinformatics, cloning, in vivo expression, and assays. This method takes significant expertise in disparate fields, and weeks to months of time to perform successfully. Furthermore, it can be difficult to express complex proteins due to toxicity or purification difficulty, requiring labor-intensive diagnosis of expression and purification conditions. The proposed platform allows characterization of hundreds of protein sequences at significant cost and time savings by providing a combined ex vivo computational, expression, and assay system. This allows rapid access to biological data, and on-demand protein sequence prototyping. The methods developed as part of this platform also will allow greater access to biological engineering for K-12 and undergraduate students, requiring little capital or prior biological experience. By reducing costs and time for protein engineering, and by working in a simple system that requires no knowledge of bioinformatics, cloning, cell culturing, and biochemical characterization, biologists and non-biologists alike will be able to conduct relevant biological engineering research and rapidly test protein design hypotheses. This STTR Phase I project proposes to develop a high-throughput and computationally assisted platform to rapidly collect biochemical data on a diverse set of proteins. Using this platform, researchers will be able to conduct expression of hundreds of relevant protein variants from a single reference protein. The yields are micromolar-values, providing up to 50ug/50uL per run. Therefore, enough protein can be generated for detailed biochemical characterization and activity assays. The proposed platform is an all-encompassing ex-vivo computational, expression, and assay system. In this project, engineering and prototyping of cytochrome P450 enzymes, important industrial and pharmaceutical catalysts, will be demonstrated with an end-Phase II goal to prototype 1,000 diverse cytochrome P450 enzymes from design to characterization in less than a week.
Errata
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Saratoga Energy Research Partners LLC
SBIR Phase I: Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Assisted Purification of Electrolytically Synthesized Graphite
Contact
820 Heinz Ave
Berkeley, CA 94710–2737
NSF Award
1647601 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
12/15/2016 – 12/31/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is the commercialization of a novel electrolytic process to manufacture low-cost, high-power graphite for electric vehicle batteries. Electrolytically synthesized graphite offers the opportunity to utilize domestically available sources of renewable electricity and carbon dioxide and secure the supply chain for battery production with domestic production capacity. The impact on society that will be created by the commercialization of a novel graphite synthesis process is a significant decrease in graphite manufacturing cost and a more sustainable manufacturing process from domestically available sources of renewable electricity and carbon dioxide. The technical objectives in this Phase I research project are to 1) demonstrate effective purification of electrolytically synthesized graphite using supercritical carbon dioxide and 2) recover a high yield of extracted by-products. Currently the purification process mimics the high-temperature thermal purification step of the commercial graphite manufacturing process. However, this process is time consuming, energy intensive, and therefore costly. Supercritical fluids purification has the potential to significantly reduce the purification time, energy cost, and the environmental footprint of electrolytically manufactured graphite. The purification process will be optimized by controlling carbon dioxide pressure, temperature, flow rate, water addition, and extraction time.
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Speak Agent, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: A Massive Open Online Authoring Platform for Language Learning Content
Contact
155 Gibbs Street, Suite 536
Rockville, MD 20850–0393
NSF Award
1448520 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
01/01/2015 – 12/31/2015
Abstract
This SBIR Phase I project will determine how a system can be developed that replaces second-language textbooks with an intelligent, personalized solution that delivers custom content directly from teacher to student. This system would address challenges posed by low student engagement, high material costs, a need for personalized learning, and a lack of content availability on mobile devices. It will be the first platform to apply open educational resources (OER) to second-language acquisition at scale. This affords an opportunity to observe OER adoption and to understand the dynamics of mulch-author collaboration, forking and merging projects, and editorial systems for maintaining quality. The system could transform the field from a closed system driven by top-down publishing processes into an open system that is more responsive to the evolving needs of educators and students. This will reduce material costs, increase content availability (particularly in critical languages), and enable customization of materials to each program model, class and individual student, thus improving learning efficacy. Educators will also be able to collaborate on large-scale course development projects and share back to the education community. Other fields, including math, science and social studies may be able to utilize a similar system, if proven feasible. This SBIR Phase I project will result in a cloud-based platform for second-language learning content that aims to disrupt the current publishing model and produce a transformation in how teachers teach and how students learn. It will empower the community of language educators to contribute content to a shared repository that all may reuse, revise or remix in their own lessons, units and courses using the clone-fork-merge methodology widely used in software development. It further enables rapid deployment to mufti-platform learning environments, including mobile devices, and integration with education information systems. As proven by open-source software, the creativity unleashed by massive-scale collaboration can increase content availability at a faster pace than top-down publishing can -- and at a lower cost and with a far greater degree of flexibility and customization. The Phase I research goals are to measure student and teacher engagement, impact and commercial viability. Researchers will indirectly observe 1,000 beta users' anonymous behavior over 4 months and measure non-personal data, as well as solicit survey responses from a sub-group of participating educators. By analyzing aggregate public behaviors that are minimally influenced, researchers aim to simulate the dynamics of a robust open education community.
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Spheryx, Inc
SBIR Phase I: Total Holographic Characterization of Colloids Through Holographic Video Microscopy
Contact
330 E 38th St, Apt 48J
New York, NY 10016–2784
NSF Award
1519057 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$179,999
Start / end date
07/01/2015 – 06/30/2016
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will support the development of a novel approach, based on holographic video microscopy, to analyze the physical properties of colloidal dispersions. This technology will have immediate applications in industries as diverse as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, personal care products, petrochemicals and food, all of which rely on the properties of colloidal dispersions and the microscopic particles from which they are composed. The worldwide market for particle characterization exceeded $5 billion per year in 2012. The present effort's holographic characterization technology extends the state-of-the-art in particle characterization by providing simultaneous information about both the size and the composition of individual particles in dispersion, and by building up a clear picture of the distribution of properties within a sample without relying on models or assumptions. Access to these new dimensions of information will be useful for product development, process control and quality assurance in all of the industrial sectors that rely on the properties of colloidal materials, thereby increasing opportunities for innovation, enhancing product performance, and decreasing manufacturing costs. In addition to capturing a share of the established market for particle characterization, this new product may also broaden the market by creating new application areas. The intellectual merit of this project resides in transforming holographic video microscopy from an academic research tool to a powerful commercial instrument. Several innovations are required to make this revolutionary technology commercially viable. In its present incarnation, holographic characterization has been demonstrated with nearly ideal spheres, for which it yields the size to within a nanometer, the complex refractive index to within a part per thousand, and the time-resolved trajectory to within a nanometer in three dimensions. No other particle characterization technique offers such a wealth of particle-resolved information. This Phase I effort will demonstrate the feasibility of holographic particle characterization for a range of non-ideal industrial materials by applying state-of-the-art methods of machine learning to extend the technique's domain of applicability while simultaneously reducing the time per analysis from seconds to tens of milliseconds. This 100-fold acceleration, and the associated reduction in computational cost, will enable the technology to be deployed in large-volume and high-throughput applications. The resulting real-time insights into colloidal dispersions' compositions will improve manufacturing efficiency by identifying and helping to correct process deviations and failures. In so doing it will reduce product costs in all of the industrial sectors that develop and sell colloidal materials.
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Stateless, Inc
SBIR Phase I: Stateless - Taking from the Lab to a Production Environment
Contact
1200 28th Street
Boulder, CO 80309–1756
NSF Award
1722230 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
07/01/2017 – 06/30/2018
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to bring agility to the network infrastructure in data center networks. While modern data centers leverage server virtualization to quickly and easily deploy applications, and storage systems that abstract away the hard drives and enable applications to access any data from any server at any time, the network infrastructure that protects and makes the network more efficient is still largely hardware appliances. With cloud traffic expected to quadruple over the next several years (according to Cisco), a rapid growth in the number of devices (with the Internet of Things emerging), and an ever increasing complexity and scale of security threats, this project will provide data center operators with the agility to quickly and easily deploy infrastructure to keep up with these trends and threats. In doing so, society will experience more reliable networked applications with reduced data breaches. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will provide technical validation for a new approach to network function virtualization, invented at the University of Colorado, Boulder, in which network functions are disaggregated into separate processing and state storage components. Experiments in the lab have shown seamless scalability, disruptionless failure management, and processing rates in line with other software solutions. The goal of this project is to run in a production environment (a data center with real traffic) to fully quantify the throughput, latency, scalability, resilience, and cost effectiveness when faced with production conditions.
Erra