Biolog and HSC-Rangel College of Pharmacy Receive $1 Million Phase II STTR Grant from NIH

Biolog, Inc. announced that it has been awarded a two-year Phase II STTR Grant for $1 million from the National Institutes of Health National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) for the expansion of its Phenotype MicroArray™ (PM) technology to allow detailed phenotypic testing of important fastidious bacterial pathogens.

The project will be done in collaboration with Professor Lacy Daniels, Ph.D., from the Texas A&M Health Science Center Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy.

This award follows a previous Phase I grant in which Biolog developed technology to address the important human pathogens Campylobacter and Helicobacter.

PM technology is a powerful assay platform that allows phenotyping to be performed in a simple and comprehensive manner. Phenotypes are the biological properties of a cell that result from its genetic and epigenetic blueprints.

The principal goal of this STTR project is to adapt PM technology for important bacterial groups that require special conditions for culture and testing. Biolog will focus on agents of lung, cutaneous and tissue infections, important colonizers of the colon and vagina and also will perform additional work on microaerophilic gastrointestinal pathogens.

Biolog has opted to work with Dr. Daniels at the HSC-Rangel College of Pharmacy because of his expertise in metabolism and physiology of Mycobacterium. Dr. Daniels and his collaborators will focus their work on this very important bacterial genus.

At the HSC-COP, Dr. Daniels has access to special facilities to safely perform work on Mycobacterium, either on-site (for the less pathogenic species) or in collaboration with nearby special facilities (for the very pathogenic M. tuberculosis).