Governor Martin O’Malley announced yesterday the availability of state grants to assist in commercializing promising research, encouraging bio companies to work with academia, and expanding biotechnology resources.
The governor also announced that seven Maryland bio companies and universities received $1.3 million in FY 2010 grants, which was the first year of funding. College Park-based Zymetis received a $200,000 grant to advance its work in converting whey to fuel; Fyodor, in Baltimore‘s BioPark, received $200,000 for the commercialization of its flagship product, the Urine Malaria Test; and InfraTrac, located at the Silver Spring Innovation Center, received $100,000 to grow its counterfeit-drug monitoring product.
The Translational Research Awards–which aim to help commercialize basic science research and encourage bio companies to collaborate with academic institutions–were given to Baltimore-based Gliknik Inc., in partnership with the University of Maryland, Baltimore and Dr. James S. Gammie of the University of Maryland Medical Center.
The Shared Resource Grants, totaling $400,000, were awarded to two University of Maryland programs providing specialized services to local bio companies. The Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute Biotechnology Research and Education program received $200,000 to expand its operations into a new facility at Shady Grove. A second $200,000 grant was awarded to the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County for the purchase of new equipment.
“Biotechnology continues to be a key driver of Maryland‘s economy,” O’Malley said. “The high quality of the biotechnology projects supported by these awards, as well as their link to a number of Maryland institutions of higher learning, demonstrates Maryland‘s significant potential to commercialize our unparalleled academic research.”
The deadline for submitting applications for the Biotechnology Commercialization Awards and the Translational Research is Sept. 15 to the Maryland Biotechnology Center. These grants complement funding available through TEDCO’s Maryland Technology Transfer and Commercialization Fund, the University of Maryland‘s Maryland Industrial Partnerships Program and DBED’s Maryland Venture Fund programs.
