NEOUCOM, KSU get bioterrorism grant

STAFF REPORT

ROOTSTOWN — Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy and Kent State University have been awarded $6.7 million for the continued development and commercialization of a real-time pathogen detection instrument.

This award represents a $3 million Wright Project grant from the Ohio Department of Development which will be matched by $3.7 million from other sources.

The pathogen detection instrument can quickly detect harmful microbes, such as anthrax or plague and has uses in detecting bioterrorism as well as environmental safety and rapid medical diagnoses. The technology is the result of a collaboration among NEOUCOM and Kent State University researchers who combined their expertise in biomedical sciences and liquid crystals to invent and develop it.

Commercialization of the device will create new jobs and economic development in northeast Ohio.

The grant will enable researchers to further develop the technology for commercial use by establishing an applied research laboratory at NEOUCOM and creating a manufacturing facility in Kent State’s Centennial Research Park. The team produced a portfolio of patents and, ultimately, a licensing agreement for commercialization.

NEOUCOM and Kent State licensed the pathogen detection technology to Pathogen Systems Inc. of Boulder, Colo., for further development. PSI will establish its manufacturing, sales and marketing operations in northeast Ohio within the next eighteen months.