Ablitech, Inc.

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Ablitech, Inc. is a biotechnology company founded in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, USA, that specializes in the development and commercialization of platform technologies that heal and protect the human body. [1]

Biotechnology Use of living systems and organisms to develop or make useful products

Biotechnology is the broad area of biology involving living systems and organisms to develop or make products, or "any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use". Depending on the tools and applications, it often overlaps with the (related) fields of molecular biology, bio-engineering, biomedical engineering, biomanufacturing, molecular engineering, etc.

Hattiesburg, Mississippi City in Mississippi, United States

Hattiesburg is a city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, primarily in Forrest County and extending west into Lamar County. The city population was 45,989 at the 2010 census, with an estimated population of 45,951 in 2018. It is the principal city of the Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses Forrest, Lamar and Perry counties.

United States Federal republic in North America

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country comprising 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the most populous city is New York City. Most of the country is located contiguously in North America between Canada and Mexico.

Contents

History

Ablitech was co-founded in 2006 by Dr. Lisa Kemp, Dr. Nick Hammond and Dr. Kenneth Malone on technology licensed from The University of Southern Mississippi.

University of Southern Mississippi university

The University of Southern Mississippi (USM), known informally as Southern Miss, is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The Hattiesburg campus is located 70 miles (110 km) north of Gulfport, Mississippi and 105 miles (169 km) northeast of New Orleans, Louisiana. USM is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) to award baccalaureate, master's, specialist, and doctoral degrees. The university is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a "Research University" with "High Research Activity".

The formation of Ablitech was a direct result of the National Science Foundation program IGERT – an “interdisciplinary training program, educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers by building on the foundations of their disciplinary knowledge with interdisciplinary training.” [2] [3] [4]

National Science Foundation United States government agency

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health. With an annual budget of about US$7.8 billion, the NSF funds approximately 24% of all federally supported basic research conducted by the United States' colleges and universities. In some fields, such as mathematics, computer science, economics, and the social sciences, the NSF is the major source of federal backing.

In 2007, Ablitech received a SBIR Phase I for the development of a bio-transformable drug-eluting coronary stent. [5] Then in 2008 they received another SBIR Phase I for the development of a cancer therapy. [6]

Ablitech received the Mississippi Seed Fund Research and Development investment in 2009 and in 2010. [7] Managed by the Mississippi Technology Alliance, the Mississippi Seed Fund provides high-tech, start-up companies with access to pre-seed financing, early stage risk capital, and product development capital to stimulate and accelerate the development of high-performance, technology-based business ventures in Mississippi. [8]

In 2011, Ablitech received a $2 million grant from the Department of Defense to develop a siRNA based therapy for heterotopic ossification. [9]

United States Department of Defense United States federal executive department

The United States Department of Defense is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national security and the United States Armed Forces. The DoD is the largest employer in the world, with nearly 1.3 million active-duty service members as of 2016. More employees include over 826,000 National Guard and Reservists from the armed forces, and over 732,000 civilians bringing the total to over 2.8 million employees. Headquartered at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., the DoD's stated mission is to provide "the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security".

Small interfering RNA

Small interfering RNA (siRNA), sometimes known as short interfering RNA or silencing RNA, is a class of double-stranded RNA non coding RNA molecules, 20-25 base pairs in length, similar to miRNA, and operating within the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway. It interferes with the expression of specific genes with complementary nucleotide sequences by degrading mRNA after transcription, preventing translation.

Heterotopic ossification development of bony substance in normally soft structures

Heterotopic ossification (HO) is the process by which bone tissue forms outside of the skeleton.

Location

Ablitech is located at the University of Maryland BioPark. The corporation relocated to Baltimore, Maryland in early 2012. [10]

Research

Ablitech's signature product, VersadelTM, is a nucleic acid platform delivery technology that “provides a non-toxic, biocompatible method for the systemic and local delivery of antisense DNA and siRNA in the body.” [11]

Awards

Related Research Articles

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Janssen Biotech Biotechnology company

Janssen Biotech, Inc., formerly Centocor Biotech, Inc., is a biotechnology company that was founded in Philadelphia in 1979 with an initial goal of developing new diagnostic assays using monoclonal antibody technology.

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Tibbetts Award

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Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator

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The Austria Wirtschaftsservice Gesellschaft (aws) is an Austrian federal development and financing bank for the promotion and financing of companies. The bank provides around €1 billion (2008) in development aid, mainly as grants, loans and guarantees to finance projects in the value of almost €11 billion (2008). aws is focused on four different areas: Technology and innovation, equity and capital markets, promotion and financing as well as services for research and development management. In addition to these core activities it also administers the Austrian federal economic stimulus package of around €1 billion in 2009 and 2010.

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References

  1. ↑ Ablitech’s Mission Statement. Retrieved 1/07/2011: http://www.ablitech.com.
  2. ↑ National Science Foundation. 2007. Young Inventors’ Research Transforms the Marketplace. Retrieved 1/07/2010: https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=109819&org=DGE&from=news.
  3. ↑ Mississippi Gulf Coast Alliance for Economic Development. 2009. Could Ablitech Change Cancer Treatment? Retrieved 1/07/2011: http://www.mscoastaerospace.com/files/q109_newsletter.pdf Archived 2011-07-14 at the Wayback Machine .
  4. ↑ IGERT – About IGERT. Retrieved 1/07/2011: http://www.igert.org/public/about.
  5. ↑ Noetic Technologies. 2007. Ablitech, Inc. Receives $100,000 Grant from NSF. Retrieved 1/07/2011: http://www.noetictechnologies.org/news/ablitech_receives_grant.html Archived 2011-07-27 at the Wayback Machine .
  6. ↑ Research Watch. SBIR Phase I: PolyRNA –A Radical Innovation for Healing the Human Body. Retrieved 1/07/2011: http://researchwatch.net/nsf_grants/0810755%5B%5D.
  7. ↑ Northway, Wally. 2010. Ablitech receives more ‘Seed’ money from MTA. The Mississippi Business Journal. Retrieved 1/07/2011: http://msbusiness.com/blog/2010/06/ablitech-receives-more-seed-money-from-mta/.
  8. ↑ Mississippi Seed Fund. http://www.technologyalliance.ms/seed-fund/ Archived 2011-02-03 at the Wayback Machine .
  9. ↑ Ablitech Gets $2M DoD Grant for R&D into Heterotopic Ossification. GEN. Retrieved 10/13/2011:http://www.genengnews.com/gen-news-highlights/ablitech-gets-2m-dod-grant-for-r-d-into-heterotopic-ossification/81245812/.
  10. ↑ Sentementes, Gus G. 2012. Mississippi biotech startup moves to Baltimore. Retrieved 12/04/2012: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-02-19/business/bs-bz-ablitech-baltimore-biotech-20120219_1_biotech-clusters-biotech-industry-research-park.
  11. ↑ Wbt Innovation Marketplace. 2010. Company Profiles: Ablitech, Inc. Retrieved 10/19/2010: http://www.wbtshowcase.com/wbt/web.nsf/pages/files.html/$file/WBT2011%20Profile%20-%20Ablitech%20Inc.pdf.
  12. ↑ Noetic Technologies – invent your future! – Hall of Fame. Retrieved 1/07/2011: http://www.noetictechnologies.com/news/IYFhalloffame.html.
  13. ↑ The University of Memphis - FedEx Institute of Technology. 2006. NanoTect Takes Top Prize in Mid-South Business Plan Competition. Retrieved 1/07/2011: http://www.memphis.edu/fedex/releases/2006/4-04-06BusinessFInal.php Archived 2010-06-06 at the Wayback Machine .
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