and bases their funding decisions on input from a panel of experts.  In this highly competitive environment, Vegrandis and SFC Fluidics have received a Small Business Technology Transfer Phase II award.  A recently completed Phase I project demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed device.  In Phase II, the two companies are teaming with Stage I Diagnostics, LLC, a University of Arkansas Medical Sciences spin-out company that has exclusive rights to a panel of biomarkers that have been shown to vary depending on the stage of development of ovarian cancer in women.  The overall concept is to introduce a pinprick sample of blood from a patient into a self-contained bioassay chip that is being developed by SFC Fluidics.  The blood sample will be automatically processed using SFC Fluidic’s patented microfluidics technology and detected using Vegrandis’ patented detection technology.  The concentration of the ovarian cancer biomarkers will be determined and an automated readout will be provided within 30 minutes.  Unlike existing tests, the instrument will be able to diagnose early stage ovarian cancer.  Early intervention will not only increase the chances of surviving ovarian cancer, but will also allow application of less drastic treatment procedures at early stages and thus, the quality of life of the cancer survivor will improve.

“We are very happy and proud to receive this award from NIH,” says Dr. Zoraida Aguilar , Senior Scientist for Vegrandis. “Vegrandis has a unique detection technology that is particularly well-suited for detection and measurement of quantities of biomolecules such as proteins in blood samples without extensive pre-processing of the sample.  This facilitates its use in point-of-care situations such as tests conducted in the doctor’s office.  The initial application, ovarian cancer detection using Stage I Diagnostics proprietary panel of biomarkers, is particularly exciting because it has great potential to make a positive contribution to improved health care.”  Dr. Prabhu Arumugam , Senior Engineer for SFC Fluidics, says, “We are pleased to collaborate with Vegrandis on this project.  The two company’s technologies are very complementary to one another for bioassay applications.”

According to Dr. Calvin Goforth , President of Virtual Incubation Company, a Northwest Arkansas based technology venture development company, “Both Vegrandis and SFC Fluidics have exciting growth potential and are working within high growth market segments.  For example, the microfluidics market is growing at over 30% annually and is expected to continue to grow at least at that rate for many years.  Each company has a range of high market potential applications.  Both companies have already attracted significant venture capital interest.  I think that is just one more indication of the home run potential of these two companies.”

Vegrandis and SFC Fluidics were both founded in 2002.  Vegrandis has received seven prior SBIR/STTR awards and SFC Fluidics has received four prior awards.  Vegrandis’ original technology was exclusively licensed from the University of Arkansas and SFC Fluidics’ original technology was exclusively licensed from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the University of Arkansas .