STTR Phase I: High throughput aligned nanofiber multiwell plates for glioblastoma research

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This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to address the unmet need for high-throughput, cost-effective research tools to model the metastasis of cancer cells. The proposed research objectives are to (1) discover cost-effective, commercially scalable methods allowing the production of aligned nanofibers in a 96-well plate format and (2) verify that the fiber alignment is sufficient by monitoring the migration of adherent glioma cell lines. By creating a better understanding and control over the electrostatically driven process known as electrospinning, the company can transition current prototypes into full-scale manufacturing. A supply of high throughput cell culture migration assays will allow researchers to understand the process of metastasis. It is anticipated that a result of this work will be faster and more effective drug development to treat brain cancer. Extension of this technology to other types of cancer and areas of tissue engineering is anticipated once production conditions allowing safe and fully reproducible manufacturing are established. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is that the proposed studies will provide a cost-effective, high-throughput and innovative tool allowing researchers to study brain tumors in ways never before possible. More accurate models of glioma migration having better predictive power and higher translational potential will help develop more effective treatments. Current surgical procedures for malignant brain tumors cannot remove all of the cells associated with the primary tumor and these cancer cells migrate into the surrounding tissue where they evade both detection and current therapies, leading to secondary tumor formation and nearly 100% patient mortality. The proposed multi-well plate tool will enable pharmaceutical research identifying key factors regulating glioma cell migration, potentially helping devise a broad range of effective therapies and drugs against these devastating tumors. If the biological validation and manufacturing scale-up proposed in this work are successful, there will be a strong commercial potential for this novel tool as it will provide previously unrealized approaches for researchers to investigate a broad range of cancers and diseases. Additional strong commercial potential exists as the cell/tissue culture supplies market (which includes the proposed research tool) is expected to reach $4.97 billion globally by 2012 (Global Industry Analysts).