Apoptosis Intervention in Cell and Organ Preservation

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): BioLife Solutions Inc. was incorporated in March, 1998, and specializes in developing solutions and procedures for the hypothermic and cryopreservation of human cells, tissues and organs. The Company's research staff is composed, in part, of molecular biologists who have accumulated evidence supportive of the concept that the best manner in which to formulate future preservation solutions is to understand the molecular cell death cascades that are triggered during preservation storage regimes. BioLife has developed the HypolhermosolR (HTS) family of hypothermic and cryopreservative solutions that is designed based on this molecular biology strategy and is uniquely formulated for cell-specific applications. BioLife's successful completion of the Phase I work described herein has resulted in the sale of HTS to several corporate, academic, and government groups. BioLife has selected to work with Vitagen Corporation and the University of Miami Diabetes Research Institute (DRI) to develop two special HTS formulations for the shipping/storing of Vitagen's Extracorporeal Liver Assist Device (HTS-ELAD) and DRI's transplantable pancreatic islets (HTS-ISLETS). BioLife proposes three research themes in this Phase II SBIR. First, BioLife will continue its basic research on the molecular mechanisms underlying preservation-induced cell death. This basic research initiative is unique in the preservation industry and contributed to DRI's adoption of HTS for human islet transplantation. Second, BioLife will modify HTS with apoptotic and necrotic inhibitors identified through the literature as well as Vitamin E analogues synthesized through combinatorial chemistry so that HTS-ELAD and HTS-ISLETS can be optimized. Finally, the most challenging theme of the Phase II project is to develop a ProteinChip microarray high throughput assay system that will be the keystone of BioLife's Phase III additive discovery program. This, in turn, will allow the company to perform rapid assays by harnessing the microarrav technology so that additional I-ITS variants can be developed for future clients. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: Not Available