(Press-News.org) WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Health care providers and their patients could know with greater confidence whether pancreatic cysts are benign or potentially malignant, and if surgery is required to remove them, by using a new diagnostic test currently in development.
Amplified Sciences, a clinical-stage life sciences diagnostic company that licenses Purdue University innovations, has received a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research, or SBIR, grant of approximately $400,000 from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to develop the test. The company focuses on accurately detecting and categorically assessing the risks of debilitating diseases.
CEO Diana Caldwell said the incidental detection rate of cystic pancreatic lesions has increased significantly due to the aging population and advances in clinical imaging technologies. However, there is a lack of definitive diagnostics to accurately assess if a cyst is benign or potentially malignant.
“Health care professionals need better tools to help them manage these patients and identify individuals most at risk for pancreatic cancer,” Caldwell said. “Pancreatic cysts are a window to early detection and represent an important risk factor in identifying pancreatic cancer early.”
Caldwell said clinicians must balance the risk of missing a potentially malignant cyst with taking unnecessary surgical action to remove a benign cyst. She said retrospective studies have found almost one-fourth of surgeries to remove pancreatic cysts are unwarranted.
“However, previous studies have also revealed that when clinicians use a wait-and-see approach to monitor the development of pancreatic cancer, up to a quarter of patients receive surgery too late,” Caldwell said. “The dual-edged nature of this process highlights the need for better early-stage diagnostic tools.”
Caldwell said the NCI grant will help fund important technical and clinical validation milestones, including the procurement of banked patient samples and clinical trials.
The company’s pancreatic cancer diagnostic products are based on technology invented by V. Jo Davisson, professor of medicinal chemistry and molecular pharmacology in Purdue University’s College of Pharmacy and a faculty member of the Purdue Institute for Drug Discovery. Davisson serves as the chief scientific officer of Amplified Sciences.
“This award recognizes the strength of our scientific team, the potential of our chemistry platform and the National Institutes of Health’s interest in supporting early-stage diagnostics in this disease state,” Davisson said.
The state of Indiana is also supportive of startups earning SBIR grants. Through a program managed by Elevate Ventures, the company is eligible for a Phase I grant match of up to $50,000.
Amplified Sciences licenses Davisson’s intellectual property through the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization.
About Amplified Sciences
Amplified Sciences is a clinical-stage life science diagnostics startup focused on detecting and preempting the risks of debilitating diseases, thus providing health providers the ability to treat patients earlier with better outcomes. The company’s ultrasensitive chemistry platform leverages technology licensed from Purdue University, and its headquarters is in West Lafayette, Indiana. Their lead assay has published clinical evidence in pancreatic cancer. To learn more about Amplified Sciences, visit amplifiedsciences.com.
About Purdue University
Purdue University is a public research institution with excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities (Times Higher Education/Wall Street Journal and QS), with two colleges in the top 4 in the United States (U.S. News & World Report), Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, with 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 12 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap, including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, and Purdue Innovates, at https://stories.purdue.edu.
About Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization
The Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization operates one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the U.S. Services provided by this office support the economic development initiatives of Purdue University and benefit the university’s academic activities through commercializing, licensing and protecting Purdue intellectual property. In fiscal year 2022, the office reported 157 deals finalized with 237 technologies signed, 379 disclosures received and 169 issued U.S. patents. The office is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2019 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Award for Place from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. In 2020, IPWatchdog Institute ranked Purdue third nationally in startup creation and in the top 20 for patents. The Purdue Research Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation created to advance the mission of Purdue University. Contact otcip@prf.org for more information.
Writer/Media contact: Steve Martin, sgmartin@prf.org
Sources: Diana Caldwell, diana.caldwell@amplifiedsci.com
Jo Davisson, vjdavisson@amplifiedsci.com
END
Amplified Sciences receives $400,000 NCI grant to improve early detection of pancreatic cancer
The company will develop and validate testing for an assay to improve detection of pancreatic cancer in patients diagnosed with pancreatic cystic lesions
2023-07-12
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Birmingham start-up awarded funding for technology that generates water out of air
2023-07-12
NovNat Tech Ltd, a visionary new company based in the Unit 9 incubator at the Birmingham Research Park, has secured funding from Innovate UK to develop a novel technology that can generate water out of air.
NovNat Tech is offering solutions to one of the most critical problems of today and the future, the global water scarcity crisis, and is developing a first of its kind ‘atmospheric water harvester’ to help address the global water shortage.
The harvest uses a proprietary material that has already been ...
Webb celebrates first year of science with close-up on birth of sun-like stars
2023-07-12
From our cosmic backyard in the solar system to distant galaxies near the dawn of time, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has delivered on its promise of revealing the universe like never before in its first year of science operations. To celebrate the completion of a successful first year, NASA has released Webb’s image of a small star-forming region in the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex.
“In just one year, the James Webb Space Telescope has transformed humanity’s view of the cosmos, peering ...
Lupus Research Alliance announces recipients of 2023 Diversity in Lupus Research Awards
2023-07-12
NEW YORK, NY, July 12. The Lupus Research Alliance is pleased to announce the 2023 recipients of the Career Development and Postdoctoral Awards to Promote Diversity in Lupus Research. The Diversity in Lupus Research Awards aim to foster the development of outstanding, underrepresented minority scientists and establish a diverse community of researchers and clinicians in the field of lupus.
Lupus is a debilitating autoimmune disorder, and the prevalence, severity of symptoms, and mortality are higher among people of color. Yet a recent report by the National Science Foundation showed that while “Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, ...
A glimpse into the hexasome: 40 years on
2023-07-12
In 1983, scientists discovered hexasomes – a unique molecular structure that helps cells package their DNA. Now, a study conducted by the Eustermann group at EMBL Heidelberg has shed light on how DNA packaging into hexasomes can affect the function of enzymes involved in gene regulation.
DNA: a lot to unpack
DNA is a very long, thin thread containing our genetic instructions. Being much longer than the tiny space inside our cells, it needs a clever packaging system. That’s where nucleosomes come into play – tiny spool-like structures that help compact our genetic information. Multiple nucleosomes are then linked ...
Award for dementia researcher from New York City
2023-07-12
This year’s “Hartwig Piepenbrock-DZNE Prize”, endowed with 60,000 euros, goes to the British neuroscientist Alison Goate, DPhil. The award recognizes her outstanding contributions to research into Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. Professor Goate researches and teaches at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, an international leader in biomedical education, research, and patient care located in New York City. The prize is presented jointly by the Piepenbrock Group and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE). The award ...
Towards crack-resistant nanoparticle-based latex films
2023-07-12
Synthetic polymer materials, such as plastics and rubbers, have become ubiquitous in our daily lives. It is, therefore, essential to ensure that they are safe, durable, and sustainable. This is especially true for synthetic latex films, which are widely used in packaging, biomedicine, and electronics.
But what exactly are synthetic latex films? Simply put, they are a type of nanoparticle-based films that are produced by drying out a mixture of polymer nanoparticles and water. As the solvent evaporates, the nanoparticles become more packed until finally the interactions between polymer chains at the boundaries of nanoparticles create a coherent film. Unfortunately, the latex films ...
Better and faster design of organic light-emitting materials with machine learning and quantum computing
2023-07-12
Over the past decade, organic luminescent materials have been recognized by academia and industry alike as promising components for light, flexible and versatile optoelectronic devices such as OLED displays. However, it is a challenge to find suitably efficient materials.
To address this challenge, a joint research team has developed a novel approach combining a machine learning model with quantum-classical computational molecular design to accelerate the discovery of efficient OLED emitters. This research was published May 17 in Intelligent Computing, a Science Partner Journal.
The ...
Understanding the intersection of Alzheimer’s Disease caregiving and the LGBT experience
2023-07-12
INDIANAPOLIS – A new study of caregivers of LGBT older adults living with Alzheimer’s disease provides rare insight into the intersection of caregiving and the LGBT experience.
Researchers from Regenstrief Institute and the medical schools of Indiana University and University of Colorado report that many common caregiver experiences -- such as feelings of social isolation and of being overwhelmed -- are similar for caregivers, whether an individual with Alzheimer’s disease is LGBT or not. However, because LGBT older adults often do not have adult children who can serve as caregivers or may be estranged ...
A step toward treating chemotherapy-resistant prostate cancer
2023-07-12
Prostate cancer is a leading cause of death among American men, and it’s resistant to one of the most powerful chemotherapy medications — cisplatin. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Central Science have developed the first therapy of its kind that disrupts prostate cancer cells’ metabolism and releases cisplatin into the weakened cells, causing them to die. In mouse models, an orally administered version shrunk tumors substantially.
Cisplatin attacks testicular, breast, bladder, lung and ovarian cancer cells, damages their DNA and effectively destroys tumors. However, it’s not effective against prostate cancer ...
A new tactic to take on leprosy
2023-07-12
Leprosy has existed since at least Biblical times, yet scientists still don’t know exactly how Mycobacterium leprae causes the disease’s symptoms. Though antibiotics can treat the illness, researchers are concerned about the increase in drug-resistant strains. Now, a team reporting in ACS Central Science has begun to understand the unique role certain immune receptors play in leprosy infections in mice, which could lead to new types of treatments for this disease and others in humans.
Thousands of people are currently affected by leprosy — also known as Hansen’s disease — according to the World Health Organization. The disease can cause skin ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Tracing the quick synthesis of an industrially important catalyst
New software sheds light on cancer’s hidden genetic networks
UT Health San Antonio awarded $3 million in CPRIT grants to bolster cancer research and prevention efforts in South Texas
Third symposium spotlights global challenge of new contaminants in China’s fight against pollution
From straw to soil harmony: International team reveals how biochar supercharges carbon-smart farming
Myeloma: How AI is redrawing the map of cancer care
Manhattan E. Charurat, Ph.D., MHS invested as the Homer and Martha Gudelsky Distinguished Professor in Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine
Insilico Medicine’s Pharma.AI Q4 Winter Launch Recap: Revolutionizing drug discovery with cutting-edge AI innovations, accelerating the path to pharmaceutical superintelligence
Nanoplastics have diet-dependent impacts on digestive system health
Brain neuron death occurs throughout life and increases with age, a natural human protein drug may halt neuron death in Alzheimer’s disease
SPIE and CLP announce the recipients of the 2025 Advanced Photonics Young Innovator Award
Lessons from the Caldor Fire’s Christmas Valley ‘Miracle’
Ant societies rose by trading individual protection for collective power
Research reveals how ancient viral DNA shapes early embryonic development
A molecular gatekeeper that controls protein synthesis
New ‘cloaking device’ concept to shield sensitive tech from magnetic fields
Researchers show impact of mountain building and climate change on alpine biodiversity
Study models the transition from Neanderthals to modern humans in Europe
University of Phoenix College of Doctoral Studies releases white paper on AI-driven skilling to reduce burnout and restore worker autonomy
AIs fail at the game of visual “telephone”
The levers for a sustainable food system
Potential changes in US homelessness by ending federal support for housing first programs
Vulnerability of large language models to prompt injection when providing medical advice
Researchers develop new system for high-energy-density, long-life, multi-electron transfer bromine-based flow batteries
Ending federal support for housing first programs could increase U.S. homelessness by 5% in one year, new JAMA study finds
New research uncovers molecular ‘safety switch’ shielding cancers from immune attack
Bacteria resisting viral infection can still sink carbon to ocean floor
Younger biological age may increase depression risk in older women during COVID-19
Bharat Innovates 2026 National Basecamp Showcases India’s Most Promising Deep-Tech Ventures
Here’s what determines whether your income level rises or falls
[Press-News.org] Amplified Sciences receives $400,000 NCI grant to improve early detection of pancreatic cancerThe company will develop and validate testing for an assay to improve detection of pancreatic cancer in patients diagnosed with pancreatic cystic lesions