The Vermont Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (VT EPSCoR) is pleased to provide two funding opportunities with awards of up to $15,000 to Vermont based businesses.
Questions? Email epscor@uvm.edu or phone 802.656.7931

SBIR Phase (0)

Competitive awards of up to $15,000
The main goal of the Vermont ESPCoR Phase (0) solicitation is to identify proposals that show promise for success in federal SBIR competitions and that would benefit from financial support and reviewer comments. As such, each proposal should identify at least one federal SBIR program to which the work is targeted.
Deadline: May 1, 2013
Review the submission guidelines and get your application started.

Use of Facilities for Private Sector

Competitive awards of up to $5,000
This program provides the opportunity for Vermont small businesses to compete for grants to use facilities at the University of Vermont (UVM) to collect the data necessary for the submission of Phase (I) and Phase (II) federal grants. There must be a federal SBIR program to which the work is eventually targeted. Vermont EPSCoR’s intent is to identify those SBIR ideas that need additional data for applications at the Phase (I) and Phase (II) level.
Rolling Deadline: Submit a proposal at any time
Review the submission guidelines.

Karen Glass, assistant professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences’ Vermont Campus, has been awarded a three-year NIH research grant totaling $353,400. Her research is aimed at identifying new ways to prevent and treat Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). “There is no single factor, but rather a series of events, which leads to a disease such as AML,” said Dr. Glass. “If we can better understand the basic mechanisms controlling gene expression and how chromosomal translocations lead to AML and other cancers, then we will be able to diagnose and treat AML patients more effectively. We may also be able to apply this knowledge in the treatment of other cancers and diseases.”
Read the full press release.
Learn more about Karen Glass’ research.

Thirty students representing Vermont eight high schools participated in the fourth annual Vermont Brain Bee on Saturday, February 9, 2013 at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. The event included written, practical and oral examinations, as well as a keynote lecture and neuroscience student discussion panel. For the first time, all of the Brain Bee participants qualified for the final rounds of the competition.
Nora Enright, a sophomore from Otter Valley Union High School, clinched first place and was awarded funding to compete in the National Brain Bee in Baltimore. Second place and third place went to Gabriel Peck Frame, a senior from Champlain Valley Union High School, and John Mlcuch, a senior from Mount Abraham Union High School.
The 2013 Vermont Brain Bee was co-presented by the Vermont Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience and the Neuroscience, Behavior and Health Initiative at UVM.
Learn more about the Vermont Brain Bee and view footage of the event from WCAX.

[Photo © Copyright 2001-2003 WCAX. All Rights Reserved]

Friday March 15, 4:30–6:30 pm, Main Street Grill (NECI), downstairs bar
Network and unwind with your colleagues in the Vermont bioscience arena. We’re hoping that moving the get-together to Montpelier will make it easier for non-Burlington folks to attend this very informal event.

March 20, 3:30–5 pm, Vermont Chamber of Commerce, 751 Granger Road, Berlin (technically Barre)
We encourage all VBSA members to attend the annual meeting. The agenda will include typical board business, plus we will elect officers and discuss our 2013 program. According to our by-laws, business and education members have voting privileges.
Officer candidates are nominated by the Board of Directors. If you would like to be considered as an officer or board member, please contact Susan Fayette.

April 4, 1:30–4:30, reception to follow, Davis Center, UVM Campus, Burlington
UVM’s Office of Technology Commercialization, the Vermont Technology Council and the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies present the 2013 Invention to Venture (I2V) conference. The annual Vermont I2V Conference is a leading event that pulls together academic researchers, students, entrepreneurs and business leaders from across Vermont and from several colleges and universities. This will be the 8th year for this half-day conference, and it will feature a new, interactive format of ten roundtable discussion topics, designed to increase networking and discussion. Attendees can choose three topics when registering. Rich Tarrant Jr., of MyWebGrocer will be the keynote speaker and the networking event will be followed by a reception.

Tucked away in the Chace Mill in Burlington, one small company is producing big innovation for the life science imaging community.  89 North, a subsidiary of Bellows Falls’ award-winning Chroma Technology Corp., took home a prestigious 2011 Prism Award from the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE).  The Prism Awards are given each year “to products that challenge conventional ideas, solve problems, and improve life through the generation and harnessing of light”.

The awards span several categories intended to isolate specific contributions in photonics across various technology areas and industry sectors. 89 North’s award, granted in the category of “Life Sciences and Biophotonics”, was presented for the Heliophor™—an innovative, high-intensity, and exceptionally stable light source system used for quantitative fluorescence imaging.  According to SPIE, “The Heliophor provides a new alternative to arc lamps, metal halides, and LED light sources.”
The innovation cornerstone of the Heliophor is its pumped-phosphor architecture, which utilizes high power, solid-state light sources to generate specific emission spectra through excitation of conversion phosphors.  The pumped-phosphor architecture, combined with the Heliophor’s sophisticated cooling and control designs, results in superior stability.  Stability is critical for ensuring that output intensity is consistent across measurements, allowing for repeatable, truly quantitative fluorescence analysis.
The Heliophor offers exceptional performance for a wide variety of fluorescence techniques which focus on probing how cells operate as well as how they malfunction.  Research applications include neurology and muscle physiology, disease mechanisms, and understanding universal biological pathways in model organisms such as yeast.
SPIE was founded in 1955 to advance light-based technologies.  Serving more than 180,000 constituents from 168 countries, the society advances emerging technologies through interdisciplinary information exchange, continuing education, publications, patent precedent, and career and professional growth.
Drawing upon its core competencies and penchant for innovation, 89 North is continuing its mission to become a world leader in the biophotonics industry, developing illumination systems to serve the needs and expand the capability of the life science research community.  The Prism Award is one of many achievements expected from this small yet highly inventive company.  “We created 89 North to encourage the kind of innovations that emerge when smart and creative people interact,” said Chroma President Paul Millman. “The Prism Award certifies the success of that interaction.”

[Part of the December 2012 Newsletter, See More in the Archives.]

For the third time in five years, BioTek Instruments was recognized as a recipient of the 5x5x5 Growth Award at the 10^th annual awards ceremony on Monday, September 17, 2012. This annual award is sponsored by Vermont Business Magazine and KeyBank, and is presented to Vermont companies experiencing outstanding growth in one of five business categories.
BioTek was recognized in this year’s “10×10” category, marking Vermont’s Top 10 companies in terms of sales growth over 10 years, and also honoring the award’s 10^th anniversary. BioTek also received the 5x5x5 award in 2008 and 2011.
“I’m honored to receive this award on behalf of BioTek, and to celebrate our growth in the great state of Vermont,” noted Briar Alpert, BioTek’s President and CEO. “And above all else, I’m proud of the BioTekkers that work as a team every day to reach our goals, and to make BioTek one of the best companies in Vermont.”
“On the 10th anniversary of the 5x5x5 Awards we decided to honor, for the first time, the fastest growing Vermont companies over the past ten years and it was no surprise that our data pointed right to BioTek Instruments as one of these great companies”, commented John Boutin, Publisher of Vermont Business Magazine. “With their commitment to their employees, the environment and their community, it proves you can do all that and still have a very successful company right here in the state of Vermont.”

[Part of the December 2012 Newsletter, See More in the Archives.]

BioTek Instruments proudly announces receipt of the 2012 Drug Discovery Product of the Year – Scientists’ Choice Award for their Synergy™ NEO HTS Multi-Mode Microplate Reader. The award, sponsored by SelectScience, was announced September 5th at ELRIG Drug Discovery in Manchester, UK.

“This award is such a special recognition from our customers; we’re delighted to have our Synergy NEO foremost recognized among many cutting-edge drug discovery technologies,” noted Gary Barush, BioTek’s Director of Marketing & Sales. “In return, we promise to continue innovating microplate-based solutions to benefit drug discovery applications.” BioTek’s Synergy NEO was selected among seven product finalists, as nominated by SelectScience members. NEO is specifically designed for today’s streamlined screening applications and core laboratories. Patented Hybrid Technology™ combines filter- and monochromator-based optics in the compact Synergy NEO for increased flexibility, speed and performance. Full spectrum reading in both fluorescent and absorbance modes, plus multiple parallel detectors decrease measuring time, and dedicated filter-based optics are suited for live cell assays. Additionally, an optional plate stacker with a 6-second plate exchange time increases efficiency and walk-away automation. Powerful and user-friendly Gen5™ Data Analysis Software allows custom protocol creation, data processing and export flexibility.

[Part of the December 2012 Newsletter, See More in the Archives.]

What can Vermont learn from Energizer’s decision to leave Vermont, and how can we move forward?  These are questions addressed in a recently released editorial by Bruce Lisman, founder of the independent, nonpartisan public policy organization Campaign for Vermont.

“We want to have as many homegrown businesses as possible. But the reality of the global market place is that companies like Energizer, or many bioscience companies, which provide good jobs, are headquartered elsewhere,” Lisman notes.
“This is an important wake-up call and an important opportunity to strengthen the job creation, and job retention, strategy of our state,” Lisman writes.   “We are not disconnected from the economy outside of Vermont and, while we continue to cultivate local business, the influence of the global economy will remain significant. Public policy here matters.”
Lisman goes on to praise what he calls an exceptional economic development network that “knows the local markets and employers.” However, as Lisman points out, there is no one who systematically calls on employers based out of state.  “No one regularly visits their headquarters; no one builds relationships with key decision makers about expansion and relocation,” Lisman writes.  “We should have a team of people focused on this relationship building; individuals who come to understand the company’s needs, what drives their decision making and how to help when they share their challenges. It’s too late to offer ideas—and to prevent job losses—when a company is thinking of leaving or has decided to leave.”
To read Lisman’s complete editorial and learn more about his ideas, visit www.campaignforvermont.org.

[Part of the December 2012 Newsletter, See More in the Archives.]