VIPC Awards Commonwealth Commercialization Fund Grant (CCF) to George Mason University Extracellular Vesicles Research
CCF grants support startups, critical early technology testing and market validation efforts
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES, July 6, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ — The Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC) today announced that George Mason University (GMU) has been awarded a Commonwealth Commercialization Fund (CCF) grant for $75,000 in support of a commercialization project being conducted by Dr. Fatah Kashanchi. VIPC’s CCF programs have distributed more than $49 million to Virginia-based startups, entrepreneurs and university-based inventors since 2012.
GMU is a public research university based in Fairfax, Va. Dr. Kashanchi is a Professor of Virology and director of the Laboratory of Molecular Virology at GMU. He is also president of the American Society for Intercellular Communication (ASIC). In addition to many other research interests, Dr. Kashanchi and his colleagues are currently working with extracellular vesicles (EVs). EVs have low immunogenicity and represent a safe and efficient strategy for a virus-free vaccine. This CCF grant will be used to develop a novel platform to produce EVs as a vaccine source that has the ability to properly activate immune cells and provide a strong and long-lasting immunity.
“We are very excited to receive a CCF grant from VIPC,” said Dr. Kashanchi. “We are thankful for the support to help develop and grow our novel vaccine source to provide long-lasting immunity.”
“We are pleased to award a CCF grant to support Dr. Kashanchi’s novel EV vaccine research at GMU,” said Hina Mehta, VIPC’s Director for University Programs. “VIPC’s CCF higher education grant program plays an important role in getting funding to entrepreneurially-minded university researchers as they work to take innovations from lab to market.”
CCF accepts applications and awards funding on a rolling basis to Virginia’s small businesses and university-based innovators. The CCF Higher Education grant program seeks to fund high-potential Virginia-based academic research teams that are developing technologies with strong commercial potential. The grants support early technology and market validation efforts such as customer discovery, market research, business model validation, development of prototypes or a minimum viable product (MVP), customer pilots, intellectual property protection, team development, and more. For more information on funding opportunities and eligibility requirements, or to apply, visit the CCF pages at www.VirginiaIPC.org.
About the Commonwealth Commercialization Fund (CCF)
VIPC’s Commonwealth Commercialization Fund (CCF) was launched on July 1, 2020 to foster innovative and collaborative efforts in Virginia. Combining two legacy state programs, the Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund (CRCF) and the Virginia Research Innovation Fund (VRIF), CCF seeks technologies with a high potential for economic development and job creation and that position the Commonwealth as a national leader in science- and technology-based research, development, and commercialization.
About Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC)
VIPC: Connecting innovators with opportunities. As the nonprofit operations arm of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority (VIPA), VIPC is the commercialization and seed stage economic development driver in the Commonwealth that leads funding, infrastructure, and policy initiatives to support Virginia’s innovators, entrepreneurs, startups, and market development strategies. VIPC collaborates with local, regional, state, and federal partners to support the expansion and diversification of Virginia’s economy.
Programs include: Virginia Venture Partners (VVP) | VVP Fund of Funds (SSBCI) | Virginia Founders Fund (VFF) |Commonwealth Commercialization Fund (CCF) | Petersburg Founders Fund (PFF) | Smart Communities | The Virginia Smart Community Testbed | The Virginia Unmanned Systems Center | Virginia Advanced Air Mobility Alliance (VAAMA) | The Public Safety Innovation Center |Entrepreneurial Ecosystems | Regional Innovation Fund (RIF) | Federal Funding Assistance Program (FFAP) for SBIR & STTR | University Partnerships | Startup Company Mentoring & Engagement. For more information, please visit www.VirginiaIPC.org. Follow VIPC on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Angela Costello, Vice President of Communications
Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC)
angela.costello@VirginiaIPC.org
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