28 Jul NSF awards Lucigen $250,000
MIDDLETON, Wis. – Lucigen Corporation has been awarded the maximum $250,000 grant from the National Science Foundation under a special SBIR grant program for its enzyme research. The grant program is designed to help commercialize new products and technologies with high potential value.
Under the program, NSF matched a percentage of the funds raised by Lucigen from outside investors.
The award will speed commercialization of enzymes from rare microbes discovered using Lucigen’s Single Cell Genomics technology. The company is currently developing new enzymes for DNA-based diagnostics and drug discovery, as well as for production of low-cost ethanol from corn for use in fuels.
According to Lucigen vice president Thomas Schoenfeld, the grants will be used “to further the develop the commercialization of some enzymes that we discovered and to continue our discovery program.”
“We’ll continue to fund our high-risk research, but we’ve been growing at a pretty steady rate with product sales,” Shoenfeld said. In addition to Lucigen’s enzyme research, the company also sells research tools for revenue.
Each government seed fund, such as SBIR grants, has a different review process at federal and state level, and depending on the agency supplying the grant, proposals are either peer reviewed or examined by agency scientists. The grants are designed to prove the technological feasibility and credibility of applicant proposals and achieving one is a testament to a company’s science.
In June, Lucigen was honored at the Technology Awards Banquet for receiving $849,510 in federal funds from October 2002 to September 2003, the eighth highest amount in the state.