MIPS Round 38 Award Recipients

Projects approved for funding during this round. Some contracts may be pending.

Company: 3CLogic, Inc. (Rockville)
Project: Developing enterprise-level products to monitor and manage the peer-to-peer (P2P) traffic used by Internet telephony and Skype on computer networks.
Total Project Budget: $210,500
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, College Park
Principal Investigators: Raj Sharma, President & CEO; Neil Spring, Assistant Professor, Computer Science

Company: ACAGI, Inc. (Frederick)
Project: Building a portable video camera system with real-time face recognition, as well as live marking and indexing for immediate archival.
Total Project Budget: $109,243
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, College Park
Principal Investigators: Peter Spatharis, CEO; Dr. Rama Chellappa, Professor, UMIACS & Electrical & Computer Engineering

Company: Acceptys, Inc. (Baltimore)
Project: Identifying tumor targets for three of Acceptys’ human antibodies, shown in laboratory testing to kill pancreatic, lung, stomach and colon cancer cells.
Total Project Budget: $165,590
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, Baltimore
Principal Investigators: Dr. Frank Hensel, VP, Rresearch and Development; Dr. Scott Strome, Professor & Chairman, Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery

Company: Alba Therapeutics Corporation (Baltimore)
Project: Examining approaches for enhancing oral, nasal, and pulmonary drug delivery using Alba's tight-junction technology.
Total Project Budget: $96,000
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, Baltimore
Principal Investigators: Dr. Amir Tamiz, Director of Chemistry; Dr. Natalie D. Eddington, Professor & Chair, Pharmaceutical Sciences

Company: AriaVax, Inc. (Gaithersburg)
Project: Developing a novel vaccine against urinary tract infection, the most common bacterial infection in the U.S., effecting nearly one in three women by the age of 24.
Total Project Budget: $96,000
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, Baltimore
Principal Investigators: Dr. Frank A. Robey, Chief Scientific Officer; Dr. James Nataro, Professor, Pediatrics

Company: AviHome, LLC (Hebron)
Project: Engineering a ventilated floor system, retrofitted to existing poultry houses, that will control moisture levels in the bedding, reduce ammonia emissions, inhibit bacteria growth, fungus and insects, and prevent nutrient seepage into ground water. Over 88,000 poultry houses operate in the U.S., with 5,430 grower houses in the Delmarva Peninsula alone.
Total Project Budget: $355,520
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, Eastern Shore
Principal Investigators: Rafael S. Correa, Managing Director; Dr. Jeannie Harter-Dennis, Associate Professor, Agriculture

Company: axonX (Sparks)
Project: Testing a new, video-based smoke, flame, and motion detection system to provide early warning for fires and fewer false alarms.
Total Project Budget: $100,226
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, College Park
Principal Investigators: Andy Lynch, Manager of Technical Services; Dr. James Milke, Associate Professor, Fire Protection Engineering

Company: BioAssessments (Elkton)
Project: Developing a system to monitor a person’s salt sensitivity, which can indicate an increased risk of cardiac problems and stroke.
Total Project Budget: $154,300
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, Baltimore
Principal Investigators: Dr. Christopher Hyde, President; Dr. Mandeep Mehra, Professor, Medicine

Company: Cardinal Scientific, Inc. (Clinton)
Project: Designing a Web-based interface for manufacturing parts using a water-jet cutting machine.
Total Project Budget: $140,054
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, College Park
Principal Investigators: Andrew Brodskyk, President; Dr. Satyandra K. Gupta, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Company: Celadon Laboratories, Inc. (Hyattsville)
Project: Developing a radically innovative software platform for the design of oligonucleotides, which are short sequences of nucleotides, and are often used as probes for detecting DNA or RNA.
Total Project Budget: $216,521
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, College Park
Principal Investigators: Raymond Peterson, Chief Scientific Officer; Dr. Nathan Edwards, Assistant Research Scientist, Center for Bioinformatics & Computational Biology

Company: Green Eyes, LLC (Easton)
Project: Creating a device to protect moored water quality sensors from the impairment and degradation caused by the growth and activity of living organisms (biofouling).
Total Project Budget: $84,900
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, Center for Environmental Science
Principal Investigators: Vincent M. Kelly, Director; Dr. Louis A. Codispoti, Research Professor, UMCES

Company: InvisiTrack, Inc. (Annapolis)
Project: Building a system for the prediction and early detection of landslides. InvisiTrack’s wireless sensing technology, which is also applicable to other markets, works through concrete walls, foliage, and dense fog at over 2,000 feet, giving it distinct advantages over GPS and RFID.
Total Project Budget: $120,269
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Principal Investigators: Rick Durkee, CEO; Dr. Tony Farquhar, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Company: In Vitro Technologies, Inc. (Baltimore)
Project: Optimizing methods for isolating and preserving fish liver cells (hepatocytes), which can be used commercially to test the environmental toxicity of industrial compounds such as fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides.
Total Project Budget: $132,177
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, Baltimore
Principal Investigators: James Hardy, Director, Product Operations; Dr. Andrew Kane, Director, Aquatic Pathobiology Center, Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine

Company: Lentigen Corporation (Baltimore)
Project: Creating new models to treat lung-based diseases such as lung cancer, pneumonia, asthma, fibrosis and emphysema using lentiviral vectors, powerful systems for delivering genes into mammalian cells.
Total Project Budget: $110,621
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, Baltimore
Principal Investigators: John Woolford, Director, Business Planning; Dr. Ricardo A. Feldman, Associate Professor, Microbiology and Immunology

Company: Neocera, Inc. (Beltsville)
Project: Prototyping techniques for fabricating super hard, hydrogen-free, diamond-like carbon coatings. The high- wear-resistant, low-friction, corrosion-resistant coatings could be used for engine and machine parts, medical and optical devices, bearings, and electronics.
Total Project Budget: $67,439
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, College Park
Principal Investigators: Mikhail Strikovski, Senior Scientist; R. D. Vispute, Research Scientist, CSR, Physics

Company: Nora, LLC (Baltimore)
Project: Developing manufacturing and purification protocols for Nora’s patent-pending therapy for recurrent miscarriages and repeated in vitro fertilization failures.
Total Project Budget: $91,009
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, Baltimore
Principal Investigators: Dr. Darryl L. Carter, Medical Director, Julienne Mullaney, Research Associate, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Company: Pervasive Technology Engineering, LLC (Greenbelt)
Project: Testing the company’s newly launched fiber optic pressure sensor, which measures minute changes in acoustic pressure. The sensors can gauge the structural health of long bridges, both tall and historic buildings, oil and gas pipes, and other structures where sensor data has to travel long distances without losing signal integrity and precision.
Total Project Budget: $104,843
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, College Park
Principal Investigators: Dr. Mohamed Eltoweissy, VP, Strategic Planning; Dr. Abhijit Dasgupta, Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Company: Pharad, LLC (Glen Burnie)
Project: Optimizing Pharad’s portable system for detecting concealed weapons on individuals from a distance. The system can be used in a variety of indoor and outdoor environments, including airport concourses and passenger train terminals, public buildings, shopping centers, stadiums, and retail centers.
Total Project Budget: $134,324
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, College Park
Principal Investigators: Dr. Dalma Novak, Vice President; Dr. K. J. Ray Liu, Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering

Company: Prime Circuits, Inc. (Potomac)
Project: Developing fast, three-dimensional x-ray baggage screening systems to detect explosives.
Total Project Budget: $80,100
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, College Park
Principal Investigators: Satpal Singh, President; Martin Peckerar, Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering

Company: Profectus BioSciences, Inc. (Baltimore)
Project: Support for a clinical study investigating the potential of immunomodulating agents in early HIV therapy.
Total Project Budget: $1,050,000
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, Biotechnology Institute
Principal Investigators: Dr. Tim Fouts, Director of Research; Dr. George Lewis, Division Director, Vaccines, UMBI/IHV

Company: Promogen, Inc. (Gaithersburg)
Project: Optimizing Promogen's technology to produce cancer-targeting gene promoters to treat neuroblastoma and prostate cancer. Cancer-targeting gene promoters can switch on genes in cancer cells to kill them, while leaving healthy cells alone.
Total Project Budget: $105,015
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, Baltimore
Principal Investigators: Dr. Sung Ho Hahm, President, CEO; Dr. Dean Mann, Professor, Pathology

Company: Quantum Molecular Pharmaceuticals (Bethesda)
Project: Developing a new radiation sensor that could significantly reduce the size and cost of positron emission tomography (PET) scanners. PET is a nuclear medicine medical imaging technique that produces a three-dimensional image of functional processes in the body.
Total Project Budget: $501,597
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, College Park
Principal Investigators: Dr. Irving Weinberg, Chairman; Dr. Pamela Abshire, Director, Integrated Biomorphic Information Systems Lab, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Company: VivaLac, Inc. (Brookeville)
Project: Evaluate the low caloric value and glycemic index role of VivaLac’s natural, alternative sweetener, Whey Low®.
Total Project Budget: $97,778
Partner Institution: University of Maryland, College Park
Principal Investigators: Dr. Lee R. Zehner, President; Dr. Thomas W. Castonguay, Professor, Nutrition & Food Science