Trudeau Institute to receive sub-contract for translational research grant from NIH

The Trudeau Institute has announced it is the recipient of a sub-contract for a translational research grant from the National Institutes of Health.

This award will help the Institute move one of its discoveries closer to human trials and clinical use. It is the Institute's first small business innovation research (SBIR) grant and will fund studies in the laboratory of Dr. Stephen Smiley.

Dr. Smiley is a co-investigator on the $3,000,000 National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Advanced Technology SBIR Phase II award to Aronora, Inc. (www.aronorabio.com), an Oregon-based company developing a new class of safe therapeutics for thrombotic disorders, including infections that cause blood-clotting abnormalities.

Dr. Smiley's lab will determine which types of bacterial infections respond to Aronora's new therapeutic approach.

According to Dr. Smiley, "These funds will allow us to extend our earlier collaborative work with Aronora. The prior studies showed that Aronora's therapeutic approach helps mice survive severe infections caused by Listeria, a bacterium that can cause serious human illness, especially among the elderly, the very young and those with compromised immune systems. Listeria can also cause significant complications in pregnant women, including miscarriage. The goal now is to determine whether this same approach will also work for other types of bacterial infections."