Protein Dynamic Solutions recipient of NSF SBIR Phase IIB Supplemental award

WAKEFIELD, MA - Oct 1, 2018 - Protein Dynamic Solutions (PDS) was awardeda Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase IIB grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to focus on innovative breakthrough applications and commercialization of ProteinMentorTMplatform technology for pre-clinical candidate selection and to help ensure safety and efficacy of therapeutic proteins. The grant value is $500,000 over a two-year period, which increases the total of the Phase II award to $1,425,999.

PDS’ CEO, Dr. Belinda Pastrana, delivered a message of encouragement for next generation of scientists in an interview with the NSFand thanked the institution for continued support of her innovative technology in a recent interview with National Public Radio’s “The Pulse”.

“PDS is honored to be recognized by this award”, Belinda said.  “We are dedicated to improving the quality of life of patients by helping pharmaceutical companies bring safer and more effective drugs to market faster.”

PDS’ flagship product, ProteinMentor, is a breakthrough platform technology that provides a validating analytical tool for immunogenicity and anti-drug antibody (ADA) bioassays for protein drug candidates. The technology affords unprecedented understanding of therapeutic proteins in solution under varying formulation conditions and stress and is effective for screening for potential unwanted immune response; a critical factor for safety and efficacy.  

ProteinMentor is a fully automated, high throughput platform using best-in-class image acquisition technology and auto recognition algorithms for protein stability screening and deciphering protein aggregation mechanism, size, identity and extent. Users can study an array of therapeutic candidates under various stressor conditions to determine the most stable candidate and optimum formulation conditions to avoid aggregation and associated immunogenicity and ADA response. 

“Working in the biopharma industry, we identified a need for a multivariate high-throughput technology to address the risk of protein aggregation,” Dr. Pastrana said. “We believe that ProteinMentor will provide an enabling decision-making tool for which candidates to progress through the pipeline. This will increase approvals and reduce late stage withdrawals, so lowering the overall costs of drug development.” 

About Protein Dynamic Solutions (PDS):

Headquartered in Wakefield, MA, and founded in the US bioprocessing hub of Puerto Rico, PDS develops breakthrough tools for bioanalysis of therapeutic candidates. Founder, Belinda Pastrana, is a renowned expert in protein conformation, having lectured over the world and trained a generation of analytical and physical chemists to work in the biologics industry. Her entire PDS team, including Board members and advisors, are veterans of biopharma and the life sciences with a strong track record for realization of cutting-edge technologies.

PDS’ flagship product is a high-throughput developability and comparability assessment tool - ProteinMentor - which utilizes a unique combination of microscopy and molecular spectroscopy to provide array-based visualization and analysis of protein drug formulations.