Gulf Coast Region ETF Awardees

ETF awards have been announced to sixteen Gulf Coast region companies, for a total of $14,979,520.  All Gulf Coast region awardees are able to take advantage of one year of Client Services from the Houston Technology Center.

Bellicum Pharmaceuticals - $1,450,000 - October 9, 2007

Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical company, was awarded $1,450,000 to help develop its next generation therapeutic vaccines for the treatment of cancer, based on technology developed at Baylor College of Medicine.  Bellicum's BP-GMAX-CD1 lead product candidate incorporates a pharmacologically regulated switch designed to generate a substantially more potent and durable immune response against the patient's cancer cells than seen with other vaccines in development.  Bellicum's collaboration partners are Baylor College of Medicine and the Greater Houston Partnership.  Click here for more...

CNAP/CNI - $975,000 - October 4, 2006

The Carbon Nanotube Acceleration Project (CNAP), an operating division of Carbon Nanotechnologies, Inc. (CNI) has been awarded $975,000 to help bring to market a new fuel cell technology that is expected to power the next generationof portable and wireless electronic devices.  The technology was developed by the late Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry, Professor Rick Smalley, at Rice University.  CNAP's collaboration partners are Rice University and the Economic Development Alliance for Brazoria County.  Click here for more...

CorInnova - $500,000 - June 1, 2006

CorInnova has been awarded $500,000 for the development of heart assist technologies that lead to heart recovery rather than heart replacement.  The core technology is a device that enhances heart recovery through restoration of proper cardiac motion.  This is a Texas A&M University technology invented by Dr. John Criscione, CorInnova's CEO.  CorInnova's application was sponsored by the Research Valley Partnership.  Click here for more...

Endothelix - $1,000,000 - July 21, 2006

Endothelix has been awarded $1,000,000 for the development of its low-cost non-invasive VENDYS procedure, a new technology for the measurement of vascular reactivity, a marker of endothelial dysfunction, by monitoring temperature at one's fingertips.  Endothelix's first technology was licensed from the Texas Heart Institute and the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston.  Researchers from the University of Houston, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas A&M University are also actively involved with Endothelix.  Click here for more...

Halsa Pharmaceuticals - $250,000 - March 24, 2008

Halsa Pharmaceuticals has been awarded $250,000 for the development and pilot manufacturing of a therapeutic drug treatment for obesity.

itRobotics - $750,000 - July 21, 2006

itRobotics has been awarded $750,000 for the development of robotic in-line inspection systems for tubular plant equipment and non-piggable pipelines, developed in collaboration with Rice University.  itRobotics' application was sponsored by the Greater Fort Bend Economic Development Council.  Click here for more...

Laser Tissue Welding - $160,000 - October 9, 2007

Laser Tissue Welding, Inc., a biotherapeutic company, was awarded $160,000 to help develop its innovative sutureless surgical therapies using human serum albumin based biodegradable biomaterials to join, repair and create homeostasis on surfaces of solid viscera organs such as the liver, spleen and kidney involved in trauma, cancer and transplantation even in the presence of coagulation failure or therapeutic anticoagulation.  Laser Tissue Welding's collaboration partner is Baylor College of Medicine.  Click here for more...

Lynntech - $600,000 - May 9, 2007

Lynntech, Inc., has been awarded $600,000 to help develop its high power, hydrogen/air fuel cell technology.  Click here for more...

Molecular LogiX - $794,520 - March 16, 2007

Molecular LogiX has been awarded $794,520 to develop a "first in class" therapeutic cancer treatment.  This treatment will optimze the company's Pan-HER Anti-Cancer Ligand, a genetically engineered version of the naturally occurring growth hormone that blocks the cell receptor necessary for growth of tumor cells.  In addition to providing oncologists and their patients with a new, more robust drug to treat cancer, this drug has the potential to be the first of a new family of drugs to treat other diseases resulting from abnormal ligand receptor interactions.

Molecular LogiX has been working in collaboration with scientists from the Baylor College of Medicine and University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, assisted by the South Montgomery County Woodlands Economic Development Partnership.  Click here for more...

NanoComposites - $1,500,000 - October 4, 2006

NanoComposites has been awarded $1,500,000 to commercialize its proprietary process for the functionalization of carbon nanotubes.  In 2007, NanoComposites will be producing uniquely enhanced elastomers for use in mission critical seals used in upstream oil and gas drilling operations.  NanoComposites has been working in collaboration with Rice University and assisted by the Greater Houston Partnership.  Click here for more...

Nanospectra Biosciences - $1,250,000 - October 4, 2006

Nanospectra Biosciences has been awarded $1,250,000 to fund the clinical development of its AuroLease Cancer Therapy.  Nanospectra's primary focus is the development and commercialization of AuroLase, which is broadly applicable to virtually all solid tumors.  Nanospectra Bioscience's collaboration partners are Rice University, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, UTMB at Galveston and the Greater Houston Partnership.  Click here for more...

OrthoAccel - $750,000 - February 28, 2008

Houston-based OrthoAccel Technologies, Inc., was awarded $750,000 to further develop and commercialize its orthodontic device, the Celerect.  The Celerect is a revolutionary device, based on a technology that cuts treatment time for braces in half.

OrthoAccel was the winner of BioHouston's 2007 Michael E. Debakey Life Science Award, and is a joint client of both the Houston Technology Center Acceleration program and BioHouston.  Click here for more...

PLx Pharma - $2,000,000 - March 16, 2007

PLx Pharma, a pharmaceutical company, has been awarded $2,000,000 to help develop new formulations for safer and more effective non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) currently on the market, such as Aspirin and Ibuprofen.  PLx will use a platform technology licensed from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston and will focus on reducing the potential life threatening gastrointestinal toxicities related with chronic use of NSAIDs.  Click here for more...

StarVision - $750,000 - January 9, 2008

StarVision Technologies, Inc., a Research Valley-based aerospace research and development company, was awarded $750,000 to help complete its SpeedStar product, a revolutionary new altitude determination sensor system that improves the performance and reduces costs for satellites. 

The company will become a joint client of both the Houston Technology Center Acceleration program and the Research Valley Innovation Center, a science and technology incubator/accelerator recently established by the Research Valley Partnership and various Texas A&M University System entities.  Click here for more...

Thrombovision - $1,500,000 - October 9, 2007

ThromboVision, Inc., a biomedical diagnostics company was awarded $1,500,000 to help develop its ThromboGuide Platelet Function Analyzer.  The T-Guide is a risk assessment/risk modification platelet function solution that consists of a disposable test kit and a point-of-care base unit.  The system will help physicians individualize antiplatelet therapy that they use to prevent heart attacks, strokes and stent occlusions.  ThromboVision's collaboration partners are Methodist Hospital Research Institute and the Greater Houston Partnership.  Click here for more...

Visualase - $750,000 - October 9, 2007

Visualase, Inc., a biomedical diagnostics company, was awarded $750,000 to help develop its Visualase Thermal Therapy System, a revolutionary tool for destructive treatment of cancer or other malignancies using patented laser and MRI-based guidance systems.  Laser-induced interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) is a minimally invasive therapy for the treatment of solid tumors that uses laser light to heat and destroy the affected tissue.  Combining this therapy with MRI thermal imaging feedback allows physicians a level of targeting and control previously not possible, opening a host of tumor ablation applications in neurosurgical and other vital organ systems.  This therapy offers tremendous potential to minimize surgical complications, reduce recovery time and hospital stays, and decrease associated health care costs.  Visualase's collaboration partner is the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center.  Click here for more...