TAMPA, Fla. (Oct. 13, 2004) - Nanopharma Technologies, Inc., a new USF "spin-out" company, has won two federal Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants for development of anti-anthrax antibiotics and drug-delivery platforms discovered by USF Chemistry professor, Edward Turos, founder and scientific director of the company. One grant for $100,000 came from the National Science Foundation and the second for $99,750 was awarded by the National Institute of Health.

"These grants establish Nanopharma Technologies, Inc. as a viable research and development company," said Seyoung Jang, the new company's CEO. "There is very strong competition for these federal grants and we are pleased to receive both on our first round of applications." 

Through the STTR grant programs NSF and NIH fund deserving projects being pursued jointly between small companies and academic researchers to commercialize basic discoveries. The grants provide incentives for small firms undertaking cutting-edge, high risk, quality research with an economic payoff potential.

Current efforts in the Turos lab include finding new antibiotics and biomaterials to treat and prevent drug-resistant hospital infections, developing anti-bioterrorism agents against anthrax and seeking new anticancer therapies. Their work also extends to design and development of novel nanoparticle-based technology for drug delivery and other applications, such as new types of biosensors, bioimaging agents and tools for nanoelectronics research.

"These technologies provide promising new therapies for drug-resistant bacterial illnesses," said Jang, explaining that in addition to developing new antibacterial drugs, they are designing nano-sized vehicles - one billion times smaller than the head of a pin - to provide improved antibiotic passage to infection sites.

While increased drug targeting adds to the benefit of such a delivery system, finding new mechanisms of drug action is also important.

"The new antibiotics attack drug-resistant microbes, such as methicillin-resistant staph bacteria (MRSA), responsible for over 90,000 deaths in the U.S. alone," added Turos. "They function through a completely different mechanism of action and with more power than vancomycin, the drug now used as the last line of resort for MRSA infections."

Antibiotic resistance is a huge problem worldwide, and there has been an alarming increase in antibiotic resistance just in the past several years.

"What is most important is that this new class of antibiotics can attack the most dangerous strains of staph and even anthrax bacteria, for which because of drug resistance there may soon not be any effective treatment," advises Turos.

Immediate missions are to develop an alternative therapy to penicillin and Cipro for treating anthrax infections and to create antibiotics for tuberculosis, a disease affecting one-third of the world's population and now resistant to most current antibiotics. 

"We expect these technologies to afford many benefits down the road," said Turos. "For example, our nanovehicles may enable diseases to be treated with powerful drugs that currently can not be used due to their poor water solubility and severe toxicity." 

The Turos research group has active collaborations around the world and the U.S., including the USF Center for Biological Defense, the USF Medical School, and the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center. Nanopharma Technologies, Inc. is a tenant of the Tampa Bay Technology Center, a USF Connect program and receives assistance from the USF Center for Entrepreneurship.

"USF is a perfect place for us to do this kind of work," said Jang, who looks forward to moving in January into their new lab and office space now being constructed in the USF Research Park. "We are grateful for the university's commitment to provide a nourishing atmosphere for new businesses like ours to start up. We consider ourselves very fortunate to be able to work with USF towards becoming a successful company which has its roots in Tampa Bay."

Randolph Fillmore- USF -