Utah's MyxTek Bio lands $305K NSF grant for hagfish-protein eye research
What's the deal? MyxTek BioDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Cache Valley biotechnology startup spun out of Utah State University, has received a $305,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The one-year award funds development of a biomaterial made from engineered hagfish proteins to study age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and other eye diseases.
What's the endgame? The company wants to turn the material into a synthetic version of Bruch's membrane, a thin tissue layer that supports retinal cells and whose changes are linked to AMD. Existing lab models often fail to reflect the real environment of the human eye.
How it works: Hagfish produce slime containing strong protein fibers. Justin Jones, a USU biology associate professor and company co-founder, developed ways to make those proteins in the lab using microorganisms rather than harvesting them from the fish.
The grant splits into two tracks. Jones's lab will refine production and quality control; the lab of Elizabeth Vargis, an associate professor of biological engineering, will build thin membranes and test how retinal cells grow on them.
Why now? The project builds on nearly eight years of USU research and marks a step toward commercialisation. "This award is an important validation of both the technology and the commercial opportunity," said Christian Iverson, co-founder and chief executive officer of MyxTek Bio.
Reliable manufacturing is the near-term hurdle. "For a biomaterial to move beyond an academic laboratory, you have to be able to make the same material reliably and know exactly what you are producing," Jones said.
The signal: AMD is a leading cause of vision loss among older adults, and better lab models could speed up drug development. A modest federal grant turning a university discovery into a research tool shows how early-stage science reaches the market — one validation step at a time.
Read more: usu.edu
Image credit: ozbornea
