CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – The University of Virginia is right in the thick of three grants totaling $2.4 million Governor Spanberger announced Thursday for public-private biomedical products and research., according to a Governor’s Office release.

Two of the companies are in Richmond, and one in Baltimore, and the Governor has issued three $800,000 grants from what’s called the Virginia Catalyst grant program, according to the release, designed to bolster Virginia’s life sciences ecosystem.

The companies are Pascal Medical and Perfusion Medical, both based in Richmond, and Sonogen Medical in Baltimore.

Virginia Catalyst was founded in 2013 as Virginia’s research consortium through the efforts of the Virginia General Assembly and five of Virginia’s premiere research institutions, according to the Governor’s release.

Those institutions are UVA, Virginia Tech, VCU, George Mason,and ODU.

While a combination of the other institutions are working on these three grant projects, UVA is the only one involved in all three.

UVA and VCU are working with Pascal Medical on a project that their grant will fund an ” FDA PMA Submission Package for ClickGel™ to Enable a Human Investigational Device Exemption Study”.

According to the company website, ClickGel™ can deliver surgical antibiotics to any part of the body with damaging surrounding tissue.

“ClickGel™is a specialized hydrogel developed through the Nobel Prize-winning field of click chemistry. But unlike traditional click chemistry, ClickGel™ is formulated without a copper catalyst, making it safe for biological applications and giving it several unique characteristics,” according to a company description.

Those characteristics are biodegradable and non-toxic, injectable, and usable in a wide range of applications.

UVA and VCU are also collaborators in another grant project with Perfusion Medical to “advance PM-208, a first-in-class IV resuscitation therapy for shock and ischemia”.

“Invented by Martin J. Mangino, Ph.D., and his team at Virginia Commonwealth University, this collaborative project includes Andrew E. Muck, M.D., and his team at the University of Virginia and complements the significant U.S. military support of PM-208’s development to date,” said Gerard Elderling, CEO, Perfusion Medical. “With a specific focus on demonstrating the blood-sparing potential of this critical lifesaving drug across a wide range of trauma situations, this project is particularly relevant to Virginia’s rural communities, which can face higher barriers to care.” 

UVA is working on the other grant project with Virginia Tech and ODU for “first in-human testing of an AI/ML-enable therapeutic and diagnostic ultrasonic bone fracture healing device” by Sonogen Medical.

“Working in partnership with Dr. David Weiss at the University of Virginia, Dr. Hoda Eldadiry at Virginia Tech, and Dr. Michel Audette at Old Dominion University, we will conduct a first-in-human study of a novel ultrasound platform designed to both accelerate bone fracture healing and provide real-time healing assessment,” said Jason Winder, CEO, Sonogen Medical Inc. “This collaboration brings together Virginia’s strengths in clinical medicine, artificial intelligence, and biomedical engineering to address a significant unmet need affecting millions of fracture patients each year.”

“The Virginia Biosciences Health Research Corporation (VBHRC) — which does business as Virginia Catalyst — is a non-profit organization created by the Commonwealth of Virginia in 2013,” said the Governor’s Office release. “VBHRC has a vision of advancing life sciences throughout Virginia as a means of addressing large unmet medical needs to improve human health and to create high-paying jobs throughout the Commonwealth.”

“Virginia is setting the standard for bioscience innovation in the United States with our committed investment, partnership, and focus on advancements in both the public and private sectors,” said Governor Abigail Spanberger. “The awardees selected for Virginia Catalyst’s highly competitive new round of funding exemplify the Commonwealth’s unwavering commitment to supporting groundbreaking ideas encouraging visionary solutions to continue flourishing here in Virginia.”