Fayetteville Firm Gets Grant Money

Virtual Incubation Corp. client SFC Fluidics LLC of Fayetteville has received a $100,000 Small Business Technology Transfer award from the Department of Defense. This is the fourth grant the firm has been awarded since January, and the company is waiting to hear on a fifth.

The Phase I award is for a feasibility study for the development of a chip-based device that will be used to determine the severity of head injuries.

Apparently, there is a change in blood protein chemistry following a head injury. A device containing SFC Fluidics-engineered technology could determine this change in proteins and indicate the severity of trauma, said Calvin Goforth, VIC’s president.

VIC provides technology clients with management, operational, research and fundraising support. Goforth said by mid-October his firm should have helped land a total of 30 individual grants for its clients.

SFC Fluidics’ core technology is magnetohydrodynamic-based micro fluidic systems for “laboratory-on-a-chip applications.” The company has licensed patents and patents pending from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the University of Arkansas and collaborates with researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California-Irvine.

Micro fluidics is the technology of controlling fluid flow through micro channels, or an extremely small amount of space.

The company said if the Phase I project is successful, it will be eligible for Phase II funding of approximately $750,000, which will be used to develop a handheld instrument.