OsteoVantage Named Latest Local NSF Grant Recipient
by February 18, 2013 12:00 am 63 views
OsteoVantage Inc. recently became the latest University of Arkansas-related company to receive a $150,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.
OsteoVantage is developing a specially designed screw used in lower back fusion surgery. According to a university release, the screw serves not just as an anchor for OsteoVantage’s unique hardware design, but is designed “to stimulate the body’s own bone-building machinery.”
The annual number of spinal fusion surgeries performed in the United States rose from 174,000 in 1998 to 413,000 in 2008, according to the release, with failure rates as high as 40 percent. OsteoVantage claims its technology “enhances bone formation at the site of implantation, thereby improving clinical outcomes.”
Both OsteoVantage and CardioWise Inc., which received an NSF grant for its cardiac imaging technology earlier this year, are in the portfolio of Virtual Incubation Co. VIC is a private technology venture development firm based at the Arkansas Research & Technology Park.
A pair of Genesis Technology Incubator companies, cycleWood Solutions Inc. and Silicon Solar Solutions, also received $150,000 grants from the NSF earlier this year. They, too, are located at the research and technology park, which is managed by the UA Technology Development Foundation.
“Not only do these awards signal continued strong growth of ARTP companies, but they also signify that the technologies under development at the ARTP are world class,” foundation president Phil Stafford said.
In other NSF-related news, Colin Heyes, an assistant chemistry and biochemistry professor at the UA, was awarded $650,000 to further his investigation of the interfaces between the core and shell of colloidal quantum dots. The dots are microscopic semiconductor crystals that can be used to emit light for biomedical imaging, LEDs and spectroscopy or photocurrents for solar cells and chemical sensors.
“Our work will provide a better understanding of how to control these crystals to eventually build brighter, faster, longer-lasting and more efficient products,” Heyes said in a UA news release.
The grant will support the research for the next five years.