Insilicos Heart Disease Project Wins Research Funding
Seattle, 14 January 2008 - Insilicos today announced that Washington Technology Center has awarded Research and Technology Development funding based on a proposal from Insilicos in collaboration with the University of Washington.
Insilicos, a Seattle-based developer of life science software, is working with Dr. Tomas Vaisar, Research Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington, to develop a novel diagnostic test for heart disease. UW received $100,000 in Phase II Research and Technology Development funding from Washington Technology Center for the project.
An accurate way to predict cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk is urgently needed. CVD is the leading cause of death in the United States. However, current tests for heart disease identify only one third of individuals at risk and thus myocardial infarction or sudden death are often the first indicators of the disease.
Insilicos has used mass spectrometry in conjunction with their proprietary pattern recognition software to analyze high density lipoprotein (HDL) and distinguish healthy subjects and subjects with CVD with high sensitivity and specificity.
In this Phase II project, Insilicos and Dr. Vaisar will extend their observations to large cohorts of subjects. The overall aim of these studies is to provide definitive evidence that analysis of HDL using mass spectrometry and pattern recognition analysis can identify subjects at risk for CVD. If successful, this discovery could lead to the development of a cost-effective, better-predictive diagnostic test for heart disease.
Washington Technology Center competitively awards around $1 million in state funding annually as part of the Research and Technology Development program. State funding enables collaboration between companies and non-profit research institutions on technology projects that show strong potential for commercializing products and creating jobs. Since 1996, the state has funded 317 Research and Technology Development projects.
Insilicos LLC is a biomarker discovery and diagnostic development company, concentrating on cardiovascular disease.
For more information, visit the Insilicos web site www.insilicos.com or contact Insilicos at info@insilicos.com. 'Insilicos' 'PreClue," and 'Life Science Software' are trademarks of Insilicos LLC.
