SpIntellx wins Phase I SBIR grant to improve breast pathology

SpIntellx Inc. has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for $225,000 to conduct research and development (R&D) work on its HistoMapr-Breast product. HistoMapr-Breast is a computational guide for pathologists that automatically recognizes and classifies regions of interest in H&E-stained and/or immunohistochemistry slides and supports pathologists in improving the accuracy and efficiency of reading whole slide images.

SpIntellx applies its proprietary explainable AItechnologies to analyze whole slide image pathology samples based on spatialanalytics for pathologists in all therapeutic areas. The company is developinga platform for transmitted light applications, HistoMaprTM, as well as formultiplexed to hyperplexed applications, TumorMaprTM.

“The National Science Foundation supports startups and smallbusinesses with the most innovative, cutting-edge ideas that have the potentialto become great commercial successes and make huge societal impacts,” saidGraciela Narcho, acting director of Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnershipsat NSF. “We hope that seed funding will spark solutions to some of the mostimportant challenges of our time across all areas of science and technology.”

“The SpIntellx HistoMapr technology platform is applicableto a broad array of pathology disease areas, such as oncology, immunology andother chronic disorders,” said Dr. S. Chakra Chennubhotla, CEO and co-founderof SpIntellx Inc.

Once a small business is awarded a Phase I SBIR/STTR grant(up to $225,000), it becomes eligible to apply for a Phase II grant (up to$750,000). Small businesses with Phase II grants are eligible to receive up to$500,000 in additional matching funds with qualifying third-party investment orsales.

NSF accepts Phase I proposals from small businesses twiceannually in June and December. Small businesses with innovative science andtechnology solutions, and commercial potential are encouraged to apply. Allproposals submitted to the NSF SBIR/STTR program undergo a rigorous merit-basedreview process.