Immunetrics Receives $100,000 STTR Grant

PITTSBURGH, Pa. July 25, 2002 — Immunetrics Inc., a Pittsburgh-based biomedical startup venture, said it received a $100,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to support development of its software model of inflammation in sepsis.

Working with researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, Immunetrics is commercializing software tools to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of sepsis, a complex syndrome resulting from runaway inflammatory response. Immunetrics expects the technology not only to support diagnosis but also to aid in the development of effective therapeutics, a significant challenge for the pharmaceutical industry.

The grant is partly intended to assist Immunetrics in optimizing the mathematical model to promote the understanding of anthrax infection, which creates sepsis-like symptoms.

"Sepsis and anthrax poisoning share features related to the significant complexity of inflammatory response," said Yoram Vodovotz, Ph.D., a University of Pittsburgh immunologist serving as principal investigator in the STTR grant. "This funding will help deepen our understanding of the consequences of anthrax infection while aiding Immunetrics in the development of clinically useful tools to address runaway inflammatory response in various shock states."

Immunetrics was established by LaunchCyte LLC of Pittsburgh, a for-profit incubator that creates, seeds, and harvests life science innovation. CEO Steven Chang is a successful technology entrepreneur with more than a decade of experience in developing complex computer models, optimization algorithms, and data mining systems.

© 2007 Immunetrics