March 2023 Newsletter

  In This Issue

• Webinar: SBIR/STTR Overview, Grant Accounting & Legal Considerations
• “The Business of Innovation” Event Series: Greenville 5/12, Winston-Salem 6/20
• NC STTR Success Story: Selsym Biotechnology
• 5 Critical Elements in Developing a Competitive SBIR/STTR Proposal
• NIH SBIR/STTR Conference Presentations / Videos Available
• NSF’s Intro to America’s Seed Fund at Q&A Series

Webinar: SBIR/STTR Overview, Grant Accounting & Legal Considerations

Join the SBTDC on Tuesday, April 4th from 2:00 to 3:30PM, with expert guests from Hughes Pittman and Gupton and Hutchison Law, for a detailed overview of the SBIR / STTR federal R&D funding mechanisms for small businesses, as well as grant accounting practices and legal considerations for your innovation-driven business. 

In this session, we will help you to understand:

• Funding levels and the phased process
• Participating federal agencies and identification of agency interests 
• Differences between SBIR and STTR
• Key points to increase competitiveness
• Grant accounting and management insights
• Legal considerations for your innovation business

Date: Tuesday, April 4th 

Time: 2:00 – 3:30PM

“The Business of Innovation” Event Series

Greenville 5/12, Winston-Salem 6/20

Early stage innovation-based businesses face a unique set of foundational challenges as they get off the ground and grow. The “Business of Innovation” is a workshop series offered in multiple locations throughout North Carolina that highlights the unique needs of innovation driven companies, including university spinouts. Learn from experts in the areas of dilutive and non-dilutive funding, legal & IP, business development, grant accounting / financial management and university tech transfer, and network with successful innovation-oriented entrepreneurs. 

Key topics covered will include:

• SBIR/STTR Program Overview
• Funding resources specific to North Carolina
• Equity capital insights from angel funders
• One NC Small Business Match and Incentive Programs
• Legal considerations of setting up an Innovation business
• Accounting requirements and management
• Patent landscape analysis
• Logistics of university and business collaborations
• Success stories from local innovation businesses

The first two sessions will be in Greenville on May 12th and Winston-Salem on June 20th.

NC STTR Success Story: Selsym Biotechnology

Revolutionizing Hemorrhage Control

SelSym Biotech, Inc. is a Raleigh-based company founded in 2019 by Drs. Ashley Brown, Andrew Lyon, and Thomas Barker. The current team consists of its three co-founders and one full-time employee. Its lead product, SymClot, is an innovative synthetic platelet capable of improving hemorrhage control and addressing a range of clinical needs in bleeding management and wound healing.

The current standards for bleeding management, platelet transfusions, are often critically supply-limited due to the short shelf life of natural platelets and a dependence on donors for maintaining supply. Furthermore, platelets, like any other transplant or transfusion, require extensive blood typing and testing before use in a patient and carry risks of severe immune reactions.

5 Critical Elements in Developing a Competitive SBIR/STTR Proposal

SBIR and STTR proposals are truly unique documents. They must meld together strong technical / scientific content with a robust understanding of the potential market and value creation possibilities. Often times it takes more than one attempt at submitting a proposal before it gets funded. Over years of reviewing proposals, working with clients and communicating with agency program staff, we have seen a number of flaws that commonly are found in proposals.

NIH SBIR/STTR Conference Presentations / Videos Available

Proceedings from the most recent NIH SBIR/STTR conference are available for review as either video download or PowerPoint files.

A plethora of content is available on topics including:

• Advanced Administrative Topics: Post-Award Issues
• Advanced Administrative Topics: Pre-Award Issues
• All About Costs: Post-Award Primer
• Budget Building Blocks
• Compliance Pitfalls and Strategies for Success
• Current Issues at NIH: Grants Policy Updates
• Developing and Optimizing Your Mentor Relationships
• Diversity in the Biomedical Research Workforce
• NIH’s Efforts to Enhance Racial and Ethnic Equity
• FCOI and Other Support: NIH and Grantees Working Together
• Genomic Data Sharing, Other Sharing Policies, and Open Q&A
• Grant Writing for Success
• Keynote: A Dialogue with NIH Extramural Research Leadership
• Let's Look at Peer Review
• NIH Grant Basics and Need-to-Know Resources
• NIH Peer Review: “Live” Mock Study Section with Extended Q&A
• Notice of Award Arrives...Now What?
• "Open Mike" with Dr. Michael Lauer
• Putting It All Together: Supporting Your Career Path with NIH Funding
• Ready! Set! Submit! Application Preparation and Submission
• Research Administrator's Trivia Challenge!
• Roles, Responsibilities, and Partnerships throughout the Grant Life Cycle
• The NIH Final Policy for Data Management and Sharing is in Effect: Planning for Success!
• SEEDing Biomedical Innovation: Supporting Entrepreneurs at NIH
• The Shared Path of eRA Commons and the Grant Process: Post-Submission to Award Management
• Support for Women in Biomedical Careers at NIH and Beyond
• Understanding NIH Programs
• Understanding the NIH Sex as a Biological Variable (SABV) Policy and the Importance of Sex & Gender in Research

NSF's Intro to America's Seed Fund at Q&A Series

Join this question-and-answer session to learn more about America’s Seed Fund powered by the National Science Foundation. A Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) program director will answer questions about how to get started, the basics of eligibility and what they look for when they review project pitches.

Current and Future Solicitations

Stay updated on current and future solicitation openings.

View links to each of the SBIR/STTR participating agencies.

John Ujvari

Interim Director

jujvari@sbtdc.org

Ramya Vijapurapu

Counselor

rvijapurapu@sbtdc.org

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