LEXINGTON, KY - Just about every day, Dr. Eric Ostertag, an M.D. and Ph.D., is fondly reminded why he moved his biopharmaceutical company, Transposagen, from Philadelphia to Lexington.
"The state's been very supportive, and the city's been very supportive. We've got great, very low-cost lab space and very nice office space downtown," Ostertag said Monday after an announcement by the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development in which Transposagen received $100,000 in its second round of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) funding.
"We're thinking about expanding, upgrading if you will. We're maybe going to move out of Coldstream in the one- to two-year range from here. (Kentucky's) kind of got everything we need," said Ostertag, who employs 10.
Transposagen was one of nine companies around the state, and five in the Lexington area, to receive $2.2 million in phase one or phase two SBIR-STTR funding in this round of matching funds, aimed at emerging high-tech businesses that need funding to complete research and development of products before they reach the market.
Ostertag's company received funding in 2009 and again Monday, as Kentucky is the only state in the United States that participates in matching funds through both phases of SBIR-STTR.
"(That's) the thing that put Kentucky on my radar map; it wasn't the only thing that made me decide to move my company here, but it's very important," he said.
Other Lexington area companies receiving matching funds in this round include:
Topasol, $251,000, which produces nanoparticles for use in new coatings and composites for sensors, biocides, mar-resistant materials, optical devices, solar cells and colorings, according to the Cabinet for Economic Development.
3H Company, $99,989, which is focusing on clean coal technology and testing its carbon sequestration technology designed to capture and store carbon dioxide underground.
NuForm Materials, $314,000, of Scott County, which makes ceramic materials for use in automotive and aerospace composites that can help lower cost and improve performance and fuel efficiency.
And Four Tigers, $100,000, of Bourbon County, which is developing blackberry-based cosmetics, dietary supplements, food and medical products that offer the fruit's potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
Paige Shumate Short, one of Four Tigers' founders, takes pride in following along the line of business started by her father in the growing and pureeing of blackberries. "The same thing (my dad) made jam with, we're (using) for cancer and periodontal (purposes)," she said.
With this round of SBIR-STTR funding, the state has awarded a total of $17.7 million to 46 Kentucky companies since 2007.
"What the state gets, of course, is a company that in phase two has gone through two rounds of NIH reviews," Ostertag said. "By definition, the company is bringing at least a million of their own money. In our case, this is our second phase two, so we're going to bring in a total of $4 million to $5 million additional compared to what we are getting from the state. We've already hired 10 employees in the state of Kentucky, and it really got us from R&D, pre-revenue, to revenue. And that's exactly what we needed."
Applications for the next round of funding opened on Jan. 4th and close Monday, February 1. For more info or to apply visit http://www.thinkkentucky.com/dci/sbir/sbirsttr.aspx.