GVSU receives grant aimed at state's economic renewal

Grand Valley State University is among the first-round winners of the Michigan Initiative for Innovation & Entrepreneurship grants awarded July 16.

The goal of MIIE is to create 200 new Michigan start-up companies over the next decade, while fostering an atmosphere of entrepreneurship on campuses around the state. Launched by Michigan’s 15 public universities, the initiative aims to raise $75 million over the next seven years by partnering Michigan’s philanthropic foundations, with university resources and private business.

Grand Valley’s $114,738 award was among 20 winners selected from 39 proposals evaluated and ranked by a committee with members from academia, business and industry. Principal Investigators are Roderick Morgan, associate professor of biology and Robert Smart, professor of chemistry. They have discovered an inhibitor that has potential as an antibiotic to treat drug-resistant bacterial infections.

The university filed a patent in February and will use the MIIE grant to conduct a series of studies. Co-inventor on the patent with Smart is William Schroeder, who has been a strong supporter of Grand Valley’s Chemistry Department and has worked with Smart for more than a decade mentoring undergraduate research students.

Key evaluative studies will be completed through collaboration with Micromyx, LLC and CeeTox, both located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Chemical syntheses and data interpretation of evaluative studies will be completed by GVSU faculty and contractors in GVSU laboratories. Commercialization roadmapping, business planning, marketing and licensing relationships will be managed through the GVSU Technology Transfer Office.

For more information contact Robert Smart at (616) 331-3302 or Roderick Morgan at (616) 331-3098.

Background:

Robert Smart holds a doctorate from Michigan State University in organic chemistry, received a prestigious Dreyfus Postdoctoral Fellowship and accepted a faculty position at Grand Valley in 1996. The professor of chemistry was recently named director of Scholarship and Creative Excellence at Grand Valley. He has received awards in teaching, research, and service. His role in the proposal will be synthesis and characterization of the antibiotic library.

Roderick Morgan received his doctorate from the Virginia Commonwealth University in Microbiology and Immunology. He has held a post-doctoral scientist position at the Department of Microbiology at Ohio State University and is currently an associate professor in biology at Grand Valley. Morgan’s role in the proposal will involve screening the analogs for antimicrobial activity and evaluating results from the Micromyx, LLC and CeeTox analysis.

William Schroeder received his doctorate from Purdue University in Organic Chemistry. Schroeder holds 26 patents and has more than 20 years of experience in commercialization of new products in multiple industry sectors including the pharmaceutical industry. His work at Upjohn Corporation involved the development of Lincomycin and Psicofuranine.