Source Multiple Sclerosis News Today:
Nortis, a Seattle-based biotech company, has received a $688,000 grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to create a living, 3-D model of the human blood-brain barrier that will be used for laboratory testing to accelerate drug development and lessen the likelihood of failure in clinical trials.
This grant provides funding for a third year of a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award given to Nortis by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a branch of the NIH. SBIR provides grants to U.S.-based small businesses to do federal research and enable the commercialization of technology.
The blood-brain barrier is a tissue barrier that only allows certain molecules to pass from blood vessels into the brain. It is a protective mechanism to prevent the entry of foreign bodies and infection-causing organisms in the brain. Researchers are trying to find ways of delivering medications across this barrier, to reach brain tissues to treat diseases that include multiple sclerosis. Read on.