Blueline Drug Target Program Grant Winners - Milestone Achievement Announced

On January 6, 2016 Blueline Bioscience, a Canadian biotechnology incubator based in Toronto's MaRS Discovery District and backed by venture capital firm Versant Ventures, announced the milestone achievements of the six Blueline Drug Target Program (BDTP) 2015 grant competition award winners. These grants provide academic researchers with funding for translation medicine by providing a means to transform novel drug targets and mechanisms of action into high impact therapeutics. Among the grant recipients are Dr. John Coles (Department of Surgery) and Dr. Jason Maynes (Department of Anesthesia), both at SickKids, for their study "Integrin-Linked Kinase (ILK) as a novel cardiac target."

Principal investigators collaborate with Blueline to fine-tune their 12-18 month research plans, including feasibility studies to test key hypotheses. The investigators now have access to the second portion of funding to support proof of concept studies defined in their plans. Completed programs will then be in position for future company creation and venture capital investment.