In an exciting endorsement of the work being conducted at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, it was recently announced that technology developed by Keith Slotkin, PhD, member, and his laboratory, and funded in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), was chosen as one of the very first projects of the new NSF/NobleReach Emerge partnership. NobleReach Emerge is focused on making government-funded technological research more accessible, impactful, and market-ready. Funds are awarded to support activities to commercialize innovative technologies and bring new products to market.

The award will further Slotkin’s NSF-funded work (NSF-2149964) to support critical efforts to commercialize a novel technology called TATSI (Transposase-Assisted Target Site Integration), developed in part through NSF support (IOS 2149964). Slotkin is working with subject matter experts to conduct an analysis of the intellectual property challenges and opportunities, assess the regulatory landscape, and conduct a market analysis. He also added a recently retired industry expert and an embedded entrepreneur to his team, who will create strategies to enable the team to hit specific milestones and refine the presentation of TATSI for potential investors and customers.

“This is a completely new type of project for my lab. We’ve had large research grants before, but never funding specifically for commercialization purposes. The fact that we now have paid consultants as part of our team is new and very exciting for my group,” said Slotkin. READ MORE