Even with three COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the U.S. and others possibly available soon, two UW-Madison spinoff companies continue to pursue coronavirus vaccine candidates they say could find a niche.

SBIR Advance’s latest round of funding is allowing 11 innovative small businesses to further their commercialization through SBIR match grants up to $75,000 for Phase I and $100,000 for Phase II. The state matching grant program provides assistance to companies in the process of completing a project in the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs.

UW epidemiologist Malia Jones was in Iceland when COVID-19 struck. On her return, she anticipated a lockdown and time to catch up on work. Maybe she’d do some knitting. The country had other plans for her. Anxious family and friends reached out for clarity in the face of an unknown disease, and her emailed response went, well, viral: Jones became a pandemic expert overnight, a sought-out source to calm the nerves of a nation unprepared.

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Morgridge investigators Jan Huisken and Kevin Eliceiri will lead an initiative to develop and advance light sheet microscopy technology through a grant funded by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation. As one of eight awardees, the team at Morgridge will receive $1.2 million this spring to support their proposed project over five years.

Light sheet microscopy has the ability to image samples over several hours or days from different angles to generate a 3D view of an entire organism. This fast-imaging technique generates a tremendous amount of data quickly with less phototoxic effects on the sample.