National Science Foundation Awards $225,000 to Boston Mountain Biotech

Matt Reynolds, University of Arkansas

University of Arkansas graduates McKinzie Fruchtl (left) and Ellen Brune form the core of the start-up company Boston Mountain Biotech.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The National Science Foundation has awarded a nearly $225,000 grant to Boston Mountain Biotech LLC, a pharmaceutical manufacturing company that uses patented technology developed at the University of Arkansas.

U of A graduate Ellen Brune founded Boston Mountain Biotech LLC, after helping develop a patented method to simplify the production of pharmaceutical proteins used in drugs that treat a variety of diseases and health conditions.

Boston Mountain Biotech – a Genesis Technology Incubator client at the Arkansas Research and Technology Park – holds the exclusive license to market the trademarked Lotus purification platform.

“It can cost half a billion to $1 billion in 10 years for pharmaceutical manufacturers to deliver a protein therapeutic from a lab to the manufacturing stage,” Brune said. “Our company uses genetic engineering to make the purification process more efficient. We’re trying to help large pharmaceutical companies get their drugs to market cheaper and faster.”

Brune earned a doctorate in chemical engineering with a focus in bioprocessing in 2013. As a graduate student, she created a series of custom strains of the bacteria Escherichia coli that improve the efficiency of the protein purification process on the front end of protein pharmaceutical production.

“We are very excited about being given the opportunity to continue the development of our Lotus platform with NSF support,” Brune said.

The $224,799 Phase I grant came through the highly competitive Small Business Technology Transfer program, which funds research partnerships between small businesses and nonprofit research institutions.

Under the grant, Boston Mountain Biotech, with Brune as principal investigator, will collaborate with a research group at North Carolina State University led by Chase Beisel, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering.