Ampersand Biosciences and Trudeau Institute Earn Fourth NIH Award for Infectious Disease Research Tools

Tori Race, PhD (left), and Laurie Stephen, PhD (right), of Ampersand Biosciences in Lake Clear, NY, with Deb Brown, PhD, of the Trudeau Institute in Saranac Lake, NY

Since 2020, Tori Race, PhD, and Laurie Stephen, PhD, of Ampersand Biosciences in Lake Clear, NY, and Deb Brown, PhD, of the Trudeau Institute in Saranac Lake, NY, have secured more than $2.8 million in federal funding to support their collaborative research. Their partnership recently earned its fourth award, a $600,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. SBIR is a federal initiative that supports the development and commercialization of innovative technologies by small businesses, while also fostering economic growth in the communities where they operate. These grants are highly competitive; in 2024, only 10% of applicants received funding.

The two-year project, titled Development of monoclonal antibodies to chemokines in the ferret model of respiratory disease, is funded for $600,000. While the work uses a specialized small animal model, its impact is broad. According to Tori Race, PhD., the contract will expand the portfolio of research tools to further support infectious disease research. It also complements Ampersand’s existing product line, which is already in use by scientists worldwide.

This latest award is a strong endorsement of both the quality of their research and the promise of the North Country’s growing biotech sector. “We are pleased to continue our collaboration with the prestigious Trudeau Institute and maintain a productive working relationship with Dr. Brown and her laboratory,” said Laurie Stephen, president of Ampersand Biosciences.

The award supports urgent efforts to accelerate the development of vaccines and treatments for emerging diseases and respiratory infections such as influenza. In 2024 alone, influenza led to an estimated 470,000 hospitalizations and 28,000 deaths in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

To support this work, the team will produce new tools—monoclonal antibodies that detect key immune system biomarkers during infection in small animal models. These specialized substances, known as reagents, help scientists better understand how the body responds to infection and evaluate the effectiveness of new therapeutics before they reach clinical trials. By improving this critical stage of research, the project helps shorten the time it takes for new discoveries to become real treatments that can protect and save lives.

This latest project builds on a solid foundation of prior federally funded work. The team began their collaboration in 2020 with an SBIR Phase I award to develop reagents for studying respiratory infections—such as influenza—in animal models that more closely reflect the human respiratory tract. A second award expanded those efforts to include additional materials that help scientists detect and measure immune responses during infection. These resources proved critical during the COVID-19 pandemic, as they were designed for use in a newly developed model that has a respiratory system similar to that of humans. This allowed researchers to better understand how the virus affected the body and to evaluate potential treatments and vaccines.

In 2024, the group received a third award to continue developing the reagents, putting them through more extensive testing to confirm their reliability and usefulness. This work ensures the materials meet the standards required for commercial use by both industry and academic researchers around the world. Making them widely available improves the quality and consistency of infectious disease research—giving more scientists access to reliable materials means faster progress, better data, and ultimately, treatments that can help more people.

Ampersand Biosciences LLC was founded in 2014. The company's line of business includes providing commercial physical and biological research and development, as well as the development and manufacturing of immunoassay kits.  Trudeau Institute, founded in 1884, is a not-for-profit biomedical research enterprise dedicated to immunology and infectious disease research, focusing on emerging and reemerging pathogens of human concern such as tuberculosis, influenza virus, and Zika virus.

For additional information or clarification, please contact Elisabeth Cain, Director of Strategic Operations, Trudeau Institute at 518-891-3080 or ecain@trudeauinstitute.org.