Protective Surfacing For Your Facility Protective Surface Solutions: Urethane floor coverings, epoxy wall and tank coatings, concrete and drainage needs High Performance Systems, Inc. “Bringing Environment and Technology Together for Three Generations” (800) 928-7220 www.HighPerfSystems.com HighPerfSystems@yahoo.com the National Science Foundation (NSF) to assess the commercial potential of their technology and to obtain entrepreneurial training. The team traveled to several major conferences, including the Iowa Pork Congress, International Production and Processing Expo, and Pet Food Forum. As part of their training, they were required to interview more than 100 companies about their antioxidant needs. This not only allowed the VRM Labs team to have a better understanding of the market, but also provided an opportunity to get to know potential future customers. Three additional grants have been applied for to speed along development of the company and complete scale-up research that will be needed for production of the product. VRM Labs was awarded a $6,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 0 grant from South Carolina IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence, which is awaiting funding. There are two more pending grants: a university start-up grant for $25,000 from SCLaunch, and an NSF SBIR Phase I grant for $175,000. The main objectives of these grants are to demonstrate the efficacy of the antioxidant against other natural antioxidants, to determine the mechanism of action of the new antioxidant, and to conduct shelf life and microbial safety testing of the product. The team has additional research plans to obtain the data required for regulatory approval of Prot-X that includes: (1) demonstration of the efficacy when used in dry kibble; (2) demonstration of a two-year shelf life for dry pet food; (3) scaling up; and (4) development of quality control assays for industrial scale manufacturing. This ACREC project is moving toward entering the marketplace with a product derived from animal by-products for use in rendered products. The VRM Labs team expects the antioxidant will be in great demand as the currently used natural antioxidants are costly and not as effective as Prot-X. The team is looking for investors to move the project into market quicker. For those interested, please contact Dr. Alexey Vertegel at vertege@clemson.edu. The outcome of this ACREC-funded research promises significant benefit to the rendering industry by providing an additional option in antioxidant products. R www.rendermagazine.com Render April 2014 57
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