For immediate release
November 14, 2005

Contact:
Bob Lowery, President & CEO
BellBrook Labs
525 Science Drive, Suite 110
Madison, WI 53711
608-441-2966
bob.lowery@bellbrooklabs.com

BellBrook Labs Awarded Federal Grant to Engineer a Better Model for Breast Cancer

The National Institutes of Health has awarded BellBrook Labs a $250,000 Phase I SBIR grant for development of a microscale mammary tissue model to accelerate the understanding and treatment of breast cancer.  The project weds innovative biology and microscale engineering originating in the laboratory of Dr. David Beebe from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

The development of improved treatments for breast cancer is limited by the availability of disease models that can be used to accurately predict the efficacy of potential drug molecules.  The microscale tissue model will be designed to overcome the limitations of current models by accurately mimicking the process of mammary tumorigenesis as it occurs in the human body.  The use of proprietary microfluidic technology codeveloped by Dr. Beebe and BellBrook’s president Dr. Robert Lowery will allow reconstruction of mammary tissue with multiple cell types in a flexible experimental format.  This will allow the testing of potential drug molecules in the context of the complex three-dimensional architecture of mammary tissue. 

BellBrook Labs recently hired Dr. Steven Hayes, an accomplished cell biologist with ties to the drug discovery community, to lead the project.  John Pucinelli will lead the microfluidics component of the project in Dr. Beebe’s laboratory.  Dr. Caroline Alexander from the Department of Oncology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison serves as a consultant. 

BellBrook Labs develops high throughput screening tools that accelerate the discovery of more effective therapies.  The company was founded in May of 2002, and has been capitalized through a combination of federal grants and a private equity financing.   BellBrook introduced its first product, based on its proprietary Transcreener™ HTS Assay platform in January of 2005.  The funding of the microfluidic reconstituted mammary tissue system initiates BellBrook’s second technology platform, based on the incorporation of improved disease models into microfluidics devices for drug discovery. 

Biology at Work