Lincoln’s Nature Technology Corp. has received a federal grant worth nearly $1 million to help continue its work on genetically engineered drugs and vaccines.

The $993,000 Phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant came from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, an arm of the  National Institutes of Health, and will be used to improve the process for manufacturing large quantities of purified DNA, said Nature Technology President Clague Hodgson.

Steve Frayser, president of the University of Nebraska Technology Park, where Nature Technology has its headquarters, said the awarding of the Phase II grant means the government thinks the company’s process has not only scientific merit, but commercial value as well.

“This really positions them for some good growth for the future,” Frayser said. “It’s a big breakthrough for them.”

The company has refined the process, and has increased the DNA manufacturing capacity more than tenfold, Hodgson said,  but there’s still a long way to go before DNA for vaccines can be mass produced.

For instance, he said, to vaccinate 1 billion people with 10 milligrams of a DNA vaccine would take 10 metric tons of DNA.  The current manufacturing process yields only a few grams in each batch.

“A manufacturing process for making a large quantity of DNA is badly needed,” he said.

Cost also is an issue, as it can cost thousands of dollars to produce one gram of DNA, he said.

But Hodgson said Nature Technology’s goal is to make DNA vaccines, which he called “the next generation of biotechnology products,” cheaper and safer than traditional vaccines.

The grant is for two years and is the second of a two-part process.

Before receiving the larger grant, the company got $140,000 and had to spend a year proving its DNA manufacturing process worked, Hodgson said.

He said the grants are very competitive, with only about 10-15 percent of the applicants getting approved for funding.

The nearly $1 million infusion of funds will allow the company to increase its workforce from eight to 11. And while Hodgson said there are no plans to expand the company’s current space in the Technology Park, there is space available should the need arise.

If Nature Technology is able to make strides in improving its DNA manufacturing process, Hodgson said the payoff could be huge.

The company has already licensed its process to the NIH for use in HIV and ebola vaccines, and any improvements in that process would likely be implemented right away.

Also, if the vaccines are ever sold  to a pharmaceutical company to be mass produced, Hodgson said the company would likely want to use the same process, meaning large royalty payments for Nature Technology.

Reach Matt Olberding at 473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.