FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 14, 2005
For more information contact:

Gene Watson, WSSI Program Manager
Office: 307.742.7162

Companies from Guernsey, Jackson, Cheyenne & Laramie receive grants

CHEYENNE – Panamax35 LLC in Cheyenne, Z4 Energy Systems in Guernsey, Alces Technology, Inc. in Jackson and Elk Mountain Herbs, Inc. in Laramie received a $5,000 grant to help develop their ideas into competitive proposals for federal funding.

The grant is part of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 0 Program, sponsored by the Wyoming Business Council. The SBIR Phase 0 Program helps Wyoming companies develop competitive proposals for the federal SBIR and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Under these programs, Wyoming businesses have the potential to receive up to $850,000 in federal funding to develop their ideas into products through a two-stage process.

Z4 Energy Systems, based in Guernsey, received a Phase 0 grant for its proposal “Direct Variable Frequency AC to 60 Hz AC Power Conversion and Control Device for Small, Grid-Tied Wind Turbines.” This proposal will develop power conversion components that will help reduce the cost of small wind turbines. The company will submit its proposal to the National Science Foundation.

Alces Technology, Inc., based in Jackson, received a grant for its proposal “High-Speed Cellular Imaging for Rare Cancer Cell Detection.” The principal goal of this proposal is to provide a research tool and methodology to rapidly detect individual rare cells within a large population. The company will submit its proposal to the National Institutes of Health.
Panamax35 LLC, based in Cheyenne, received a grant for its proposal “Portable Robots for Difficult Environments.” The company has devised a six-legged robot mobility system, which will be able to negotiate obstacles such as stairways and large rocks. This robot, in concept, can be folded up for storage or transit and then unfolded once it arrives at its destination. The company will submit its proposal to the National Science Foundation.

Elk Mountain Herbs, Inc., based in Laramie, received a grant for its proposal “Determining Aspects of Medicinal Whole Herb Quality Using an Affordable Testing Protocol.” An increasing trend in the herb industry is testing for "marker compounds," which is cost prohibitive for small extract manufacturers that process and package whole plant extracts. The proposal will evaluate the potential for developing a tool that can validate product quality for small herb manufacturers that focus on the whole plant and not just standardized chemical constituents. The company will submit its proposal to the National Institutes of Health.

The SBIR Phase 0 program is a project of the Wyoming SBIR/STTR Initiative. The initiative is funded by the Wyoming Business Council and administered by the University of Wyoming Vice-President for Research. For more information, visit www.uwyo.edu/sbir.

The mission of the Wyoming Business Council is to facilitate the economic growth of Wyoming. For more information, please visit the Web site at www.wyomingbusiness.org.

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