Nano Discovery a Finalist to Earn Third Annual Cade Museum Prize worth $50,000

ORLANDO, Fla. --- A nanotechnology company in Orlando is one of four finalists in the third annual Cade Museum Prize, which will award $50,000 to the Florida company that develops the most promising new medical technology.

Nano Discovery, Inc. (www.nanodiscoveryinc.com) was one of 120 companies to enter the competition sponsored by the Cade Museum for creativity and invention, named for Dr. James Robert Cade, a professor of renal (kidney) medicine at the University of Florida and the lead inventor of the sports drink Gatorade.

Dr. Qun Huo, founder and chief executive officer of Nano Discovery, LLC, and a researcher and member of the UCF faculty for seven years, piloted the discovery of NanoDLSayTM, an invention that represents an entirely new approach to detecting, identifying and analyzing bio-molecules.

By measuring unique interactions between bio-molecules using gold nanoparticles, NanoDLSayTM can provide information on disease markers — including cancer — that has never before been feasible and may lead to breakthroughs and understanding and diagnosing these diseases.

Some 30 judges evaluated initial entries seeking the Cade Museum Prize award, according to Cade Museum Executive Director Dorrie Hischman.

The Cade Museum Prize consists of $50,000 in cash, made possible by a grant from the Gainesville Community Foundation, and $10,000 in legal services to be provided by Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP from West Palm Beach.

Each of the three runner-ups will receive $2,500 in legal services.

Nano Discovery, LLC is a member of the University of Central Florida Business Incubation program at Central Florida Research Park in east Orlando.

About the UCF Business Incubation Program
Since its founding in 1999, the UCF Business Incubation Program has helped more than 200 emerging companies (including more than 134 current clients) create over $363 million in annual total economic output and more than 3,120 new jobs (taking direct and indirect and induced impact into account) with an average salary of $59,000. With ten facilities across the Greater Orlando community, the Business Incubation Program is a collaboration in economic development among the University of Central Florida, Orange County, the City of Orlando, Seminole County, the City of Apopka, the City of Winter Springs, the City of Sanford, Lake County, the City of Leesburg, Osceola County, the City of Kissimmee, City of St. Cloud, Volusia County and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council. For more information about the Program and its clients and graduates, please visit www.incubator.ucf.edu and UCFBIP on Facebook, on www.facebook.com/ucf4bip.