Nine Charlottesville companies founded on University of Virginia (U.Va.) research discoveries are being awarded a total of nearly $1.8 million from the Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund.

Administered by the state’s Center for Innovative Technology, or CIT, on behalf of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Investment Authority, the fund “advances science- and technology-based research, development and commercialization to drive economic growth in Virginia.”

The fund awarded a total of $3.6 million to 22 organizations throughout the commonwealth in the fall 2011 cycle.

U.Va. spin-offs HemoShear LLC, Phthisis Diagnostics Inc. and RetiVue LLC were awarded $250,000 to $500,000 each under the fund’s Commercialization Program.

For Phthisis Diagnostics, a biotechnology firm developing easy-to-use and cost-effective solutions for detecting harmful pathogens, “This funding will support development and launch of two molecular diagnostic kits that will fulfill a critical need for better diagnosis of intestinal parasites,” said Crystal R. Icenhour, company president and chief science officer.

The company was awarded nearly $500,000 under the commercialization program to advance technology useful in the detection of microscopic, diarrheal-disease-causing parasites cryptosporidium and giardia. The company will also receive $50,000 from the fund’s Small Business Innovation Research Matching Funds Program, which matches Phase I SBIR awards distributed by the National Institutes of Health, to advance a molecular diagnostic for the parasite microsporidia.

Also receiving approximately $50,000 to $100,000 under the SBIR Matching Funds Program are U.Va.-affiliated Alexander BioDiscoveries LLC, Gencia Corp., HemoSonics LLC, Indoor Biotechnologies Inc. and iTi Health Inc.

A bone-imaging project from Rivanna Medical LLC was awarded $120,000 under the fund’s general Matching Funds Program, providing a match to an ongoing project supported by the U.Va.-Wallace H. Coulter Translational Research Partnership. The award will fund technology development for a 3-D, ultrasound-based, bone-imaging device designed to improve the success rates of common spinal anesthesia procedures, such as epidurals.

The company recently secured an additional $50,000 investment from CIT as part of its GAP Funds portfolio, which “makes seed-stage equity investments in Virginia-based technology and life science companies with a high potential for achieving rapid growth and generating significant economic return.”

To see a complete list of the companies and projects receiving funding from the Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund in fall 2011, click here.