Bioscience Infrastructure and Ecosystem Building Grants

Bioscience Infrastructure and Ecosystem Building Grants is sponsored by Health Sciences and Services Authority (HSSA) of Spokane County. This grant program supports projects that expand primary care access, strengthen the regional bioscience startup ecosystem, improve health data resources, and advance emerging technologies in Spokane County.

First Ever Bioscience Infrastructure and Ecosystem Building Grant and Spokane Early-Stage Grant Awardees Announced Spokane, Wash. — The Health Sciences and Services Authority (HSSA) of Spokane proudly announces the first recipients of Bioscience Infrastructure and Ecosystem Building Grants and Spokane Early-Stage Grants. The recipients of Bioscience Infrastructure and Ecosystem Building grants are diverse in nature.

From specialized health clinics, to health and business analytics and tools, to mentorship and acceleration programming, each awardee makes a unique contribution to a healthier community poised for economic growth. 2026 Bioscience Infrastructure and Ecosystem Building Grant Recipients Asante Health, a primary care clinic in Spokane’s West Central neighborhood, opened in July 2024 to deliver accessible and affordable care.

With support from HSSA and Partnership with West Central Community Center, we have served over 350 patients and continue to grow. Launchpad INW Foundation- $100,000 Springboard bioscience accelerator increases high-wage bioscience job creation through structured mentorship, university partnerships, and regional healthcare connections, accelerating Spokane County startup growth from idea to commercialization.

With HSSA support, Startup Spokane will put professional-grade business research tools in the hands of every Spokane bioscience and healthcare entrepreneur, for free, helping new businesses launch smarter, grow faster, and strengthen our economy. Women Helping Women Fund- $63, 905 The State of Women and Children 3.

0 Report and Dashboard will be critical community health tools for healthcare providers, nonprofits, educational institutions, and agencies to address urgent health needs facing women and children in Spokane County. Like the Infrastructure and Ecosystem Building Grants, Spokane Early-Stage Grants are a new award type for HSSA, designed to help businesses bring breakthrough research and innovation to market.

Ten companies applied for funding demonstrating our region's constant evolution and our cultivation of innovators. 2026 Spokane Early Stage Grant Recipients HuT Biosciences- $100,000 This Washington State University Spin-Off will bring human‑like aging mouse models to market to advance research on aging and age‑related diseases.

*CSO, Dr. Jiyue Zhu came to Spokane with a previous grant made to WSU designed to help recruit scientific faculty conducting novel research to Spokane. This Spokane Veteran owned company has developed an AI-driven platform connecting veterans and first responders to compatible behavioral health care.

With another product on the market in the wine industry, Manifest's novel thermo label shows readiness, reducing risk and improving safe pharamaceutical injectable use. Pacific Microdevices $99,967 This Whitworth University Spin-Off will develop a miniaturized DNA testing device to enable lab results within two hours.

"We are thrilled to follow the progress of these impressive grant recipients" says Executive Director Erin Williams Hueter. "It's inspiring to see so many helpful resources awarded Bioscience Infrastructure and Ecosystem Building Grants knowing they will be available to assist the businesses awarded Spokane Early-Stage Grants." HSSA expects to release its next Request for Proposals for Access to Care Grants on September 1, 2026.

The Access to Care Grants will address the most pressing health issues identified in our regional health data, and Charity Care needs. For information on all of the awards HSSA has made and Annual Reports, visit the Our Impact page on our website, hssaspokane. org .

HSSA Awards 3. 25 Million in Spokane County's Bioscience and Health Industry Spokane, Wash. — The Health Sciences and Services Authority (HSSA) of Spokane has awarded five growing health and bioscience businesses grants to catalyze their research, development and commercialization efforts, improve health and healthcare, create well-paying jobs, and power future economic growth in Spokane County.

"This is the most competitive field of applicants we have seen" said Executive Director Erin Williams Hueter. "Each applicant has a history of making meaningful contributions to our community's health and economic vitality. I'm inspired by their commitment to Spokane County, and their plans to continue to grow and make a difference here."

Nine grant applications totaling $5,240,544- two at Level 1 (up to $250k), and seven at Level 2 (up to $750k). "These awards make an undeniable impact on our region" said Williams Hueter. Each applicant raised a one to one match for the amount they were applying for- some with federal grants, and some from accredited investors- bringing extramural resources to the region.

Each applicant is making an impact on the health of the citizens, or the healthcare system in Spokane County.

Awardees are making improvements ranging from cervical cancer prevention, to improved oral health and prevention of inflammatory diseases, to mitigating the environmental impact, housing impact and physical and behavioral health impacts of wildfire, to drug metabolism and efficacy insights on diverse populations, to increasing the speed of a notoriously slow credentialing process that improves access to care.

2026 Research, Development and Commercialization in Spokane County's Bioscience Industry Grant Recipients Blaze Barrier: Wildfires threaten lives, health and local economies through uncontrolled spread and smoke. Made in Spokane, Blaze Barrier slows or stops fires before reaching homes and infrastructure, activating only with flame to release powder that suppresses.

Credential Network- $750,000 Credential Network: Credential Network is building secure software that streamlines healthcare credentialing. By replacing manual processes with intelligent automation, it helps providers work sooner, reduces compliance risk, and improves patient access to care.

Commercialization of a First-in-Class Microbiome-Based Cervical Cancer Prevention Personal Lubricant: We are commercializing PreBioGyn® (PBG), a breakthrough prebiotic lubricant to optimize the vaginal microbiome and prevent the common infection, bacterial vaginosis (BV), that causally links to cervical cancer (CC), STI and pregnancy complications.

Precision Quantomics- $454,100 Biological Reagents for Mechanistic Drug Metabolism Studies in Precision Therapeutics: Precision Quantomics develops population-tailored biological reagents, including recombinant enzyme panels representing Indigenous communities, with the goal of enabling safer and more effective precision therapies for diverse populations.

Slate Dental, Inc- $750,000 Scaling Preventive Oral Health Innovation and Job Creation in Spokane County: Expands Slate Dental’s work to improve preventive oral health by making daily flossing easier and more consistent through innovative flossers and education. Slate supports better long-term health, lowers dental costs, and creates well-paying jobs. These awards directly create 19.

5 well-paying jobs in Spokane County over the next two years, and stand to make an even greater economic impact through use of Spokane County collaborators, and the commercialization of their products and services. On June 1, 2026, HSSA will release the Request for Proposals for Research, Development and Commercialization in Relocating Bioscience Businesses .

Up to two Level 1 Awards of up to $250,000 may be made to health or bioscience entities relocating all or part of their operations to Spokane County, qualifying recipients for an additional grant award of up to $750,000. A one to one match is required, and we hope to see another competitive field of applicants. The Spokane Early Stage Grant requires no match.

This award provides startup capital for entities working to promote bioscience based economic development and promote public health in Spokane County.

Awards of up to $100,000 per entity will create opportunities for companies to engage in proof of concept research or minimum viable product development, get grant writing assistance when applying for federal funding, get business development and regulatory consultation, or seek legal services for entity formation or intellectual property protection.

The requirement to seek these services from Spokane County vendors will further the economic impact of each award. The Bioscience Infrastructure and Ecosystem Building Grant also requires no match. The award supports infrastructure that will lead to economic growth in Spokane County’s bioscience ecosystem leading to better health and healthcare and well-paying job creation.

This award focuses heavily on partnerships and collaboration to create maximum accessibility and impact.

Awards of up to $100,000 support activities such as business and health analytics or tools, recruitment of scientific faculty bringing extramural funding to Spokane County, collaborative projects to purchase laboratory core equipment, and other collaborations and innovative bioscience and healthcare developments that create an advantage for Spokane County's bioscience ecosystem.

HSSA expects to make three to four grant awards for each grant type. An information meeting for prospective applicants and others seeking more information will be held on Thursday, March 12, 2026 from 12:00pm-1:30pm via Zoom. Interested parties may email info@hssaspokane.

org to register. More information is coming soon regarding the June 1, 2026 release of the Research, Development and Commercialization in Bioscience Entities Relocating to Spokane County opportunity. HSSA Awards $935,405 in Access to Care Grants to Address Spokane’s Most Urgent Health Needs Spokane, Wash.

— The Health Sciences and Services Authority (HSSA) of Spokane has awarded seven Access to Care Grants totaling $935,405 to local organizations working to improve health outcomes across Spokane County.

2026 Access to Care Grant Recipients CHAS — Building a Comprehensive Health Home for Under-Resourced Youth , $150,000 Joya Child and Family Development — Joya JumpStart Access Expansion , $150,000 Maddie’s Place — Enhancing Infant and Family Recovery Through Specialized Care and Support , $100,000 MultiCare Inland Northwest Foundation — Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Resource Team , $150,000 Partners with Families and Children — Partners’ Behavioral Health Program , $120,832 Partners with Families and Children — Partners’ Children’s Advocacy Center , $149,999 Providence Health and Services – Washington — Supporting Behavioral Health Access in Spokane County , $114,574.

48 The funded programs are expected to serve more than 3,625 individuals in 2026 and advance HSSA’s economic development goals. Collectively, the grants will support 10 Spokane County jobs , cover startup costs for two additional staff positions , fund the conversion of office space into a youth behavioral health facility , and provide direct client assistance , among other investments.

HSSA is also awaiting the results of the Spokane Regional Health District’s Quality of Life Survey , expected in the coming weeks, which will further inform the region’s most urgent public health priorities. Two Award Announcements Totaling $1.

25 Million Health Sciences and Services Authority (HSSA) of Spokane decided on two matching grant awards for bioscience based economic development at the April 2025 meeting of the Board of Trustees.

HSSA Executive Director Erin Williams Hueter shares, “Both grantees are tech companies working to address administrative and professional challenges in the healthcare system that create challenges to access to care and are well poised to address HSSA’s priorities of improved health and healthcare, well-paying job creation, and powering future growth in Spokane County. ” A phase one award of $250,000 was made to Credential Network .

The provider credentialling firm plans to hire five in Spokane County with two positions supported by their HSSA award. "Credential Network chose Spokane as our home not just by chance, but because of the incredible ecosystem we discovered here. From local VCs to passionate founders willing to grab coffee at a moment's notice, we found a thriving tech scene that has embraced us with open arms.

The HSSA grant program exemplifies the unique support system that exists in Spokane—providing not just funding, but a true partnership in our mission to transform healthcare credentialing.

As we build a company with national reach, we're committed to growing our roots in Spokane, hiring local talent, and ensuring that the healthcare organizations here are among the first to benefit from the technology being developed in their own backyard." says Credential Network CEO Dylan Avatar.

A phase two award totaling $1,000,000 was made to Litehouse Health to retain jobs created in phase one, create new jobs and support the use of local contractors with the Spokane based firm working to address staffing for hospital nurses. “HSSA is an incredible program. It has made a demonstrable difference in helping us scale our young company.

We are grateful to Spokane County for establishing and funding HSSA. It creates jobs and improves health in our community. HSSA helps all of us thrive!"

says Litehouse CEO David Heath. Over $4. 4 Million Awarded to in Healthcare and Bioscience Based Economic Development Grants Health Sciences and Services Authority (HSSA) of Spokane awards grants to seven entities improving access to healthcare and ten bioscience entities in winter 2024-2025.

This year, HSSA focused its Access to Care grantmaking on addressing Spokane County’s provider shortage.

Nineteen applications were submitted, and the top scorers and award recipients were: Joya Child and Family Development Center $100,000 Latinos En Spokane $30,000 Mujeres in Action $60,000 Partners with Families and Children $130,000 Spokane Prescription Assistance Network $30,000 “We are thrilled to support innovative work to create better access to health care in Spokane County.

Each of these entities has a unique approach to addressing the ever-present need for quality health care for all of our neighbors. ” says HSSA Executive Director Erin Williams Hueter. HSSA also continues to see many applicants for matching grants for bioscience based economic development.

These grant recipients also help address the health of Spokane County residents while innovating care and practice, creating new jobs, and developing partnerships and practices that help catalyze future economic growth in the region.

Our most recent grant recipients were: Gestalt Diagnostics $250,000 Impact Laboratories $250,000 Inherent Biosciences $1,000,000 Integrated Lipid Biofuels $500,000 WildeCare Education $175,000 "Entities at various stages were awarded. Phenomix will grow their Spokane operations from one to two or three during their grant award.

Inherent Biosciences will move most of their operations and permanently relocate their CEO to Spokane County, WildeCare Education is very early stage and will be doing work to develop their growing venture, and the list goes on. We look forward to following their progress toward making innovations in health and biosciences while growing our regional economy. I hope this encourages similar entities to consider growing in Spokane County."

says HSSA Executive Director Erin Williams Hueter. Three Spokane Based Companies, One Seattle Based Company, and SRHD Receive HSSA Matching Grants for Bioscience Based Economic Development Health Sciences and Services Authority of Spokane County (HSSA) is proud to announce the recipients of Matching Grants for bioscience based economic development approved at the October and November 2024 meetings of the Board of Trustees.

Precision Quantomics (PQ) was awarded a $294,540 HSSA matching grant after the WSU spinoff won a Phase 1 SBIR Award from the National Institute of Health. This award is particularly meaningful to HSSA as PQ Founder Dr. Bhagwat Prasad was recruited to the Spokane area in 2019 with a grant to WSU to recruit scientific faculty to the region who brought federal research dollars with them. Dr. Prasad has brought 5.

2 million dollars in extramural follow-on funding to the region, had 62 scientific publications, and trained 7 Post Doctoral and 3 PhD students, 1 of whom received a federal grant of their own, during his time at WSU Spokane.

Even as Dr. Prasad plans a move out of the region, Precision Quantomics will live on in Spokane County adding staff here and working to decrease health disparities and improve health outcomes for underrepresented patient groups such as children, women, racial minorities, elderly individuals and disease specific populations.

These groups have historically been excluded from drug testing, leading to unintended health disparities, including disproportionate occurrences of unforeseen adverse events and reduced efficacy of approved drugs. PQ’s work will change this. Two other growing Spokane County based businesses received $250,000 matching grants from HSSA as well.

Slate Dental ’s HSSA matching grant will support their work creating a warehouse and fulfilment center where new jobs will be created in Spokane County while making improvements in oral health that are linked to other long term health concerns like Alzheimer’s Disease. Blaze Barrier 's matching grant that will add staff to catalyze their work bringing their wildfire prevention product to market.

In addition to immediate dangers, wildfires have created several significant health risks in our region including poor air quality, respiratory challenges and mental health concerns. The Spokane Regional Health District also received a $47,500 HSSA matching grant to support their work on the Quality of Life Survey . Information collected in this report is used to determine and guide business and health priorities in the region.

Remmie Health is the recipient of the largest matching grant award in HSSA’s history at $1,250,000. The Seattle based company had received a $3,000,000 SBIR award from the National Institiute of Health and offers AI-powered ear-nose-throat (ENT) solutions to minimize unnecessary doctor visits and improve access to ENT specialists or accurate diagnosis.

With a family digital otoscope and a telehealth-enabling app, users are guided by AI to record ENT medical history at home, stream real-time physical findings and examinations to telemedicine services, and receive clinical insights and prescriptions. Remmie will open a commercial service hub in downtown Spokane employing five new staffers who will all reside here in Spokane County.

“It is rewarding to see a growing life science company like Remmie Health choose to bring an important part of their work to Spokane County. This type of project recruitment was highlighted in another HSSA funded project, the Life Science Asset and Landscape Study commissioned by Greater Spokane Incorporated in 2023. ” says HSSA Executive Director Erin Williams Hueter.

HSSA made two additional Grant Writing Assistance Micro Awards as well to Launchpad Inland Northwest and Precision Quantomics. These awards allow recipients to work with professional grant writing consultants to help bring federal grant dollars to Spokane County.

HSSA Makes Two Grant Awards Totaling $499,821 HSSA is pleased to share about our most recent recipients of matching grants for bioscience based economic development: Medcurity and Photon Biosciences. This is HSSA’s first award to Medcurity who received $200,000 matching an investment from a qualified investor.

Medcurity’s award will use their award to incorporate generative artificial intelligence capabilities into their software, already leading to more efficient, accurate, and timely security risk management. This is HSSA’s fourth award to Photon Biosciences who relocated from Pullman to Spokane to take advantage of matching grants available through HSSA.

The award of $299,812 matches a grant from the National Institute of Health and continues their work to introduce a comprehensive suite of services designed to revolutionize protein structure determination through Cryo-Electron Microscopy (Cryo-EM), Cryo-Electron Tomography (Cryo-ET), and Protein Crystallography.

“HSSA has grown and consistently receives high quality grant proposals from exciting innovators here in Spokane County and beyond. We look forward to seeing the progress at both Medcurity and Photon Biosciences” said HSSA Executive Director Erin Williams Hueter.

HSSA Votes to Approve Matching Grants Totaling $704,900 Health Sciences and Services Authority of Spokane County (HSSA) is proud to announce the recipients of Matching Grants for bioscience based economic development approved at a June 2024 meeting of the Board of Trustees. HSSA continues to receive an impressive slate of grant applications.

At their June 2024 Board Meeting, Trustees approved three matching grant awards totaling $704,900. An award of $454,900 was made to Glyciome, matching their grants from the National Cancer Institute. The award will further Glyciome's research on a cervical cancer prevention product, and add new staff to their team here in Spokane County.

An award of $150,000 was made to Spokane based Litehouse Health, matching a recent investment from a qualified investor. An award of $100,000 was made to Parrots, matching a recent investment from a qualified investor. Technology at Parrots is being utilized to help people with Parkinson's Disease, and their award will help add additional staff time to another growing Spokane business.

Additionally, HSSA made a Grant Writing Assistance Micro Award to Crimson Health. These small awards of up to $10,000 help bioscience businesses work with grant writing consultants to increase their likelihood of bringing federal and state grant dollars to Spokane County. HSSA Welcomes New Board Members HSSA is pleased to share that several new faces will join the Board of Trustees.

Chandima Bandara, CEO at Photon Biosciences and Precision Quantomics has been appointed by the Board. Alisha Benson, CEO at Greater Spokane Incorporated has been appointed by the Spokane County Commissioners. Dr. Vange Ocasio Hochheimer, Professor of Economics at Whitworth University and President and CEO at Grand Fir Analytics has been appointed by the Board.

Dr. Patrick Jones, Executive Director at Eastern Washington University Institute for Public Policy and Economic Analysis has been appointed by the Board. Julie Orchard, Service Area Chief Human Resources Officer at Providence Saint Joseph Health has been appointed by the Board. Dr. Robin Pickering, Chair of the Public Health Department at Gonzaga University and Host of A Closer Look has been appointed by the Board.

We expect a final decision from Governor Inslee about our vacant Washington State Appointment soon.