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CLEVELAND, Ohio — Aeromics LLC, a start-up founded by a Case Western Reserve University scientist, has received a $2.25 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to further its development of a drug to reduce brain swelling in stroke victims.

The company will use the grant to develop its initial compounds into clinical leads and begin testing on animals, according to Marc Pelletier, Aeromics’ chief science officer.

The grant is expected to fund Aeromics’ operations for about three years, Pelletier said. The company has three full-time employees and recently hired George Farr, a former Yale University School of Medicine scientist, who will help Aeromics study its drug candidates’ biophysical effects.

As water enters the brain through the blood-brain barrier of a stroke victim, it can cause swelling and neurological damage. Aeromics’ drug would prevent water from crossing the barrier and entering the brain, while still allowing gases to get through.

Aeromics was co-founded by Pelletier and Walter Boron, an Elyria native who came to Case Western after spending nearly 30 years in research and academia at Yale. Boron joined Case Medical School in 2007 as chair of its department of physiology and biophysics.

Aeromics’ drug is still a long way from hitting the market. Pelletier hopes to begin animal testing in 2011 and human trials a couple years after that.

Aeromics is based at BioEnterprise, a business incubator for biotechnology start-ups in Northeast Ohio.