Twelve companies to lease space

Huntsville, Ala. — With a tenant list that grew from six, to eight and finally 12 resident companies, Jim Hudson, president of the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, announced the Associates Wing of the institute is at capacity while noting that additional building on the CRP Biotech Campus could be on the near horizon. The announcement was made during today’s ribbon-cutting ceremonies that celebrated the completion of the first wing of the Institute. The atrium and Institute researchers’ wing will be completed during the first quarter of next year.

While space is in short supply for additional companies hoping to locate in the Institute, opportunities to advance the way research and technology breakthroughs are translated into products and services for patients in need are limitless. Hudson said the founders of the Institute believe the free enterprise system, together with academic research and an aggressive educational outreach program, is the best way to move treatments from bench to bedside.

Gov. Bob Riley, who Hudson referred to as the state’s best friend to biotechnology, believes the Institute will make some of the most fundamental discoveries mankind has ever made and help further define Alabama’s reputation for technology and discovery. State Senator Roger Bedford and Huntsville Mayor Loretta Spencer joined Riley in offering words of encouragement and congratulations.

Congressman Bud Cramer, who was unable to attend the ribbon cutting, sent congratulations to all concerned. “The collaboration of the people currently working within HudsonAlpha, not to mention the new companies that will come to North Alabama, will lead to breakthroughs that will improve the lives of people throughout the world.”

The HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology proudly salutes its first Resident Associates and the shared belief that collaboration and innovation will expedite the shift from knowledge and ideas to products and services for patients in need.

Antarus Biotech
Antarus aims to make PCR technology accessible for more students, science educators and individual scientists through the development of robust, affordable, high-quality equipment. The company’s MyCube personal thermal cycler has the smallest footprint on the market and is driven by an easy-to-operate, intuitive software. The minimalist design and silent running of MyCube understates a powerful device that delivers maximum thermal performances.

Applied Genomics, Inc.
Applied Genomics (AGI) is developing novel tools for the detection and classification of human cancer. The company processes complex gene expression data to target antibody production and generate datasets of protein expression across thousands of tumor tissues. AGI has used these reagents and datasets to uncover an innovative approach for classification of cancer which also holds great promise for identifying clinical variations among patients.

CFD Research Corporation
CFD Research Corporation (CFDRC) specializes in engineering simulations and innovative designs. The company provides coupled multiscale, multiphysics software simulations of fluid, thermal, chemical, biological, electrical and mechanical phenomena for real-world applications. CFDRC’s Biotechnology Division offers expert support and services for: biofuel cells; microfluidic systems (lab-onchip); medical devices; computational medicine and biology tools; and systems biology and bioinformatics.

Conversant Healthcare Systems, Inc.
Conversant Healthcare Systems provides human cancer blood specimens to academic and commercial researchers. Conversant’s product – high quality cancer specimens matched with in-depth, privacy-protected clinical information – gives researchers a critical tool in the development of diagnostic tests, prognostic indicators and therapeutic treatments.

Expression Genetics, Inc.
Expression Genetics (EGEN) is a privately-held, specialty biopharmaceutical company developing polymeric delivery systems for nucleic acids. The company’s first product, a cancer therapeutic, based on novel TheraPlas® technology for gene delivery, is in the second stage of clinical testing for ovarian cancer. Research activities are focused on development of TheraSilence™ functionalized polymers suitable for delivery of siRNA and shRNA.

ExtremoZyme, Inc.
ExtremoZyme produces valuable enzymes using microorganisms recovered from environments with extreme biophysical parameters. Uncovering enzymes from diversified life processes will contribute to new biological sources for molecular engineering, food processing, materials fabrication, energy production and drug synthesis. Understanding the actions of these enzymes will contribute to learning about biotechnology processes and the extreme limits of life.

Microarrays Inc
Microarrays Inc (MI) is on the forefront of development and commercialization of nucleic acid and protein microarray technologies. The company offers a line of prefabricated DNA arrays, along with custom array services providing not only exceptionally accurate sample placement and deposition reproducibility, but also documentation of array quality for each production lot. This latter aspect of service provides an important validation checkpoint useful before committing valuable samples and time, and afterwards, as a tool to examine array reproducibility and consistency.

New Century Pharmaceuticals
New Century Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is a biopharmaceutical company with an oncology and anti-infective focus pioneering the development of safer more efficacious pharmaceuticals based on a precise understanding of drug interaction with the major blood protein, plasma albumin. Key technologies/products include : Salus drug combinatorial platform and recombinant human serum albumin.

Open Biosystems, Inc.
Open Biosystems provides genomic, proteomic and RNAi resources for the research community, including the world’s largest collection of full-length clones and micro-RNA adapted shRNAmir tools for highly effective and specific knockdown. We develop leading edge discoveries from thought-leading labs into supported high-quality research tools. Why experiment when you can discover?

Serina Therapeutics
The founders of Serina Therapeutics were key developers of polyethylene glycol (PEG) which is used in a range of commercially successful therapeutic polymers including two “blockbuster” products with annual sales over $1 billion.Serina’s goal is to develop new polymers with novel properties that enable development of a new generation of polymer therapeutics which will significantly enhance the performance of medicines in humans.

SourceCF, Inc.
SourceCF was formed in July 2001 as a specialty pharmaceutical and medical company serving patients and families affected by cystic fibrosis, the healthcare providers committed to treating the disease, and the research organizations who are developing new and innovative treatments. SourceCF represents a comprehensive suite of quality pharmaceutical and medical products.

Theragnostix Reference Laboratories
Theragnostix Reference Laboratories (TRL) is an emerging leader in infectious disease diagnostics and drug resistance detectionservices. Using a multiplexing platform, TRL is developing a series of molecular differential diagnostic services to enable unprecedented speed for health care providers in the identification of effective treatment for individual patients. TRL’s CLIA-certified labs will also accommodate clinical trials for future products and pharmaceutical development.