Friday, September 17, 1999
WRITER: Matthew Winston, 706/542-6927, [email protected]
CONTACTS: Scott Hunicke-Smith, 650/508-1634 or [email protected]
Marie-Michele Cordonnier-Pratt, 706/542-1860, [email protected]
GENEMACHINES DEVELOPS STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA TO COLLABORATE ON RESEARCH PROJECTS
Genomics instrumentation company to establish Southeastern Division in Athens, Ga.
ATHENS, Ga. -- GeneMachines, a California-based genomics instrumentation company, has entered into a research agreement with the University of Georgia and the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) to test and develop protocols on its most advanced instrumentation. The collaborative effort is being made possible as GeneMachines will establish its Southeastern Division in Athens with a lease arrangement with the university. The division will serve as GeneMachines' base of operations in the Southeastern United States, and will facilitate further developments between GeneMachines and UGA researchers involved in the university's GRA-supported Applied Genetic Technologies (AGTEC) initiative.
GeneMachines develops and markets innovative laboratory automation and technology for molecular biologists in areas such as genomics and proteomics. GeneMachines instruments that will be used in the UGA research agreement include the Gel-2-Well(tm) plaque and colony picker, the RevPrep(tm) plasmid prep workstation, and the HiGro(tm) high throughput cell incubator.
"We are very excited about these new partnerships with the University of Georgia, Athens-Clarke County, and the State of Georgia," said GeneMachines' president Scott P. Hunicke-Smith. "This collaborative work will strengthen GeneMachines' core product lines in genomics, while adding cutting-edge infrastructure to the university and the state of Georgia."
"We hope that this type of collaborative effort will serve as a model or catalyst for forging other agreements between industry, the state and this institution," said Karen Holbrook, UGA's provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. "The partnership with GeneMachines exemplifies the sort of university-corporate relationship that UGA and the Georgia Research Alliance are working to create. These relationships form a critical part of a continuum from basic scientific research to the creation and commercialization of products that ultimately benefit Georgia and society at large."
The university-corporate partnership is also seen as a validation of GRA's strategy of tying Georgia's economic development to investments in the state's research universities. "Companies like GeneMachines are finding it very attractive to be close to the leading scientific talent and state-of-the-art research infrastructure," said GRA vice president Mike Cassidy. "These businesses rely on relationships, alliances and partnerships."
The effort to bring GeneMachines to UGA and Athens-Clarke County was initiated by Marie-Michele Cordonnier-Pratt, professor and researcher in UGA's botany department, and her husband, UGA research professor Lee Pratt. The effort grew into a comprehensive, team effort involving the Georgia Research Alliance, UGA's Office of the Vice President for Research, the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce, the Athens-Clarke County Unified Government's Economic Development Division, and the state Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism.
"Scott was tremendously impressed by Athens and its cultural amenities and by the level of interest that the university, GRA, and the local government displayed," said Cordonnier-Pratt. "Scott and I are especially grateful to the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce and to the Athens-Clarke County Economic Development Division. They are clearly committed to creating an environment that is attractive and supportive of technology-intensive businesses like GeneMachines."
Cordonnier-Pratt will direct the project and will receive assistance from Terri Pond, a Virginia Beach, Va., native and recent UGA biology graduate.
"We are exceedingly pleased that GeneMachines elected to locate a unit in Athens and with the University of Georgia" said Joe Key, UGA's vice president for research and associate provost. "This relationship should enhance our access to cutting-edge genomics technology which is critical as AGTEC and the UGA genomics initiative really take off. Not only is this valuable both to the company and to our scientists, we fully expect this unit to assist in attracting other technology units with complementary thrust initiatives."
Key said that the work of scientists at the University of Georgia with GRA support makes possible these kinds of relationships with early-phase entrepreneurial companies, whether they are equipment technology developers or science-based companies using these and other technologies.
Visit GeneMachines' Web site at www.genemachines.com for additional information about the company. For more information about the Georgia Research Alliance call 404/332-9770 or visit their Web site at www.gra.org.
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