High Quality
Open the downloaded document, and select print from the file menu (PDF reader required).
The only journal focused on North Alabama’s engineering, spaceand genetics community, anchored by Cummings Research Park.
WINTER 2009
By ANNA THIBODEAUX
A
Huntsville startup company’s innovative new cellgrowth machine promises to cut the costs, size andmaintenance involved in the mechanics of cell gen-eration, and it’s about to hit prime-time. When the firstdevice – dubbed InQ – rolls off the production line thissummer, its inventors believe it’s going to replace the petridish, its more than 130-year-old predecessor, in laboratoryexperimentation and advancing biotechnology.“It’s a smart petri dish that grows cells as if they’re inyour body,” says Aaron Hammons of the portable cellincubator. What makes InQ so hot is that, whenresearchers throw out their petri dishes, they will alsosever their ties to all the expensive machinery needed tokeep cell growth processes
AcrosstheGreatDivide
Huntsvillefirm’srevolutionarycell-culturingmachinewillstarttochangesciencethissummer
Winter2009HUNTSVILLER&D
27
COVERSTORY
Winter2009
28
HUNTSVILLER&DCOVERSTORY
progressing in those dishes. Instead,they will work with a vastly smallermachine that is portable and inexpen-sive. Hammons is the CEO of ProdigyBiosystems, the company formed todevelop and market the device, and hesays his first impression was, “Whyhadn’t someone done this before?”InQ co-inventor Amy Bishop creditsthe coming together of a group of peo-ple with certain skills and crossoverknowledge in a series of highly fortu-nate events fueled by Huntsville’s evolv-ing entrepreneurial spirit.“It’s great to actually see it hit themarket, and the sooner the better,”says Bishop, assistant professor in theDepartment of Biological Sciences atthe University of Alabama inHuntsville. “My colleagues think itwill change the face of tissue culture. Itwill allow us, as researchers, to not livein the lab and control our tissue cul-ture conditions, including the sensitivecultures including those like adult stemcells. The conditions to differentiatethose have to be exact, and the incuba-tor will help that.”Tired of applying 1920s science tothe rapidly advancing work of biotech-nology, Bishop approached her hus-band, Jim Anderson, chief science offi-cer of Cherokee Labsystems inHuntsville, about inventing a portablecell incubator. Together, she andAnderson designed a sealed, self-con-tained cell incubation system that ismobile and eliminates many of theproblems with cultivating tissues in thefragile environment of the petri dish. Italso has its own on-board computerthat maintains and regulates the incu-bator, allowing tighter control of thecell environment.Hammons’ market research indicatesup to 40 percent of cultures in a petridish are lost to contamination, so themore stable InQ seems like a no-brain-er. But even the most obvious ideas alsoneed the right conditions for success.
BETTER CHEMISTRY
About 1 1/2 years ago, Bishop
BOB GATHANY
From left, Amy Bishop, UAH co-inventor, Aaron Hammons, Micah Harvey and Dick Reeves, former Biztech CEO.
Add a Comment
Erik_Sanders_3988left a comment
This document has been featured!
temp67left a comment
This document has made it onto the Rising list!
riemannadileft a comment