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Nuvogen Research partners Richard Kris, left, and Stephen Felder observe their microplate washing machine in operation. The only two employees of the company based in a UA lab spent three years working on the machine and have licensed the new technology to a Washington company that will build and sell the product.
Photos by Benjie Sanders / arizona daily star
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Business

Scientists design lab product

UA-based Nuvogen licenses microplate washer

By Michelli Murphy
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.28.2008
For many small biotech companies, licensing technology means success.
Tucson-based Nuvogen Research LLC hit another milestone this month after licensing its newest device — a fully automated microplate washer.
The washer, known as "Squirt," will be manufactured and sold by MatriCal Inc., a Washington-based lab-instrument supplier. The development of the washer was a three-year collaborative effort between scientists Stephen Felder, Richard Kris and engineering consultant Brian McGraw.
McGraw heads Tucson-based McGraw Consulting LLC, while Felder and Kris are partners and the sole employees of Nuvogen, a consulting company focused on creating technology to aid in drug discovery research.
The partners are "more interested in developing new technology" than in manufacturing or sales, said Kris..
When scientists become entrepreneurs, well-designed products are created, said MatriCal CEO Dan Roark.
"They have a different perspective that allows them to think out of the box," he said.
Current microplate washers on the market are prone to clogging, Roark said.
Squirt is unique because it doesn't use needles to spray a solution and air into each well in the sample plate. Instead, the plate is turned over and a single nozzle is used to spray the plate "like a carwash," said Felder.
The washer can be run as a stand-alone instrument or with a robotic system that loads the microplates.
Microplates, used in analytical and clinical research, are plastic plates with multiple "wells" that function as tiny test tubes. Microplate washers spray the wells first with a buffer solution, then with air. When the wells are clean and dry, data can be collected on the test cells, which should remain unharmed at the bottom of the well.
There's a large market for an improved microplate washer, Roark said. Pharmaceutical companies, biotech companies, and academic institutions all need the product.
The market for laboratory equipment like Squirt is valued at around $40 million, said Glenn Cudiamat, vice president of research services for Strategic Direct International Inc.
The market's annual growth rate is 5 to 7 percent according to the company's latest figures, Cudiamat said.
Squirt is the third major project the company has completed since being founded in 1997. Its development was funded in part by Small Business Innovation Research grants from the National Science Foundation.
The first major product was a high-density screening system licensed to Tucson-based Systems Integration Drug Discovery Co. Inc. In 2000, the company was bought by Discovery Partners International LLC, a consulting firm for aerospace and high-tech industries.
Nuvogen's second major project, ArrayPlate qNPA, or quantitative nuclease protection assay, resulted in the creation of Tucson-based company High Throughput Genomics.
HTG licensed the technology in 2000 and uses it to break down cell or tissue samples so they can be measured for gene activity based on their interaction with different kinds of DNA.
This year, HTG will receive $4.4 million in venture capital from investors, including pharmaceutical giant Merck.
● Contact NASA Space Grant intern Michelli Murphy at 573-4197 or at mmurphy@azstarnet.com.
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