Bedford, MA - November 27, 2012 -- Emerald Bio, the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and the University of Oxford announce that the parties have entered into a strategic partnership providing Emerald Bio with the exclusive rights to commercialize PiMS technology in the life sciences. Furthermore, thepartnership includes additional collaboration and development efforts to continue to provide software innovations to the protein science community.
PiMS, the first protein-centric laboratory information management system, is the culmination of seven years of development to create a solution that addresses the complexity of data management unique to molecular biology environments in protein production laboratories. PiMS manages information about targets, constructs, protocols, experiments and samples within the protein production workflow.
“We view this partnership as bringing together the capabilities of pre-eminent academic research and commercial organizations to advance discovery in protein science. PiMS, together with GeneComposer ™, our DNA sequence design software, provide our clients with a software solution that enables the design and management from construct to protein and beyond,” said George Abe, President of Emerald Bio.
This partnership is also intended to support and foster the growing academic user community with funding and support, while also providing a commercial framework for further adoption of PiMS. The new software, PiMS pro™, is expected to become available during the first half of 2013.
“STFC is pleased to partner with Emerald Bio to deliver this software to commercial users. This relationship will help us maintain and extend it for both academic and industrial users. This is part of our activities to support basic life science research and research directed towards medical, agricultural, and industrial applications,” said Adrian Wander, Director, Scientific Computing Department at STFC.
David Stuart, FRS, Director of Instruct, Director of Life Sciences at Diamond Light Source, MRC Professor of Structural Biology at the University of Oxford, and Head of the Division of Structural Biology at the Department of Clinical Medicine at the University of Oxford said. “Instruct has supported an online datamanagement service for academic protein scientists across Europe since 2009. PiMS has also been key to the management of the Oxford Protein Production Facility-UK for the last five years and is in use in several other Europeanlaboratories. I am pleased to see steps that will ensure the sustainability of this software and make it available to industrial researchers,” he said.
About Emerald Bio
Emerald Bio is a protein solutions provider that offers consultative services, instrumentation, reagents, and software to help solve our client’s challenges in protein science. We leverage our unique assets and know-how in biochemistry and structural biology to further our clients’ understanding of proteins, and that ultimately leads to improved human health. Emerald Bio is a privately owned company that maintains facilities in Seattle and Boston. Our dedicated team supports leading research institutes and commercial therapeutic and diagnostic companies worldwide. To learn more about Emerald Bio’s array of key resources, visit www.embios.com.
About STFC
The Science and Technology Facilities Council is keeping the UK at the forefront of international science and tackling some of the most significant challenges facing societysuch as meeting future energy needs, monitoring and understanding climate change, and global security.
The Council has a broad science portfolio and works with the academic and industrial communities to share its expertise in materials science, space and ground-based astronomy technologies, laser science, microelectronics, wafer scale manufacturing, particle and nuclear physics, alternative energy production,radio communications and radar.
STFC operates or hosts world class experimental facilities including:
• In the UK; ISIS pulsed neutron source, the Central Laser Facility, and LOFAR. STFC is also the majority shareholder in Diamond Light Source Ltd.
• Outside the UK; telescopes on La Palma and Hawaii
It enables UK researchers to access leading international science facilities by funding membership of international bodies including European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), the Institut Laue Langevin (ILL), European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
STFC is one of seven research councils funded by the UK government. It is an independent, non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).
Follow STFC on Twitter @STFC_Matters
www.stfc.ac.uk
For more information, please contact:
Emerald Bio:
George Abe, President
gabe@embios.com
Phone: 781-652-4002
www.embios.com
