PITTSBURGH, March 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Doros Platika, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of The Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse (PLSG), the private/public partnership putting the region’s life sciences industry on a fast track for growth, today announced PLSG has invested $100,000 in Proteopure, a spinout of Carnegie Mellon University and founded by LaunchCyte. Proteopure is developing technology to improve the methodology for isolating and reproducing proteins in medical research. The PLSG investment is provided under its Technology Development Fund (TDF) program.
Proteopure is in the emerging field of proteomics, which is the study of complex protein mixtures isolated from cells or bodily fluids. Because every cell type contains its own proteome, composed of a slightly different array of proteins, analysis of these proteins for medical research has long been time- consuming and costly.
“Proteopure is working to relieve bottlenecks in biomedical progress by giving researchers novel protein purification products,” said Rich Ekstrom, Chief Executive Officer of Proteopure. “Our technology is conceptually very simple, but it is different than all of the competitive products and eliminates a major problem for researchers. There has been an unmet need for a universal sample preparation methodology. We believe Proteopure addresses this by providing the first universal method for isolating proteins. This will decrease the time spent on optimizing protein isolation protocols.”
The key enabling technology involves a molecule that reversibly binds all proteins. At the heart of the Proteopure 2DE sample preparation Kit is a “spin column,” an apparatus that can be used in a standard laboratory centrifuge. The spin column is packed with a resin that binds proteins via interaction with the proprietary protein-capture molecule. Contaminants are washed away while proteins are immobilized on the resin. Initial commercial availability of the product is expected in 2006.
About the Technology Development Fund (TDF)
The Technology Development Fund is a competitive funding program designed to increase the commercialization potential of life science technologies developed by the region’s scientists and entrepreneurs. The intent is to provide financial support to verify the technical and commercial feasibility of early stage inventions that will accelerate and increase the likelihood that the technology will be successfully commercialized through a regional start-up company. These funds can be used in conjunction with or to leverage other early sources of funding.
About the PLSG
The Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse is a public/private partnership, founded by the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, UPMC Health System, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and its regional foundation community. Together with private industry and advanced research and healthcare capabilities of our institutional partners, PLSG invests in and supports the growth of regional life sciences companies in the areas of: bioinformatics; bionanotechnology; diagnostics; medical devices; medical robotics; therapeutics; and tools and services.
Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse
CONTACT: Tim O’Brien of O’Brien Communications, +1-412-854-8845; or LynnBanaszak Brusco of Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, +1-412-770-1353
Web site: http://www.plsg.com//
