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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 31, 2007 |
For more information please contact: John Little Director of Operations Tel: 480-874-9100 |
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Company Receives $10,000 Grant to Optimize Manufacturing Processes TEMPE, AZ - Intrinsic Bioprobes, Inc. (IBI), a research and development firm specializing in technologies for high content, high throughput protein analyses has been selected to participate in a pilot Manufacturing Assistance Program. The program is being offered by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in partnership with the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) to Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awardees. IBI is one of 25 companies nationwide that received a $10,000 grant to go towards the identification and development of a strategy to overcome some of the manufacturing issues related to the commercialization of SBIR-developed products. “IBI has developed a product that will be used by laboratories to detect and characterize specific biodefense agents. The product is a pipette-fitted microcolumn that is modified with specific antibodies to retrieve biodefense agents from tap water and complex samples such as milk. The use of this product will allow for the screening of multiple biodefense agents in a single analysis,” said John Little, director of operations at the Arizona MEP who recommended IBI be considered for the program. “However, IBI needed to implement an effective stage-gated quality control process. The grant funds are now being used to contract the assistance of a wet chemist to establish pass-fail criteria to one of the product components and to also research and recommend specific test equipment that could be employed.” Dawnbreaker, a third party that is managing the grant program for NIH, provides week-by-week progress to the National Institute of Health. The project ends on August 31. After that, the MEP manager will complete a final report, which details the issues addressed, the suggested recommendations, any actions taken during the pilot program and suggestions for next steps. Each participant is also required to provide feedback on the program at the project’s completion. “We at Intrinsic Bioprobes are extremely excited that this project is underway and running on schedule. We are currently working with an experienced wet chemist to establish pass-fail criteria and evaluation tests for specific stages in our quality control process.” said Paul Albrecht, Operations Manager at IBI. “We know the quality of our particular product will increase significantly as a result of this research.” “I am pleased that Intrinsic Bioprobes, Inc. was selected to participate in this pilot program,” said Sandra Watson, director in the Office of Innovation and Technology, Arizona Department of Commerce. “NIH and NIST MEP are helping companies like IBI address critical manufacturing issues as they progress towards commercialization, and as a result, these companies are able to make better manufacturing and operational decisions.” The national MEP network is funded through the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and assists small and medium-sized manufacturing companies by providing products and services designed to help them succeed. Through MEP, manufacturers have access to more than 2000 manufacturing and business “coaches” whose job is to help firms make changes that lead to greater productivity, increased profits, and enhanced global competitiveness. For more information, log on to www.mep.nist.gov or call (301) 975-5020. |
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