The emerging field of proteomics has increased in interest and development both nationally and locally. Protea Biosciences, Inc., a Morgantown-based business and a graduate of the WVU Business Incubator, is at the forefront of this promising technological movement. Proteomics is the identification and quantitative measurement of all the proteins expressed in the body and their interactions. The focus of protein identification is to better identify, understand, and treat disease. By using technology licensed from West Virginia University, Protea has been able to stay on the cutting edge of this important field.
Protea was founded in 2001 with the idea to develop a better and more accurate system for protein identification. The company hoped that it could further develop technology licensed from WVU so that they could increase the amount of proteins analyzed while reducing the time necessary to run the tests. Only twenty percent of proteins, the “high abundance,” are detected by most current technology. The other “low-abundance” proteins go undocumented, so a complete analysis of the problem is never truly reached. With the technology developed at Protea Biosciences, a greater number of proteins can be identified and thus diseases can be recognized and treated before symptoms become apparent, greatly increasing the curability and manageability of many illnesses, which is a huge step forward in protein biomarker target discovery in pharmaceutical research.
Protea is developing technology to better identify proteins so that medicines can target diseases with greater
accuracy. The Protea Explorer System™, developed by the company in early 2006, allows scientists to test a blood or tissue sample in a variety of ways without contaminating the sample or having to move it to different test locations. The process has become so streamlined that what used to take days to complete
now only takes a few hours.
With the demand growing for Protea’s area of expertise, the company is set to benefit greatly from its unique technology and its scientific partnership with West Virginia University. CEO Steve Turner chose WVU because he wished to license technology from the university’s accomplished science programs for Protea’s use. The company currently has fifteen employees, many of whom are WVU alumni, at their Hartman Run Road facility. The WVU Business Incubator assisted Protea in areas like marketing, accounting, and corporate services in the early stages of their business.
Like most biotechnology companies, the cost of doing research and creating prototypes is huge and being able to reduce other overhead expenses is crucial in making their business a success. By being a virtual tenant of the WVU Business Incubator, Protea was able to utilize the expertise of Incubator staff and interns, thus reducing their need to hire more employees in the early stages of development. Protea now has a full staff in their expanded facility and a wide array of products and services available. They are poised to make a huge impact in the field of proteomics and pharmaceutical research.
Written by Andrew Chewning
Posted by Matt Livengood on September 21, 2007 at 12:15 pm in the following categories: Protea Biosciences
