Millions of dollars are rolling into DNA Software thanks to three federal grants worth $2.5 million. We're talking the Ann Arbor company, not the industry as a whole.
The 8-year-old start-up will use the money from the National Institutes of Health to continue development of its new technology specializing in 3D structure modeling of RNA-based molecules. The idea is to use the discoveries for antibiotics applications.
DNA Software has already reached the first milestones of this development as part of its initial phase. This money will fund the second phase and keep the firm's 15 people and a handful of interns and independent contractors (it recently doubled its staff size) working.
"These grants are very good for small companies," says Jeff Machak, vice president of business development for DNA Software. "Revenue is hard to find for research and development."
DNA Software, recently named one of Michigan's 50 Companies to Watch, uses Wayne State University spinoff technology to conduct wet lab research, develop molecular biology software and provide scientific consulting for DNA and RNA-based experiments. These are often used to help predict how maladies, such as those caused by flu, evolve.
The company brings in most of its workforce from local sources. The resumes of its staff list the likes of Kalamazoo College, University of Michigan, Wayne State University and the old Pfizer campus in Ann Arbor. It hopes to hire a few more people from these sources as it goes after even more research grant funding.
"We're really taping into the local talent pool to make this happen," Machak says.
Source: Jeff Machak, vice president of business development for DNA Software
Writer: Jon Zemke
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