BioTech Studio Finds a Home at the Science Center Port.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 31, 2003

BioTech Studio LLC, a new company offering to engineer proteins for the pharmaceutical industry, has moved into the region's premier life science and technology business incubator, the Science Center Port.

BioTech Studio President Simon Delagrave said he launched the company to address critical marketplace needs. "We are developing proprietary proteins we call Telobodies(TM) for use as research reagents, diagnostic tools and therapeutics," said Delagrave, a published scientist with more than 10 years of protein engineering experience. Telobodies(TM), he said, are designed to function like antibodies but will be less expensive to produce, easier to isolate and more versatile.

"Telobodies(TM) could be used to protect premature infants from contracting viral infections, to treat cancer or to diagnose new diseases," said Delagrave, who worked on protein engineering while earning his Ph.D. in biological chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "We're building a prototype Telobody(TM) now and hope to commercialize a first-generation version by mid-2004."

BioTech Studio also recently submitted a patent application for its "in vitro co-evolution" technology to address the threat of drug-resistant pathogens. "We're taking existing drugs, directing their evolution and transforming them to overpower the increasing number of strains that are no longer responding adequately to medicines," said Delagrave. "Ultimately, the technology should stop antibiotic-resistant bacteria and chemotherapy-resistant cancers in their tracks."

Karen Meidlinger, Ph.D., director of life sciences for the Science Center, said that BioTech Studio is a welcome addition to the Port, and particularly to the Innovation Lab, a specialized facility within the Science Center Port that offers shared research facilities to start-up companies.

"We developed the Innovation Lab two years ago to help nurture early-stage companies like BioTech Studio and give them sufficient research and development opportunities at a fraction of the cost to set up their own labs," said Meidlinger. "BioTech Studios is a promising young company with great technology and skills, and is well positioned to take full advantage of the mentoring, training and networking opportunities at the Port."

About the Science Center: The Science Center's mission is to grow regional wealth by developing knowledge communities that fuse talent, capital and opportunity. Since 1963, the Science Center has helped to launch over 350 technology companies. (www.sciencecenter.org)