Invitrogen creates biological defence system subsidiary

Invitrogen Corporation has formed Biological Defense Systems Inc. (BDS), a new venture that will consolidate and expand the company's biosecurity applications, leveraging products and knowledge gained through the company's long-standing efforts in pathogen research.

Headquartered on Invitrogen's Frederick, MD. campus, BDS will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary, drawing upon Invitrogen's portfolio of products and services.

It will build on Invitrogen's current product lines, which include detection kits for airborne pathogens such as anthrax and smallpox, adding detection systems for food and water borne pathogens. Invitrogen also supports researchers working on vaccines and other prophylactic measures through programs such as integrated high throughput target screening technologies from the Drug Discovery Solutions business and support for vaccine development at BioReliance.

To head the research team at BDS, Invitrogen has appointed Dr James Meegan, as senior director of Biodefense. Meegan comes to BDS after 13 years with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he developed initial programs for biode-fence and devised short and long-term strategies to protect the United States against bioterrorist threats and emerging diseases. In this newly created role at BDS, Meegan will lead research and development efforts to solve current technology limitations for organisations working in biodefence, including accelerating the production of new and improved vaccines, diagnostic tests and therapies, and other products.

'In the race to develop systems that will serve as protective measures against new forms of biological weapons, it is imperative that an integrated and global approach to science and enabling technologies take the lead,' said Meegan. 'Invitrogen's core mission is to provide leadership in developing these types of advanced integrated technologies to support this research. I look forward to working with these talented and dedicated scientists to help advance biodefence research in order to prevent, detect and lessen the impact of dangers in this critical area.'

BDS will be led commercially by James Gilmore, Invitrogen's current biodefence business segment director. 'We believe that by putting the right technologies and services in the hands of researchers working in this vital area, we can improve their ability to respond to a wide spectrum of issues, from fighting bioterrorism, to battling emerging disease threats like SARS or West Nile Virus,' said Gilmore.