Colorado State University Infectious Disease Supercluster Establishes Collaborative Agreement with Maine Biotechnology Services

The business development arm of Colorado State University’s Infectious Disease Supercluster, MicroRx, recently has established a collaborative agreement with Maine Biotechnology Services. MBS is an antibody discovery company that offers a full range of antibody development services and products to the diagnostic market.

The agreement allows Colorado State University researchers to propose projects to develop antibodies against diseases within their expertise. MBS will provide antibodies to the researchers at Colorado State and license the antibody for commercial use.

"The MBS collaboration with the IDSC and MicroRx is a win/win, facilitating the research efforts of the university and providing market access to potential diagnostic solutions," said Rodman Tompkins, business development associate for MicroRx.

Colorado State University is an international leader in infectious disease research. The university is among the world’s leaders in researching West Nile virus, drug-resistant tuberculosis, yellow fever, dengue, hantavirus, plague, tularemia and other diseases. Infectious disease research programs receive roughly $40 million in annual research funding in such key areas as mycobacterial diseases, vector-borne diseases, prion diseases, food safety, plant pathology, and biodefense and emerging pathogens.

Infectious disease is a focus of Colorado State University’s MicroRx, a first-of-its-kind enterprise to speed the transition of life-saving research on infectious diseases from the academic world into the global marketplace. MicroRx, unveiled in February, is just the first of the university’s Superclusters, which are alliances of academic researchers, economists and business experts that encourage collaboration and bridge the vastly different worlds of business and academia. In the last few years, Colorado State has received millions in grants for infectious disease research, including research in the Infectious Disease Supercluster.

For more information about the agreement, contact Rodman Tompkins at rod@microrx.org or 491-8316.

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