Rochester-based Trillium Group made an investment in Thermal Gradient who is developing a PCR system which will be faster and smaller than current techniques. PCR is a process by which DNA is "amplified", or, a method for making multiple copies of DNA. This is a very important technique for analyzing DNA, since large quantities of DNA may be a challenge to collect. PCR has simply made genetics research possible. Better explanations of PCR can be found here, here, and here.
Thermal Gradient will undoubtedly run into "switching cost" barriers. In my consulting and due diligence work, I have often found that companies marketing tools and techniques based on a "faster and cheaper" value proposition sometime struggle. Why? To make a sweeping generalization, researchers can be a highly conservative bunch. If a system is in place which works well, it is a challenge to ask them to leap into a new system, no matter how similar it is to the old one. The best opportunity for Thermal Gradient initially may be in those areas where PCR could be used, but is not because of a lack of expertise or equipment. Maybe police crime scenes to amplify the DNA from a blood splotch? Then again, once amplified, what can they do with it? Is this linked with some sort of analyzer? I don't know. I wish their web site had a bit more detail.
Regardless, the PCR market is huge. I could easily imagine an exit opportunity by sale to a company suce as Sigma-Aldrich, Quagen, or Applied Biosystems.
I do find it interesting that the prototyping is being done in nearby Canandaigua. I'm in favor of using local assets for product development whenever possible.
PCR...lab on a chip...prototyping in Canandaigua...seed funding... stuff you don't normally hear coming from "Upstate" New York, yet there it is! Great news, and congratulations to all.
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