Innovation & Job News

State loan will help Ann Arbor's GeneVivo grow

Thursday, February 07, 2008

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Ann Arbor

You�ve heard the one about building a better mousetrap � how about building a better mouse?

The scientists at Ann Arbor�s GeneVivo are doing just that, pioneering technology that makes it easier to use mice for medical and scientific research.

The year-old company has received $200,000 from the state�s Company Formation and Growth Fund geared toward creating four new positions to be filled by former Pfizer employees.

We�re commercializing a method of animal transgenesis, or genetic modification, that was developed at the University of Michigan Medical School in the lab of Dr. (Mike) Welsh," says CEO Sean Ainsworth. "Our customers would be the biomedical research community, and we�d use the words �testing of compound drugs� - to get an idea of what drugs do before entering effective clinical trials."

The company will also acquire equipment from a recent $6 million Pfizer donation.

"Our method for making animals transgenic is much more simple than any other existing method," Welsh says. "We believe it will be adaptable to a variety of strains of mice. There are a lot of different types of mice and rats and other animals used in research� some types of mouse very difficult to modify, but our method is different from anything that exists."

Ainsworth says GeneVivo has the potential to create more than 40 science jobs over the next five years.

Source: Mike Welsh, Sean Ainsworth, GeneVivo
Writer: Nancy Kaffer