IROA Technologies, formerly known as NextGen Metabolics, has sent its first test kits to market this year as the Ann Arbor-based firm hits few early milestones in 2014.
The life sciences startup released its first two testing kits for yeast and bacteria and is getting ready to release another testing kit this quarter. IROA Technologies testing kits help identify key metabolites that can be used to diagnose diseases, such as cancer in samples including blood and urine. The technology cuts through the clutter of information from the analysis of blood or other bodily fluids and tissues to find the critical metabolites that relate to disease and illness, making for shorter diagnosis times.
"Folks can use them to study any sort of mammalian system," says Felice de Jonge, CEO of
IROA Technologies. "You can use them to diagnose disease so you can see if a disease is metabolically different from a control sample."
IROA Technologies landed a Series A worth more than $1 million last year. Its core team of two people have used that seed capital to finish development of the test kits and plans to market them aggressively throughout this year.
IROA Technologies has also brought on Nicolas Barthelemy as a member of the startup's board of directors. Barthelemy held various executive positions at
Life Technologies for nine years, including serving as President of the $850 million Cell Systems Division and finally Chief Commercial Officer.
"He has a lot of commercial expertise on cell manufacturing and life sciences in general," de Jonge says. "He knows how to grow life sciences companies."
Source: Felice de Jonge, CEO of IROA Technologies
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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