MARSHFIELD, WI (WSAU-WDLB) — A Marshfield bio-tech firm has been awarded a contract from the Defense Department to develop a way of better handling biological specimens gathered in the field, and then preserving them for laboratory processing and analysis.
Microscopy Innovations–which has developed the patented M-Prep system for preparing microscope specimens—has been awarded a 150-thousand dollar grant from the Small Business Technology Transfer program.
Company co-founder, President, and C-E-O Mark Nelson says Microscopy Innovations will do the work for the U-S Army Medical Research and Material Command.
“We’re very excited that the U.S. Army has recognized that we’ve got the capability to do this project and that in the process we’re contributing to the knowledge of how to save lives, prevent disease, and understand the underlying biology here,” said Nelson.
Nelson says the focus of what Microscopy Innovations does is preparing microscope specimens for all kinds of uses, and this is just the latest example.
He said, “They’re gathering specimens for looking at under electron microscopes, in particular. What they wanted was a simple and safe way of gathering these specimens and preserving them faster because if you delay in preserving them, the quality of the microscope imagines goes downhill.”
Nelson and co-founder Dr. Steven Goodman of Madison founded the company in 2007, and had their first product developed in 2010. They currently hold 12 U-S and international patents on their capsule-based products, which offer significant improvements in biological specimen preparation, handling and storage.
