More than 20 years ago, physicist Rob Thorne and his research group were developing a set of new tools to enable cutting-edge research on the structure of biomolecules.
From left, Zakk Dannemann, a microfabricator at MiTeGen, works on a project, while talking with Benjamin Apker, MiTeGen's chief executive officer, and company founder and Cornell physics professor Robert Thorne.
Knowing these tools were sought after by scientists around the world, Thorne created a company, MiTeGen, which just celebrated 20 years in business and its 25th patent.
The company offers technologies and services for scientists using crystallography, cryogenic electron microscopy and other techniques for probing small molecule and biomolecular structure and function.
Along with a standard set of products, MiTeGen also designs customized systems for labs tackling everything from cell biology, histology and clinical diagnostics to entomology, archaeology and art restoration.
"Back in 2003, I knew that my collaborators were searching for a better way for getting very tiny protein crystals into the X-ray machine, so I sketched up a design and had my grad students make it," said Thorne, a professor and Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow in the physics department in the College of Arts & Sciences. "We filed a patent, presented it at a conference and I had a Japanese manufacturer immediately reach out to see if we planned to sell this. I knew then that we had something the community needed."
Read the full story on The College of Arts & Sciences website.
