Maynard Firm Keeps To Its Primary Mission
Alfred Chi has a big vision for his small company, CHI Scientific of Maynard.
In September, he plans to debut a new service: the first live, primary cultured cell delivery service in the Greater Boston area.
He’s optimistic it will help researchers save time, improve the quality of their work and grow his company at the same time.
“Cell lines only have partial composition of the total human genome,” Chi said. “They represent 30 to 50 percent of the human genome. Primary cells have 99.9 percent if not 100 percent of the human genome.”
Pure Results
If researchers buy primary cells, which come from human tissue or organs, they can be sure they have more of the human genome in their cells, and they don’t have to spend time growing cells, which can take up to 14 weeks, Chi said.
Researchers get different results because of the variations in how much of the parent cell’s genome is transferred, Chi said. When a promising new drug appears, sometimes previously unknown side effects surface.
“If a drug is developed, which was tested on a cell line that was based on only 30 to 40 percent of the parent cell’s genome, then there can be problems,” Chi said.
The company worked its way up to the service. It began offering primary cell kits that help researchers standardize their cell cultivation processes, and they now offer 135 different cell kits.
University researchers use the kits, which go for between $550 and $650, because they often have a labor force of student researchers that can cultivate the cells themselves.
But pharmaceutical and other biotechnology companies would be interested in the new service from CHI Scientific because it would save them time, Chi said. Small- and medium-sized businesses often don’t have the manpower to grow the cells themselves, and large companies are always under pressure to cut costs and create efficiency, he said.
And the new service would bring additional revenue into CHI Scientific, since each plate of primary cells would sell for the same price as the kits.
But Chi isn’t content to provide companies with fresh, live cells; he wants to improve research results in the lab.
To that end CHI Scientific will start researching how to help cells grow continuously while making sure they have at least 99 percent, if not more, of its parent’s cell genome, he said. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the company is that CHI has chosen to develop product after product rather than finding venture capital money or some other investors.
CHI Scientific is a relative newcomer having been created in 2004 and it’s been a hard row to hoe, although Chi loves the work. He has a doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biology so he conducts much of the research at the firm, along with Maria Karasarides, the company’s chief scientific officer.
Chi’s advisors told him early on to seek out venture capitalists for a deal, but none were interested in the company at that point. So, he concentrated on developing the science and his products instead.
CHI Scientific offers a number of reagents and peptides used in research, as well as the primary cell kits. The kits alone are now bringing in $500,000 a year, which helps keep the company going, Chi said.
Chi has invested his own money in starting the company up, as well as in the recent expansion of his company into a lab at 63 Great Rd., with new equipment and renovations to the space.
But now, with the fresh cell delivery service in the offing, and the research he’s starting this fall, he would like to find investors. So it will be interesting to see if somehow he finds the right venture capitalist, or plows ahead with new products and keeps growing the company.
Got news for our Biotech Buzz column? Contact WBJ Staff Writer Eileen Kennedyat ekennedy@wbjournal.com.
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