Greenville-area business boosters have been invited to an open house last Wednesday to welcome and ogle a new private specialty DNA forensics lab.
The lab will use advanced DNA analysis methods that can sift through complex samples and give forensic human identification to police, military and other clients.
The Center for Advanced Forensic DNA Analysis (CAFDA) was established by Genome ID Group, LLC, with the help of a $50,000 business development award from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.
The funding from NCBiotech includes “clawback” contingencies requiring CAFDA to meet a series of goals and milestones, especially in the company’s proposal to expand its current staff of 10 to eventually employ 130.
The lab will grow within its 11,000-square-foot building by using “the best tools available to serve those who fight crime and terror,” said Michael Heffernan, Genome ID CEO.
Mark Phillips, executive director of the NCBiotech Eastern Office , worked with company officials, partner organizations and with NCBiotech colleagues to help bring CAFDA to Greenville.
“This part of the state has a critical mass of bioscience companies,” said Phillips. “The location of Genome ID Group reinforces that we have the infrastructure and the labor force to sustain continued growth in the life sciences.”
Other partners involved in the project include the North Carolina Department of Commerce Rural Economic Development Division, Pitt County, the Pitt County Committee of 100 and the City of Greenville.
(C) N.C. Biotechnology Center
