KALAMAZOO – The Michigan High Throughput Screening Center (MHTSC) remains on track to open in late June. Construction is moving along rapidly in the new five thousand square foot laboratory at the Michigan Technical Education Center (M-TEC) in the Groves. The lab will contain state-of-the-art robotic equipment for various assays that will aid biotechnology companies and university researchers.
The MHTSC will be a non-profit, contract research lab, providing services in assay development and miniaturization to enable screening of the MHTSC chemical compound library. Robotic equipment and the chemical library have been ordered and everything is expected to be in place when the construction is completed.
?We?re excited about getting into the lab,? said Rob Kilkuskie, Senior Director of the MHTSC. ?The MHTSC will become a central point in drug discovery. It is aimed at early stage companies that must optimize their compounds with further testing before it goes to clinical trials. What we will do is help young drug discovery companies shorten the time line in identifying the right compound, which saves lots of money.?
Kilkuskie used to manage the same type of lab in Kalamazoo for the former Pharmacia, which was purchased by Pfizer. That lab was closed. Kilkuskie is joined in the new MHTSC by other Pharmacia lab veterans, now owned by Kalamazoo Valley Community College.
The MHTSC will be the only lab or its kind in Western Michigan. A similar facility is operated in Southeast Michigan by the University of Michigan.
