Area biotech facility lands key international client
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
August 10, 2011
By Georgina Gustin
Creve Coeur - The biotech incubator BRDG Park has landed an exotic new tenant -- one that promises 80 new jobs and helps solidify the region's international reputation.
On Tuesday, BRDG Park President Sam Fiorello and Gov. Jay Nixon announced that SyMyco, a plant science company and subsidiary of New Delhi, India-based Symbiotic Sciences will base its American operations in BRDG Park's labs, which are part of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. SyMyco's research focuses on increasing crops yields, nutrient uptake and carbon recapture through certain fungi.
"This is an enterprise that could've gone anywhere in the world," Fiorello said, explaining that SyMyco was also being courted by a research park at Virginia Tech.
The company ultimately chose BRDG and the St. Louis area, however, in part because of a $250,000 low-interest loan from the Missouri Technology Corp. to build a specialized growth chamber, as well as an in-house, customized job training program that will help educate future employees.
SyMyco will launch with 10 employees, ultimately adding 70 more within five years. When its employment tally reaches the promised 80, Missouri Technology Corp. will forgive the loan.
Fiorello said the family-run company also made a connection with people here, helping ease the choice.
"It's the X factor," he said. "It's about the relationships. We went out to dinner a thousand times."
SyMyco will occupy 1,800-square feet of lab space on the top floor of BRDG Park, which has been under construction for months.
Company executives first met BRDG Park and Danforth executives and researchers in 2009 at the inaugural Ag Innovation Showcase, a now-annual event that allows agricultural and biotech scientists to present their research. The event has become the premier networking event for agriculturally focused biotechnology and research.
SyMyco is a joint venture partner with Oregon-based Mycorrhizal Applications.
