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For immediate Release
October 14, 2003
Incubator company gets award for top-notch business plan
(From left) David Lohr, executive director of the Virginia
Biosciences Development Center, Mike Grisham, president &
CEO of Living MicroSystems, Inc., and Samuel B. Sterrett,
Jr. Esq., partner with Foley & Lardner
TYSON’S CORNER, Va. – David Lohr, executive director
of the Virginia Biosciences Development Center, announced
today that client company, Living Microsystems, Inc., received
the “best business plan” award at this year’s
Bioscience Investor’s Conference, held in conjunction
with the 2003 Virginia Biotechnology Summit.
“It’s very exciting and extremely encouraging
to be recognized for your business plan by a group of local
venture capitalists,” said Mike Grisham, president and
CEO of Living MicroSystems. “Recently announced acquisitions
and pre-IPO registration activity on Wall Street make this
an excellent time for early-stage biotech companies to pitch
their business plans to the venture capital community. The
annual Biosciences Investor’s Conference represented
a great venue for that to happen.”
Six companies from Virginia and Maryland presented their business
plans to a panel of bioscience-focused venture capitalists
and strategic investors. The conference was targeted at regional
seed and early-stage life science companies seeking to raise
$500,000 to $5 million in equity capital. The “all-star”
investor panel critiqued each presentation and provided valuable
feedback and suggestions for both the presenting companies
and conference attendees.
“The technology that Living MicroSystems has developed
represents a great advancement in prenatal testing,”
said Lohr, who moderated the Bioscience Investor’s Conference.
“This award and the company’s recent announcement
of successfully closing its seed round capital requirements
highlight the value of the Living MicroSystems’ team
and technology.”
Living MicroSystems is developing non-invasive, prenatal screening
and diagnostic tests to provide pregnant women, their physicians
and their genetic counselors with accurate and comprehensive
information in the first trimester of pregnancy. The company
hopes its products one day will replace blood tests and significantly
reduce the need for amniocentesis, in which a small amount
of fluid is drawn from the uterus and then examined to detect
genetic abnormalities in the fetus.
The VBDC provides business assistance to start-up companies
located in the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park’s
incubator facility. The VBDC professional staff provides the
Park’s entrepreneurs one-on-one business counseling,
access to resource networks and pro bono professional services,
assistance with business plan preparation, intellectual property
consulting, conduits to start-up funding and staff recruitment.
In addition, a key service provided by VBDC is assistance
in forming business advisory boards to mentor entrepreneurs
and advise start-up companies. In less than three years, the
VBDC has emerged as a major contributor to the growth of early-stage
life science technology businesses in the Richmond area. VBDC
staff have counseled more than 23 start-ups and helped to
birth eight of them.
Contact:
Nicky Colomb
Virginia BioTechnology Research Park
Phone: (804) 828-6884
E-mail: ncolomb@vabiotech.com
Web site: http://www.vabiotech.com
Mike Grisham, chairman
Living MicroSystems, Inc.
Phone: (804) 225-8807
Fax: (804) 819-1607
E-mail: mgrisham@livingmicrosystems.com
Web site: www.livingmicrosystems.com
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