University of Colorado names OPXBio 'Company of the Year'

Boulder, Colo.-based OPX Biotechnologies Inc. (OPXBio) has been named Company of the Year in biosciences by the University of Colorado’s Transfer Office. The award, presented to OPXBio during a ceremony in Denver on Jan. 17, honors companies that were founded on technologies licensed from the university.

OPXBio’s proprietary conversion platform, trademarked EDGE (Efficiency Directed Genome Engineering), incorporates a novel genome optimization technology that was invented at CU-Boulder by Michael Lynch, then a graduate student working with associate professor Ryan Gill. Lynch and Gill founded OPXBio, where Lynch now serves as chief scientific officer, in 2007. The company has since grown to employ 60 scientists and engineers, many of whom received their technical education at CU.

“We’re truly honored to receive this award from the University of Colorado because the school has played such an important role in OPXBio’s success,” said Charles Eggert, CEO. “At OPXBio, we are all about good chemistry, and this applies to our technology as well as our team and our partnership with the University of Colorado.”

OPXBio, which was also named the “Breakout Cleantech Company” in 2011 by the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association in November, employs its unique EDGE technology to produce a suite of biochemicals and fuels. The company is currently working with strategic partner Dow Chemical to commercialize its first target product, biobased acrylic acid, for use in consumer products such as diapers, detergents, paints and adhesives.

“OPXBio is a great CU success story because its core technology is truly unique in the biotech industry, and has the potential to change the way biochemicals are produced and used in the real world,” said David Allen, associate vice president for technology transfer at CU. “When an emerging company creates a partnership with one of the largest chemical companies in the world, it speaks volumes about this technology’s potential.”