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Under President Marcia Mellitz, the Center for Emerging Technologies went from a small technology business incubator languishing without a home to a facility with 92,000 square feet of lab and office space used by 12 startup biomedical and technology companies.
Three companies grown in the center - Celox Networks, DNA Polymerase Technology Inc. and Gateway Analytical Inc. - have already expanded and moved out of the incubator. Celox, now based out of Southborough, Mass., with an office in West Port, has raised $155 million in venture funding and has 190 employees. DNA Polymerase, with three staff members, purchased an 8,000-square-foot building at 1508 S. Grand Ave., where it is leasing 500 square feet to Gateway Analytical, which also has three employees.
The center, in the 4000 block of Forest Park Avenue, now has five full-time staff members and is located in two warehouse buildings, both of which underwent gut rehabs. The first building, owned by the city of St. Louis, opened in 1998; the second, which includes space for the expansion of the companies, in 2001. A public/private partnership including Washington University, Saint Louis University, the University of Missouri-St. Louis and their medical schools supports the center. Private donations and public financial support and incentives also fund the center, which works with the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association, local executives,...