Polygenesis focuses on leading technology to market, bringing together an interdisciplinary team of technologists with particular expertise in developing both optical and electrochemical biosensors, biosensor reader devices, development, testing and manufacturing platforms. As innovators and inventors with a long history in the area, Polygensis provides services to a range of clients from startups to the pharmaceutical giants and partners with some of the best manufacturing resources to provide clients with scalable solutions.
Henry J. Wieck, PhD, established Polygenesis in 1996 to pave the way for healthcare, communications, and automotive companies to innovate, develop, and implement new technologies and processes. Today, Polygenesis works mostly with pharmaceutical, healthcare, and diagnostic companies to develop custom biosensor products. Within that process, however, are many related services, including technology strategy & search, pharmaceutical processes and systems, opportunity identification and acquisition support, due diligence and technical assessment, product/process feasibility and development, manufacturing partner identification, qualification, and management of the commercialization process
“At Polygenesis we are frequently called upon to help our clients understand, manage, or develop technology,” says Henry. “They count on our experience and creativity. Together with our network of proven suppliers we can take them where they need to go faster and less expensively than going it on their own.”
Polygenesis gives its clients access to expertise, infrastructure, and processes without burdening them with building out an in house department to perform the same function. It has the capability to literally realize its clients’ concepts, quickly producing prototypes so that clients can start to find investors, for example. In the case of larger companies, Polygenesis’ agility enables them to get to market with a new or groundbreaking product.
Recent and specific technology that Polygenesis has helped bring to market includes low-cost, custom meters, biosensor test stations, and disposable LF and EC readers. Its reputation for expert consulting also drew a major company that wanted to develop an electronic pregnancy test. Polygenesis developed proof-of-principle devices for the company, enabling them to succeed in a highly competitive market—not to mention helping women everywhere gain total clarity when it comes to a pregnancy-test result.
Another recent project involved helping a client add an electrochemical glucose test to its array of optically based tests. Polygenesis helped them identify a manufacturing partner and developed an electrochemical interface for their instrument. Polygenesis also assisted in designing the manufacturing processes, as well as securing the 510k regulatory process for the system.
Polygenesis’ solutions can be customized, semicustomized, or fully reliant on Polygenesis’ own core technologies and platforms. At the heart of Polygenesis’ low-cost reader technologies, for example, is the polyASIC™, a family of custom integrated circuits that provides all the electronics needed to run an electronic, disposable, lateral flow test. It works with clients’ existing chemistry.
In addition to serving major corporations, Polygensis is agile enough to also step in as an R&D branch for its clients that are startups and small businesses, and once financial backing is secured, Polygenesis can begin its “productioneering” process, a combination of manufacturing and retooling as necessary.
“Most investors need to see something tangible,” says Henry, “but many small to medium-size corporations simply do not have the financial resources (or time) to bring such a comprehensive resource in house. We can take anything—even from a drawing on a napkin or a crude model in a garage—and analyze it for potential.”
With its 25 years of experience, Polygenesis is the go-to for any company’s biosensor needs.
Francis T. Delahanty is a principal in the company and serves as the Director of Technology. After obtaining a graduate degree in physics, Fran has been involved in the commercialization of new technologies for almost 30 years. Ranging across diverse industries such as healthcare, security, communications, and automotive, Fran has exploited a wide range of technologies including sensors, wireless communications, biometrics, specialty materials, optoelectronics, and bioassays. Focusing on the front end of the development process, Fran has assisted clients realize new, market-leading products, as well as develop and mature their own internal technologies and processes.
In addition to his product and technology development activities, Fran has also played a role and led teams in due diligence, technology search and evaluation, strategy, and resource evaluation and planning. Fran also serves as an active Adjunct Faculty member in the School of Engineering at The College of New Jersey, teaching courses in electric circuits and control systems design.
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