Biomedical start-up company opens Floyd office

By Doug Thompson

A biomedical start-up company founded by a Virginia Tech faculty member and his partner is opening a Floyd office at the Jacksonville Center with hopes of eventually establishing a research & development lab and a manufacturing facility at the county's commerce park on Christiansburg Pike.
BC Genesis, LLC began moving into office space at The Jacksonville Center Thursday. The three-year-old start-up was established three years ago by Virginia Tech faculty member Dr. Paul Gatenholm and Erik Gatenholm to develop "biomedical devices and surgical materials" for the medical industry.
The start-up has obtained $600,000 in funding commitments from the National Science Foundation and $700,000 in Virginia Tobacco Indemnification Commission Research & Development Funds. Floyd is the only county in the New River Valley that is eligible for the tobacco grants.
Economic Development Authority chairman Jack Russell and county Economic Development Director Lydeana Martin stressed that the company is still in a "start-up" phase and must clear a number of regulatory hurdles, including approval of their proposed products by the Federal Drug Administration, before proceeding to research & development.
"Though this is a start-up economy, we believe that clean, innovation jobs like these are important to diversify the economy of Floyd County and expand job opportunities," Russell said. "Our quality of life, technology base and location within the Tobacco Indemnification Commission footprint are very attractive to small, innovative entrepreneurs."
The use of tobacco commission funds means the R&D lab and production facility would be located in Floyd County if the company can clear the regulatory hurdles. Russell said the lab and production facility could conceivably become the core of an expanding technology campus at the commerce park.
"We're hopeful," he said in an interview with The Floyd Press on Tuesday. "We know that many things have to come together to make all this possible but we have a start here."
Martin said she and the EDA began talking with BC Genesis two years ago.
The office in the Jacksonville Center will initially employ three people, including the company's current chief executive. Advertising for open job positions should appear shortly, Russell said.
Martin and Russell said the company is developing a collagen-like material that is not rejected by the body, which would make the material useful for surgical sutures and other medical purposes.
BC Genesis currently has an office in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center.