Fast-Growing CCIT Graduate GENEWIZ Thrives in the Garden State
Co-Founder Honored with New Jersey Immigrant Entrepreneur Award
GENEWIZ Co-Founder Dr. Steve Sun honored with the George Perrott Macculloch Award for Leadership at the Third Annual New Jersey Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards (NJIEA) on October 13. Pictured from left: EDA’s Technology and Life Sciences Director Kathleen Coviello, Steven Sun, CCIT Program Manager Anne-Marie Maman. (Photo provided by GENEWIZ)
TRENTON (October 14, 2015) – Over the last 16 years, GENEWIZ co-founders Steve Sun, PhD, and Amy Liao, PhD, have grown the company from a two-person biotechnology startup business at the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s (EDA) Commercialization Center for Innovative Technologies (CCIT) in North Brunswick to an internationally-recognized operation. Now headquartered in South Plainfield, GENEWIZ employs more than 700 people across 12 facilities at major biotech hubs around the world.
GENEWIZ, a global leader in research and development (R&D) genomics services, was recently named to the Inc. 5,000 List of Fastest-Growing Private U.S. Companies for the second year in a row. The company has also made NJBIZ’s “50 Fastest Growing Companies” for four straight years.
Last year, GENEWIZ, a graduate of CCIT, opened its new 11,000-square-foot headquarters in South Plainfield, where it continues to develop novel and unique technologies to advance the life sciences. These proprietary technologies, like GENEWIZ’s FuzeSeqTM Antibody Sequencing, which was launched in March of this year, are helping aid research scientists in their pursuit of scientific discoveries, better healthcare, a greener environment, and abundant food supplies.
“The four years we spent at CCIT enabled us to take advantage of numerous services offered by the life sciences incubator, including affordable lab and office space, and access to business development resources,” Dr. Sun, GENEWIZ’s Chairman and CEO, said. “CCIT gave us the business tools we needed to put GENEWIZ on a solid foundation, enabling us to grow into a worldwide enterprise serving blue-chip pharmaceutical corporations, emerging biotechnology companies, and top-tier research institutions.”
Also in 2014, GENEWIZ launched Admera Health, an advanced molecular diagnostics company focused on personalized medicine and non-invasive cancer testing. Now an independent company, Admera Health continues to benefit from GENEWIZ’s resources as a leading global genomics service company, while sharing its former parent-company’s commitment to improving patients’ quality of life.
Dr. Sun received the George Perrott Macculloch Award for Leadership at the Third Annual New Jersey Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards (NJIEA) on October 13. The NJIEA honors current first-generation immigrant business leaders helping local New Jersey communities thrive, and the George Perrott Macculloch Award specifically recognizes a visionary entrepreneur who inspires by his or her commitment, strong ethical values, and integrity. The award is given to a mentor who empowers others in his or her industry and community to achieve success, and who demonstrates a strong ability to create win-win relationships.
While GENEWIZ no longer resides at CCIT due to its vast increase in size, Dr. Sun remains committed to fostering the ecosystem of New Jersey’s emerging technology companies. This is evidenced by his continued presence on the CCIT Advisory Board and on the Innovation Sounding Board of Rutgers University’s Center for Innovative Ventures of Emerging Technologies (CIVET). CIVET’s mission is to encourage dialogue between academic researchers, their industrial counterparts, and entrepreneurs, regarding technology commercialization.
@NJEDATech asked Dr. Sun about GENEWIZ’s experience in New Jersey and the company’s plans for the future:
Why did you decide to grow your company in New Jersey?
New Jersey is home to many of the top pharmaceutical and biotech companies in the world. Our service model has always been to exceed our customers’ expectations by providing high-quality results as soon as the same day — even on the most difficult projects. As such, location, and access to top-notch talent, has been crititcal to our growth strategy.
What’s your biggest success to date?
We haven’t had just one “big success to date.” Our success is due to the cumulative efforts of the entire GENEWIZ team to provide our customers value, each and every day, by making their research more productive and cost efficient. Our commitment to personalized, industry-leading service, for customers large and small, has made GENEWIZ the top choice in genomics R&D services.
What’s in the near future for GENEWIZ?
The global genomics service market is expected to continue to grow both in the United States and around the world. By introducing new technologies, and continuing to provide premiere technology support to our customers, we expect to continue to capitalize on the growth of the market. Also, with the recent addition of our offices in the United Kingdom and Japan, we will continue to expand our international footprint.
For more information about the resources that CCIT offers, visit https://www.njeda.gov/ccit and follow @NJEDATech on Twitter and LinkedIn.
