Akina establishes PolySciTech division to promote, sell polymers and other research products

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers in industrial and academic settings who find it difficult to obtain polymers from commercial sources or generate them in house could benefit from PolySciTech, established as a division of Akina Inc.

John Garner, manager, said PolySciTech is dedicated to providing hard-to-find research products, including polymers that are difficult to synthesize in large scale.

"Polymers we provide, notably PEG block copolymers, are quite difficult to synthesize in a laboratory without the right equipment and techniques. For this and other reasons, they are difficult to generate in-house or obtain from commercial sources," he said.

Garner said PolySciTech's biodegradable and biocompatible polymers primarily are used in medical applications, including controlled-release and drug-delivery systems, targeted nanoparticles that attach to cancer cells and deliver chemotherapeutic agents, and tissue scaffolding that allows cells to grow and differentiate so tissue defects can be rebuilt or replaced.

"The majority of researchers who have used PolySciTech products and written articles in peer-reviewed journals have been focused on micelle/nanoparticle-based cancer treatment technologies and localized drug delivery based on thermogels, or polymers that solidify upon warming to body temperature," he said. "Researchers need these polymer components as they work on developing these systems in their laboratories, and PolySciTech provides these materials as a commercial source."

Garner said PolySciTech differs from similar companies in several ways, including order size, certificates of analysis and customer requests.

"We do not require a minimum order size for purchases of in-stock products, which means researchers can quickly and easily screen through many types of polymers without purchasing more than what they need. We provide data and spectra charts from FTIR, GPC and NMR analyses on our certificates of analysis," he said. "Early on it was clear that the best product ideas in this area are going to come from our customers, which is why we incorporate customer-request items. We provide a new polymer to our customer at list price, and, with their permission, add the remainder of the batch to the catalog. This means customers can try new polymers in an economically efficient manner as the cost of synthesis is defrayed amongst future customers of the same material."

Garner explained how PolySciTech benefits by being a tenant in the Purdue Research Park of West Lafayette.

"Being in Purdue Research Park allows us to do what we can do, and we would not be able to compete in this field as effectively if we didn't have the resources readily available such as access to rent usage of analytical equipment or to utilize the Purdue Store system. Being close to campus also allows us to maintain an internship program for students in the sciences who are interested in learning more," he said. "The Purdue Research Park Foundation is also a wonderful aid to us as they provide support in a wide variety of ways."

About PolySciTech

PolySciTech is a "parts box" for polymer research. We will provide clients with polymers that are hard to make, or commonly needed, that they can just click into place. We have more than 300 ready-made polymers in stock and are always happy to make others.

About Purdue Research Park

The Purdue Research Park is the largest university-affiliated business incubation complex in the country. The Purdue Research Park has four sites in Indiana. They are Purdue Research Park of West Lafayette, Purdue Research Park of Indianapolis, Purdue Research Park of Northwest Indiana and Purdue Research Park of Southeast Indiana. The more than 260 companies located in the park network employ about 4,500 people who earn an average annual wage of $63,000.

Purdue Research Park contact: Steve Martin, 765-588-3342, sgmartin@prf.org