Hub tenant injects a dose of innovation to biotech industry

The Sylvean Lab biotech-entrepreneurs (clockwise from the top) are Anton Jordaan, Robert Walters and Donrich Jordaan.

Sylvean Biotech, a young and dynamic South African biotechnology company, has launched Sylvean Labs, a Lab Consumables and Custom Synthesis Services division. The company, which manages both innovative R&D projects and the commercialisation of biotech intellectual property and related business opportunities, is a tenant in the Maxum Business Incubator at The Innovation Hub.

Sylvean Labs provides the South African research community with high quality, affordable products and services. According to Sylvean Labs' Division Manager, Robert Walters, these are selected globally from superior supplier networks. Products include a comprehensive range of PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) and electrophoresis products, extraction kits and other laboratory consumables. The Custom Synthesis Services section offers researchers premium quality oligo, siRNA, gene and peptide synthesis services, including free purification of DNA oligos.

Sylvean also offers an integrated online ordering system, which features a catalogue with product descriptions and up-to-date prices. "Unlike many competitors, our system allows a client to generate quotes and order products at any time of the day without having to make appointments with sales reps. Researchers simply enter their requirements, download quotes and submit it to funders for consideration, or include the cost into their research budgets, commitment free", says Walters.

Sylvean Biotech has positioned itself at the cutting edge of conceptualising and exploiting the opportunities offered by modern biotechnology. The company's other two divisions - Sylvean R&D and Sylvean BioBiz - are developing a number of novel project ideas, with Sylvean R&D already negotiating funding for projects in animal and plant transgenics.

Through the BioBiz division, the company has been awarded an exclusive license by the University of Pretoria to commercialise a pioneering patent for the production of Ting - a non-alcoholic fermented porridge traditional to the Tswana and Northern Sotho speaking populations of the country and to the Limpopo province. While traditional brewing methods result in different tasting brews, researchers at the University have managed to isolate a starter culture that consistently provides the best tasting Ting. Sylvean Biotech is currently in the process of exploring the feasibility of commercialising this patent.

For this dynamic company, the focus for the future is unmistakably global. The successful combination of a highly qualified, motivated management team and a passion for biotechnology is guaranteed to produce a stream of innovative and ambitious undertakings geared to put the South African biotech industry on the global map.

For more information on Sylvean Biotech, email info@sylvean.com, or call them on
+27 12 844 0264.

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