Extremo Genes
Extremozyme, Inc. was founded in 2006 by a group of scientists who believe in making significant contributions in genomics applications.
The company provides high throughput gene-to-structure services targeting proteins important in cellular functions and associated with human diseases.
Using extremophilic enzymes found in nature, Extremozyme synthesizes genes for recombinant protein expression, crystallization and crystallogrphic structure determination.
Extremozyme, Inc. is located in HudsonAlpha Institute in Huntsville, Alabama, U.S.A.
PRESS RELEASE
Out of this world-Wiley Middle School students' experiment to be taken into space, May 27, 2008.
By Charles Wood, Hill Country News.
What's the best way to grow crystals in space? It's more than just an interesting question for science buffs. The answer could have major implications for medical research. When the answer comes, a group of Wiley Middle School students will be proud to know they played an important role.
Wiley Middle School eighth-graders Ty Simons, Jon Weldon, Jessica Stauber, Tyler McGarey and Jordan Sandoval developed a crystal growth experiment based on a design by Dr. Joe Ng of the University of Alabama at Huntsville (UAH). The experiment will be taken to the International Space Station (ISS) in October, via a Russian Soyuz rocket to be launched from Kazakhstan.
Video game designer Richard Garriott, son of Skylab-era astronaut Owen Garriott, paid $30 million for a trip to the ISS. He has agreed to take the crystal-growth experiment into space with him.
In addition to having their experiment chosen for a trip into space, the WMS students got to make a trip to Alabama April 13 through April 15, where they visited the University of Alabama at Huntsville and toured the Marshall Space Center in Huntsville. The students also toured Hudson Alpha Biotech and received lectures from Dr. Larry DeLucas and Owen Garriott.
"I really like science," said Stauber. "I especially liked touring Hudson Alpha. I want to be a doctor."
"I thought it was a great experience, knowing that we're going to be part of something so great, something that will be helping people out," said McGarey.
The students got to participate in the science project thanks to the Texas Space Grant Consortium, which contacted WMS science teacher Chris Costello. "I've had an ongoing relationship with the Texas Space Grant Consortium," she said. "We got this challenge on very short notice. They asked if I had any students who would be interested. We had two weeks to prepare, get funding and go."
The TSGC grant program is a way of continuing the student-based experiments that were performed on space shuttle missions before the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003.
Extremozyme Inc. helps the local school to bring experiments to space, February 28, 2008.
Extremozyme Inc. will help the Alabama high school science project by bringing them to the space.
"I wanted to get high school kids involved" and Garriott supported the idea, said Dr. Joe Ng, who led a workshop in Birmingham Wednesday for the students.
The students - six from Huffman, 14 from Indian Springs - helped prepare the experiments during a workshop at the Center for Biophysical Sciences and Engineering at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
The experiments on protein crystallization are among hundreds of samples Garriott is taking into space. Others will be prepared by Alabama high school students during similar workshops in Huntsville, Ng said.
The full article can be found in The Birmingham News.
The news article can also be downloaded here.
Space Adventures, September 28, 2007
Vienna, Va. - September 28, 2007 - Space Adventures, Ltd., the world's leading space experiences company, announced today that famed game developer Richard Garriott, son of former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, has begun preparations for a "commercially active" mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
Mr. Garriott's spaceflight, currently planned for October 2008, will be the first in a series of missions that will accommodate commercial activity aboard the ISS. Involvement from the private sector can include scientific and environmental research and educational outreach programming.
"It has always been Space Adventures' goal to open the space frontier. Now, with Richard's flight, we have designed a series of missions devoted to increase commercial involvement in manned space missions," said Eric Anderson, president and CEO of Space Adventures. "It is a very rare occasion when so many commercial opportunities are available in one space mission. We encourage interested parties to contact us."
Space Adventures made history in 2001 by organizing the mission of the first private space explorer. Now, the company continues to bring innovation to manned spaceflight by enabling corporate and non-profit entities to participate in commercial endeavors on the planet's only orbiting outpost.
"I am dedicating my spaceflight to science," said Mr. Garriott. "It is my goal to devote a significant amount of my time aboard the space station to science, engineering and educational projects. I understand the necessity for conducting research in extreme environments whether it is collecting microorganisms from deep sea hydrothermal vents to carrying out experiments in the continuous micro-gravity of Earth orbit." He continued, "We need to be adventurous in mind and simulate our intellects to answer today's most daunting scientific questions and to invent tomorrow's technological marvels."
The first commercial research partner involved in Mr. Garriott's mission is ExtremoZyme, Inc., a biotechnology company co-founded by Owen Garriott. The company plans to conduct protein crystallization experiments in space with proteins that have important cellular functions and are usually associated with common human diseases. Having access to these superior crystals will enable researchers to learn more about the molecular details of these proteins which is essential for protein engineering and structure-guided drug design.
"Because of my career, it was almost natural for Richard to be interested in space and exploration. I am so pleased that he is able to embrace this himself and that he is dedicating his flight to research. I am very proud of him," said Owen Garriott, Mr. Garriott's father and former NASA astronaut (Skylab II/SL-3, STS-9/Spacelab-1).
Interested parties, including commercial and non-profit entities and space enthusiasts, can get involved in Mr. Garriott's spaceflight via his web site (www.richardinspace.com). Mr. Garriott will be updating the site continuously via photos, blog entries and individuals can submit questions and suggestions for his mission activities. "I want to involve as many people as possible in my mission," said Mr. Garriott.
About Richard Garriott:
Richard Garriott is best known as a key figure in the computer gaming field. He was one of the earliest and most successful game developers. Mr. Garriott developed the Ultima series which remains the longest running computer game franchise, and with his brother, Robert, he founded Origin Systems, one of the most respected PC game developers and publishers. Richard also created Ultima Online, which ushered in the new massively multi-player online (MMO) genre, the fastest growing segment in computer gaming today. More recently, he co-founded the North American arm of NCsoft, the world's largest online game developer and publisher. In October, his latest game, Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa, will ship in North America and in the European Union. For more information, please visit www.rgtr.com.
About Space Adventures:
Space Adventures, the company that organized the flights for the world's first private space explorers: Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Greg Olsen, Anousheh Ansari and Charles Simonyi, is headquartered in Vienna, Va. with an office in Moscow. It offers a variety of programs such as the availability today for spaceflight missions to the International Space Station and around the moon, Zero-Gravity flights, cosmonaut training, spaceflight qualification programs and reservations on future suborbital spacecrafts. The company's advisory board includes Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, Shuttle astronauts Sam Durrance, Tom Jones, Byron Lichtenberg, Norm Thagard, Kathy Thornton, Pierre Thuot, Charles Walker, Skylab/Shuttle astronaut Owen Garriott and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Usachev. For more information, please visit www.spaceadventures.com.
Contact us
Extremozyme, Inc
301 John Wright Dr.
Huntsville, AL 35899 USA
Email: support@extremozyme.com
Phone: 256-652-0780