Page 71 - Innovation Delaware 2021

DeNovix: Creating a Sustainable Solution for Cell Samples
One day, DeNovix received a question from a customer who happened to be using a competitor’s product. That question turned out to be the catalyst for a profitable new product line.
The customer was using an automatic cell counter in his laboratory, but was upset about having to use a new plastic slide every time he wanted to get a cell count and density reading for a sample. Not only was it costly; it also wasn’t environmentally friendly.
FRED KIELHORN, CEO of the Wilmington-based company, which supplies equipment to research labs around the world, knew exactly what to do.
“We wanted to find out how to make the process work without creating a plastic waste stream,” Kielhorn says.
The result was the CellDrop Automated Cell Counter, which was introduced in mid-2019 and allows researchers to count large numbers of cells without disposable slides. Instead of requiring scientists to put the sample on something they will later have to throw out and that will contribute to the nation’s growing buildup of plastic waste, the CellDrop counter has
two permanent slides, each made of sapphire, one of which is attached to a movable, swinging arm. They fit over the sample “like a sandwich,” according to Kielhorn, and produce no waste.
Within seconds, the cells calm themselves enough for the device to count them accurately, as well as differentiate the cells from any other debris that might be present. The whole process takes fewer than 15 seconds and can help scientists manage large numbers of cells that they grow in their labs in order to perform experiments and research.
“The reaction [from customers] has been fantastic,” Kielhorn says. “Everybody recognizes that the elimination of the plastic
FRED KIELHORN
waste stream saves money and makes companies more green. It’s a double whammy.”
In 1988, Kielhorn used his chemical engineering background to land a position at DuPont, where he stayed for 14 years. In 2000, he and three partners started NanoDropTechnologies,atech side project that two years later
became his primary concern. He sold it in 2007 and began investing in startup firms. While that provided some satisfaction, it wasn’t enough. So, in 2012, he launched DeNovix, whose CellDrop counter was named the 2019 Best New Life Science Product of the Year at the Scientists Choice Awards.
DeNovix customers include universities, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and government labs. The company has a staff of 30, plus approximately 40 manufacturers’ reps
in the U.S. and 30 people selling worldwide. DeNovix also makes spectrometers and fluorometers, which can measure the fluorescence of spectrums of light. And there is more to come.
“We’re always working on new things,” Kielhorn says. “We have at least four new products in the pipeline now. One is an offshoot of the CellDrop counter that we are bringing out this year.”
Even though Kielhorn refers to 2020 as a “zombie year,” the CellDrop counter still did well. “We sold hundreds,” he says. The patented technology should be even more popular this year, as laboratories become more active and demand for the equipment increases, he says: “We expect to sell twice that
many this year.”
—Michael Bradley
INNOVATION DELAWARE 69