SIOUX FALLS, SD--(Marketwired - Sep 9, 2015) - MitoGenetics, a biomedical technology firm with strong South Dakota roots, is partnering with BioSNTR (pronounced bio-"center") to help bridge the gap that currently exists between the worlds of academia and scientific research. BioSNTR is a statewide collaborative research endeavor with participants from the South Dakota Board of Regents institutions and private colleges. Joining this effort, the research staff at MitoGenetics will be conducting a seminar on Thursday, September 10, from 4-5PM at the USD Discovery District. The seminar will be broadcast to students and faculty across the state.

BioSNTR's mission is to create infrastructure needed to catalyze innovation and discovery in bioscience and biotechnology, focusing on three major areas:

• Imaging - State of the art fluorescence imaging of organized biochemical activities at the molecular, cellular and tissue levels
• Computational (Bioinformatics) - Analyses to distill large-scale regulation data to specific pathways, leading to prediction of molecular manipulations to alter cell and tissue function
• Cell/Tissue Manipulation - Bio-engineering, through genomic editing and cell manipulation, that applies and tests the imaging and computational concepts

The MitoGenetics research team will focus on the area of bioinformatics and how it applies to the seminar. Featured team members include: Dr. George B. Stefano, Vice-President for Research, who will talk about Endogenous Morphine, Richard Kream, Assistant Vice-President for Research, talking diabetes type II and Adipocyte Function, and Kirk Mantione, Head of Molecular Biology, talking Genomics, Transciptomics and Personalized Medicine. Also, Federico Casares, Head of Bioinformatics at MitoGenetics, will be conducting private sessions with members of the student body to discuss the research in further depth. 

"I am thrilled to have the opportunity to collaborate with South Dakota State University to help foster an innovative culture of biotechnology and bioscience and help bring together the research industry and academia," said Marcia Hendrickson, President and Chief Executive Officer, MitoGenetics. "Our goal with the seminar is to inform academia of the progress we've made with our research and where we are going with it. We want to help as many people as we can with a number of degenerative diseases through our research and it would be an added bonus if South Dakota became a hub for scientific research."

The BioSNTR is investing in 11 tenure track faculty hires, as well as additional technical staff, to bring added expertise to South Dakota. Investments are also being made in state-of-the-art equipment and the necessary tools required for cutting-edge research endeavors. The distributed research center is state and federally funded and was established with the assistance National Science Foundation/EPSCoR Award No. IIA-1355423 and the South Dakota Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED).

For more information, visit http://mitogenetics.com/

About MitoGenetics
MitoGenetics was formed December 17, 2010 by Dr. William P. Switzer, DVM, PhD, Dr. h.c.. The Organization is operated by the Val-Add Corporation, a management corporation that in the last several years has assisted in the development of more than 20 ethanol plants in eight states, as well as working with projects as diverse as biodiesel production, soybean crushing, egg-laying, beef processing, fish farming, and dairy production. The company is under the guidance of Marcia Hendrickson, who serves as the CEO. Prior to MitoGenetics Hendrickson was the founding Executive Director of the Enterprise Institute which served as a virtual incubator for commercialization of research and growth oriented startup businesses. Many companies have been launched with her assistance including Didget a firm later acquired purchased by Bayer Diabetes Care is one such company.