Jeffrey Mosher talks with Mary Shuck, President of one of Smartzone Best Small Business for 2018, Proteos of Kalamazoo, MI

Proteos, Inc., Kalamazoo

Proteos is a contract research organization specalizing in the production of recombinant proteins and antibodies for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and life science communities.  Proteos provides high-quality services to researchers across the globe that are focused on early discovery and proof-of-concept research in numerous disease areas.

Proteos specializes in highly-customized contract research projects, often working out project details for weeks or months in advance of project initiation.  Many customers seek out the expertise of Proteos’ scientists to design customized workflows that meet their individual needs. 

In late 2017, Proteos expanded is website to include an online ordering portal for purchasing assay services, recombinant protein products, and protein production packages with the click of a mouse.  Since the launch of the online ordering portal, Proteos has taken orders and delivered proteins to customers worldwide.

Founded in 2003 by Clark W. Smith, PhD. and Robert L. Heinrickson, PhD., Proteos is located within the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed) Innovation Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  Proteos was one of the first tenants of the Innovation Center and is currently an anchor tenant occupying 8,000 sq. ft. of laboratory space and additional office space.

Part of the original vision for Proteos was to provide long-time Upjohn/Pharmacial/Pfizer scientists with local jobs following the elimination of Pfizer human health research departments in Kalamazoo.  In that regard, six former employees were able to complete their scientific careers in Kalamazoo and retire from Proteos.  Since its founding in 2003, Proteos has undergone multiple transition phases, surviving the economic downturn in 2008, and has recently enjoyed multiple years of steady growth.  Proteos has continued to retain scientific talent in Kalamazoo with current scientists averaging over 8 years of service and plans to hire two additional full-time scientists by the end of April.

In January of 2018, Proteos announced that the company would begin restructuring and transitioning to a majority employee-owned company.  This transition allows long-time employees the opportunity to move into executive leadership roles in the organization.  Moving forward, Proteos remains steadfast in its commitment to exemplary customer and employee satisfaction in the biotechnology industry.

Mary Shuck, President
Founded in 2003, current leadership since January 2018
Primary business:  contract research services
Sites in Michigan:  1
Full-time equivalent employees in 2017:  11

https://www.proteos.com/

To listen to the full interview please click on the embedded SoundCloud PodCast below!