February 5, 2001
Arryx, Inc., Newest Player in Chicago's High Tech Arena - Latest University of Chicago/ARCH technology promises a new generation of photonics and biochips
Chicago - February 5, 2001 - Arryx, Inc., developers of commercial
applications for Holographic Optical Trapping (HOT) technology enters
Chicago's burgeoning high tech scene with $2.2 million in initial
funding. Arryx HOT technology will be marketed for use in industrial
processes dependent on material control and assembly in the microscopic
realm, such as microphotonics and biochips.
"Arryx is illustrative of the forward thinking, high technology
companies that will form the backbone of Chicago's technology initiative
for the new millennium," said Katherine Gehl, special assistant
to the Mayor for technology. "We've built the city into an attractive
location for high tech and the results are showing," she adds.
The Arryx technology moves, organizes, cuts, inserts, rotates, analyzes
and sorts objects as small as 1/1000 the diameter of a human hair
and as large as a human cell. New advances in microelectronic devices,
biotechnology, and optical communication equipment increasingly
rely on micromanipulation to continue to move forward.
"Our HOT technology will enable applications that are dependent
on miniaturization across a wide range of products and processes,"
says Lewis Gruber, co-founder and CEO of Arryx, Inc. "These applications
include labs-on-chips for use in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology
and chemical industries. They also include photonics products such
as optical routers and switches, chips and high density storage
for use in the computer and communications field," he adds. Mr.
Gruber was a founder of Hyseq, Inc., a publicly-held biopharmaceutical
company, and served as its president and CEO until May 2000.
Arryx, Inc.'s core technology is based on scientific research performed
in the University of Chicago laboratories of professor David Grier.
He and the University's ARCH Development Corporation are also co-founders
of the company.
"Holographic optical trapping represents an order of magnitude improvement
in the field of miniature matter manipulation, and may actually
be the beginning of a new category" says Dr. Kenneth Bradley, vice
president of Arryx, Inc. "There is a growing industrial trend toward
miniaturizing manufacturing, and HOT, based on laser technology,
represents a new, superior and far more dynamic process than existing
technology," he adds.
"We believe the HOT technology we are developing at Arryx provides
the basis for making faster and more energy efficient computers
as well as biochips that permit a series of clinical laboratory
diagnostic tests to be shrunk to the size of a postage stamp," says
Mr. Gruber.
Arryx' patented HOT technology is a new method of computer-controlled
optical trapping. HOT is the simplest, most dynamic and compact
technique in the optical tweezers category. HOT technology allows
multiple processes to be carried out simultaneously on a large number
of particles and subassemblies at once, under computer direction
with simultaneous evaluation and quality control. HOT technology
can be used as a stand-alone tool or as a component in end-use products.
The company expects to introduce its first product within the next
12 months.
About Arryx, Inc.
Arryx, Inc. develops products and processes in the microscopic realm, focusing
on microphotonics and biochips. Further information is available
at www.arryx.com
About ARCH Development Corporation
ARCH Development Corporation is the technology commercialization and licensing-arm of the University
of Chicago.
