2018 Georgia Small Business ROCK STAR - AKESOgen, Inc.
This year, Georgia honors four outstanding small businesses as its 2018 Georgia Small Business ROCK STARS: AKESOgen, Inc. (Gwinnett County), Gottwals Books (Peach County), SouthLife Supply Co. (Thomas County), and STRAND Clinical Technologies (Columbia County).
AKESO – the Greek goddess of healing and well-being
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Understanding your own DNA is becoming more prevalent in society as we more and more want to know who we are and where we come from. This spans everything from ancestry, to nutrition, fitness, weight management and managing health – all of which can be found in our own individual genetic makeup.
Gwinnett County's AKESOgen Inc. applies new technologies to precision medicine and has one of the largest genomics testing facilities found anywhere in the world. Their methods help to understand outcomes and identify which medicines makes the most sense for a patient. As a result, AKESOgen has been able to increase its portfolio of genetic tests offered and has also entered the direct-to-consumer market and clinical trials arena.
Accredited by the College of American Pathologists, AKESOgen performs DNA and RNA extractions from a wide range of starting materials. They perform biomarker profiling and other genomics services, as well as animal and human genotyping, expression, and methylation profiling for the R&D market. These services are also provided to the academic, pharmaceutical, governmental, agricultural, and biotechnology sectors through clinical trials.
AKESOgen works closely with customers throughout the course of their project and even appoints a customer service point of contact – or concierge – who is there to answer any questions or concerns 24/7. They regularly host site visits by customers so they can see firsthand how a 21st-century laboratory works for their benefit.
AKESOgen's Million Veterans Project is one of the largest of its kind in the world. The company is working tirelessly to analyze the DNA of one million veterans in order to identify health risks and outcomes for the members of our military. This allows them to distinguish which veterans are prone to various diseases and disorders, like PTSD and depression, in order to preempt those symptoms.
They also partner and engage the education system in Georgia.
'We very much enjoy bringing on students from high school and local colleges to come and do internships with us,' says founder Mark Bouzyk.
In addition, they have fully taken advantage of their 14,000 sq-ft. building by creating laboratories that meet the needs of 21st-century precision medicine. 'AKESOgen has built three new state-of-the-art pathology laboratories, that when married with our molecular DNA laboratory capabilities, put us in a unique position to offer molecular genetic testing coupled with world-class pathology capabilities,' says Mark. Combined, this makes AKESOgen highly attractive to large pharmaceutical companies who find this model highly suitable to them as a next-generation service provider.
'The state economic team has been really, really supportive of us, showing us how we can start going global and exporting,' Mark says.
AKESOgen has taken advantage of numerous sources of assistance, in the form of both financing and technical assistance. They have won grants from the Georgia Research Alliance and received support and advice from Georgia Innovation Crescent, Georgia BIO and the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
The leaders at AKESOgen are also frequent speakers at scientific meetings across the country; and they make a point of championing Georgia and bringing in outside investment from abroad to the US, including a recently formed partnership with German-based Targos. In addition, the company regularly participates in events such as the annual BIO convention and hosts a booth at the Georgia pavilion.
Learn what makes AKESOgen one of Georgia's Small Business ROCK STARS by checking out their video.
The success of AKESOgen and their success has not gone unnoticed as they have been awarded the Georgia BIO Deal of the Year Award (2015), and the Inc. 500 Recipient Award (2015, 2016 and 2017). AKESOgen was also recognized as the 23rd fastest-growing healthcare company by revenue in the US in 2016 based on the Inc. 500 figures.
Congratulations to AKESOgen on being named one of Georgia's 2018 Small Business ROCK STARS!
Do you think your business has what it takes to be one of Georgia's Small Business ROCK STARS? Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more information on the 2019 competition, kicking off Summer 2018.