IDT Opens Molecular Biology R&D Facility in Redwood City

Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT) is capitalizing on its expertise to deliver a broader range of validated molecular biology products. R&D for these products will now be performed in a newly built facility in Redwood City, California. The 8000-sq ft building houses labs that will allow IDT scientists to maximize the company’s custom oligonucleotide manufacturing capability. 

This new Center of Excellence for R&D keeps IDT on the cutting edge of innovation in molecular biology applications, particularly qPCR, next generation sequencing (NGS), and synthetic biology (SynBio). “For years we’ve focused on enabling research,” said Stephen Gunstream, Chief Commercial Officer. “Redwood City takes that mission to the next level. Now, in addition to our traditional offerings, we will be able to develop complete workflow solutions for cutting edge applications. This provides more value to our customers.”

To lead Redwood City’s Product Development Team, IDT is pleased to announce that Dr Caifu Chen has joined the company as Senior Vice President for R&D. Dr Chen has 25 years of genomics research experience in the academic and biotech sectors, particularly in developing qPCR- and NGS-based assay products for research and diagnostics applications.

“I’m very excited to join the Redwood City team,” said Dr Chen. “We built this new facility for two reasons: One, to have a presence in the Bay Area, which is the worldwide center of the biotech industry. Second, we want to attract top talent that will develop innovative, robust solutions for NGS and qPCR. Robust products equal happier customers. This is our goal.”

“The addition of Dr Chen to our R&D team ensures that our customers can continue to rely on IDT to deliver impactful, high quality products in a timely manner,” said Dr Joseph A. Walder, founder and CEO of IDT. “Dr Chen will build and manage our team of R&D experts who will develop breakthrough genomic solutions.”