Association Members and Sponsors

AEGIS Food Labs
AEGIS Food Labs is a state-of-the-art laboratory located in North Sioux City, SD. AEGIS was founded by people who understand the highly competitive and demanding environment that food, and in particular meat production companies, are challenged with every day. We have the capability and expertise to offer a wide range of microbiological and chemical testing that include pathogen and environmental testing, microbiological identification, fat, moisture and protein analysis and presence of central nervous system tissue. Our staff has both the credentials and the experience to give you the confidence you need to assure your customers that food safety, quality and protection of your collective businesses are your first priorities.
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AlphaGenix, Inc.
AlphaGenix is a life science company located in Sioux Falls, SD that develops novel products and technologies for research with a particular emphasis on biomaterials and molecular and regenerative medicine. In addition, the company conducts regenerative medicine research that involves basic science and translational preclinical research with a focus on acute and chronic neurological diseases.
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AT Analytical, Inc.
AT Analytical Inc is an ISO for: ThermoFisher Labconco The Baker Company Sanyo Biomedical Consolidated Stills & Sterilizers NuAire Tuttnauer VWR/Sheldon Servicing: Autoclaves, Freeze Dryers, Centrifuges, Some HPCL, GC, GCMS Validation/Verification Services: BSC Certification, USP797 Certification, Temperature, Spectrophotometer, chamber mapping
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Avera Health
Avera is the region’s largest health care system with more than 13,100 employees and gross revenues of nearly $1.8 billion. Avera’s system strength brings exceptional health care to 238 locations in 85 communities of the five-state region. Avera’s inpatient and clinic visits totaled upwards of 2.1 million in the past fiscal year, a number equal to more than twice the population of the Avera service area. The Avera brand represents: • System strength and local presence • Nationally recognized clinical excellence • Technological sophistication • An array of specialty care • Industry leadership … all in the compassionate tradition of Avera’s sponsors, the Benedictine and Presentation Sisters. During challenging times for the economy and health care, Avera holds a solid position in the regional health care market, consistently receiving high ratings for financial management, A1 by Moody’s and A+ by Standard and Poors. Visit Website
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BioDak, LLC
BioDak, LLC is headquartered in Kimball, South Dakota and is using the latest advances in technology to produce cattle that are prion-free and anti-body free. The company mission is to be the exclusive global provider of prion-free and antibody-free bovine-derived sera and reagents so that risks associated with BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as “mad cow disease”) transmission and products coming from unknown sources and quality are mitigated.
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Biogenetic Services, Inc.
Biogenetic Services, Inc. is an independent privately owned company established in 1988 by founder, owner, and President Dr. Alex L. Kahler. The company is an agriculture industry leader and specializes in providing state of the art comprehensive protein and DNA genotyping services including: DNA and isozyme genotypic profiling of plant and/or animal individuals within and among populations. In addition to genotyping services, Biogenetic Services, Inc. also conducts ELISA protein and DNA PCR based GMO/Transgenic testing services for seed companies, elevators, seed growers and other private individuals, plant and animal breeders and producers, ingredient suppliers, food companies, hatcheries, educational institutions, state and federal research facilities, insurance companies, legal firms, and other associated industries.
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CCBR/WestCore at Black Hills State University
The Center for the Conservation of Biological Resources (CCBR) was established in Spearfish, South Dakota in association with the Science Department at Black Hills State University. CCBR exists to support genetic and genomic research that is important to the Black Hills and Great Plains regions with a focus on priority problems and needs expressed by various agencies and organizations region-wide.
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Center for Bioenergy Research and Development at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology is the lead institution of a six university NSF Center for Bioenergy Research and Development, CBERD. Other participating universities are South Dakota State University, the University of Hawaii, Kansas State University, State University of New York at Stony Brook, and North Carolina State University. CBERD is supported by the National Science Foundation and over 30 companies that benefit from research and student interaction in the bioenergy area. This R&D center is positioned to make transformative discoveries that enable those industries with interests in the bio-energy area to meet the challenge of declining petroleum supply and to stimulate further economic development in this essential area of our economy. For further information, please visit our website.
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Center for Bioprocessing Research and Development (CBRD)
The Center for Bioprocessing Research and Development (CBRD) has been established through the Gover-nor's 2010 Initiative for Economic Development and brings together the bioprocessing research and devel-opment resources of South Dakota School of Mines and South Dakota State University. Over 60 faculty, staff and their students representing the various bioprocessing-related disciplines collaborate to achieve the next generation of advances required to fully realize the creation of the lignocellulose based bioindustry. The Cen-ter is the leading institution in South Dakota in the development and technology transfer of new bioenergy technologies. The overall goal of CBRD is to reduce the national dependence on imported fuels and petro-leum based chemicals by improving the bioprocessing of lignocellulosic biomass to biofuels and other value-added products utilizing carbon-neutral waste-free technologies that mitigate the environmental impact of greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change.
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Christiansen Land and Cattle, LTD.
Christiansen Land and Cattle, Ltd. is an agricultural company with experience in plant and animal biotechnology. Located in Kimball, SD, it has been in business for more than 100 years. It has expertise and experience in livestock management services for biotech companies, including biosecure animal husbandry, traceability, documentation and record-keeping.
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Hematech, Inc.
Hematech, Inc. is headquartered in Sioux Falls, SD, is developing cattle that produce human antibodies to help in the treatments of viral or bacterial infections, autoimmune disorders and other medical conditions occurring in humans.
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Identity Genetics, Inc.
Identity Genetics, Inc. is a privately owned independent company established in 1995 by founder, owner, and President and CEO Dr. Alex L. Kahler. Identity Genetics, Inc. provides comprehensive DNA testing services including paternity, genetic identity and forensics testing. Private individuals as well as legal firms, adoption agencies, state child support enforcement agencies, and Domestic Relations Divisions of Courts use their paternity and identity testing services. Identity Genetics, Inc. is fully accredited to provide DNA databasing services for convicted felons and arrestees to state and federal law enforcement agencies. Their forensic DNA laboratory is fully accredited to perform DNA analysis on crime scene evidence for state and federal law enforcement agencies. For more information visit: www.identitygenetics.com.
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Lake Area Improvement Corporation
The Lake Area Improvement Corporation (LAIC) is a nonprofit economic development organization dedicated to the growth and prosperity of Madison and the communities that reside within Lake County, South Dakota. The LAIC is a one-stop resource for existing businesses and those seeking to expand and relocate to Lake County. The LAIC strives create and maintain an economic atmosphere for both local and regional businesses. It provides workforce, building, land, taxes, incentive, quality of life, and financial assistance information and opportunities for new and existing companies.
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Lana Management & Business Research International, LLC
Lana Management & Business Research International (LMBRI) is a global management consulting and contract management firm on business strategy, product management and marketing. We partner with clients to identify their highest-value opportunities, high-risk programs, address their most critical challenges, and transform them into high-performance and profitable business entities.
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Miller Sellers Heroux Architects
Teamed with our specialty laboratory consultant HERA, Miller Sellers Heroux Architects offers top quality architectural and engineering design services for all types and levels of medical, manufacturing, biotechnology, education, forensic, and government laboratory facilities for research, teaching, and production. Contact Dave or Tammy at 605-332-7850 or visit our website for more information.
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Monsanto
Monsanto is an agriculture company committed to providing the advanced tools farmers across the globe need to increase yields and produce abundant, affordable food. But producing more is only the start. Monsanto’s seeds enable farmers to grow more food while using fewer key resources like fuel and land. And that reduces the impact of farming on the environment. Producing more. Conserving more. Improving farmers’ lives. That’s sustainable agriculture. And that’s what Monsanto is all about.
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Nutraferma
Nutraferma is dedicated to the production of high quality fermented feed ingredients that provide superior nutrition for modern livestock diets. Nutraferma's state of the art facility in North Sioux City is the largest solid-state fermentation plant in North America. The concept of solid state fermentation is based upon ancient Korean traditions of fermentation in human foods, such as kimchi (spiced fermented cabbage) and doenjang (fermented soybean paste). Nutraferma has built upon these traditions to perfect a manufacturing process that draws upon beneficial microbial activity to improve nutrient availability in the finished products and digestive health in the animal. The unique process removes the anti-nutritional factors in soy, making it an ideal protein source for young animal diets. Nutraferma utilizes an expert staff of researchers and scientists located in Korea and the United States.
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OmegaQuant
OmegaQuant, LLC is the exclusive provider of the HS-Omega-3 Index®. This novel blood test was developed to measure the level of omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) in red blood cell membranes. The risk for sudden cardiac death is reduced by up to 90% in individuals with the highest HS-Omega-3 Index®, and there is growing evidence for an association between omega-3 biostatus and other conditions such as dry eye, macular degeneration, dementia, depression, joint health, etc. Most Americans do not get enough omega-3's from their diets, and differences in age, weight, sex, diet, lifestyle habits, metabolism and absorption make it impossible to accurately predict anyone's omega-3 status. The only way to know for sure is to measure the HS-Omega-3 Index®.
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PetMedicus Laboratories, Inc.
PetMedicus Laboratories, Inc., headquartered in Sioux Falls, SD is a specialty pharmaceutical company created for the specific purpose of bringing ethical pharmaceuticals of high therapeutic impact to the underserved companion animal market. We are a team of dedicated pet lovers who have listened to veterinary thought leaders and are continually in the process of turning that guidance into a portfolio of approved veterinary drugs. Learn more about PetMedicus Laboratories at our website.
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Pfizer, Inc.
Working together for a healthier world™ Founded in 1849, Pfizer is the world's largest research-based pharmaceutical company taking new approaches to better health. We discover, develop, manufacture and deliver quality, safe and effective prescription medicines to treat and help prevent disease for both people and animals. We also partner with healthcare providers, governments and local communities around the world to expand access to our medicines and to provide better quality health care and health system support. At Pfizer, colleagues in more than 90 countries work every day to help people stay happier and healthier longer and to reduce the human and economic burden of disease worldwide.
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PhRMA
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) represents the country’s leading pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies, which are devoted to inventing medicines that allow patients to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. PhRMA companies are leading the way in the search for new cures. PhRMA's mission is to conduct effective advocacy for public policies that encourage discovery of important new medicines for patients by pharmaceutical/biotechnology research companies.
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Rural Technologies, Inc.
Rural Technologies, Inc. is a Brookings, SD based full service Contract Research Organization catering to the animal health, feed additive, pharmaceutical, and biomedical industries by providing expertise in virology, microbiology, immunology, and nutrition research.
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Sanford Health
Sanford Health is a comprehensive healthcare organization where physicians, regional hospitals, and a health plan have been integrated into a system serving more than one million people in South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska with 10,000 employees and $1 billion in annual revenue, and is embarking on exciting, expansive research development.
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Sioux Falls Development Foundation
The Sioux Falls Development Foundation works to encourage local business expansion and new business locations in Sioux Falls. By promoting the unique business advantages of a Sioux Falls location and helping innovative firms to network for rapid business growth, the Development Foundation has been particularly helpful to the biotech industry in our area.
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South Dakota Corn Utilization Council
The South Dakota Corn Utilization Council (SDCUC) is one of the most active commodity organizations in South Dakota, serving the interests of all South Dakota corn producers. Its producer board has the mission of increasing the profitability of corn producers. They do this by developing and maintaining new and existing markets for corn and corn products. The SDCUC administers the one penny corn checkoff and invests resources into research, market development and promotion and education.
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South Dakota Innovation Partners, LLC
South Dakota Innovation Partners, LLC is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on accelerating science and technology-based economic development, while providing a return on investment to our limited partners. Our objective is to leverage a market inefficiency that exists in the technology commercialization process by applying a disciplined investment approach to early technology evaluation; providing smart, pre-seed capital and early business development expertise; commercializing research-derived technology through start-up company formation; and building sustainable value that will be realized in subsequent capital rounds. Our strategic partners include research institutions throughout the country and our board of managers consists of exceptional community leaders with significant expertise in early-stage investing and business development.
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South Dakota Soybean Research & Promotion Council
The South Dakota Soybean Research & Promotion Council (SDSR&PC) collects contributions from our State’s Soybean Farmers. They contribute 0.5 percent of the market price per bushel sold each season to fund research, promotion and information efforts. This collective investment is called a checkoff. The purpose of SDSR&PC is to improve the profitability of South Dakota soybean growers by increasing the utilization of soybeans and improve soybean production. Success for soybean farmers in today's market takes more than just a good harvest. Increasing demand for soybeans is an essential part of the equation. The soybean checkoff helps facilitate market growth and creation by funding and directing marketing, research and commercialization programs. By building demand both at home and abroad, the soybean checkoff helps ensure a strong and profitable future for U.S. soybean farmers.
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South Dakota State University
South Dakota State University is the state's largest and most comprehensive university. It is recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as the state's only research university/high activity. Today's SDSU includes nearly 12,000 students from 66 counties in South Dakota, all 50 states and 52 countries. The university offers 12 Ph.D. programs, two professional doctoral programs, and 23 master's degree programs. SDSU has a contiguous campus of 272 acres in Brookings and nearly 15,000 acres in seven locations from Buffalo to Beresford for agricultural research and demonstrations. Developed and operated by Growth Partnership Inc., the 125-acre Innovation Campus at SDSU is the state’s first and only university-affiliated research park and its incubator building, Innovation Center, opened in November 2008. SDSU is one of a six university NSF Center for Bioenergy Research and Development, CBERD.
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Syngenta
Agrisure® Corn Traits from Syngenta are Built for Yield™ and bring together three critical elements—high-performance traits, elite hybrid genetics and advanced technology integration. Search for more information about Agrisure traits at our website.
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Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Inc. and Takeda Global Research & Development Center, Inc.
Based in Deerfield, Ill., Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Inc. and Takeda Global Research & Development Center, Inc. are subsidiaries of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, the largest pharmaceutical company in Japan. The respective companies currently market oral diabetes, insomnia and gastroenterology treatments and seek to bring innovative products to patients through a pipeline that includes compounds in development for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, oncology, gastroenterology, neurology, rheumatology and other conditions. Takeda is committed to striving toward better health for individuals and progress in medicine by developing superior pharmaceutical products. To learn more about these Takeda companies, visit www.tpna.com.
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TSG Marketing
For 16 years TSG Marketing has offered leading companies and organizations a variety of services including public relations, marketing, web strategies and event management. Our company continues to innovate and offer cutting edge consulting and public relations to move beyond traditional strategies and markets. With development of over 50 international events, tradeshows and symposiums…we know how to host successful meetings.
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University of South Dakota
The University of South Dakota has undertaken a multi-year strategic initiative to expand faculty and student research and creativity, increase grant and contract awards, and commercialize research The U. has several research and creative clusters, including the Center for Research & Development of Light-activated Materials, Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence in neuroscience and in cardiovascular, the Center for Detecting Rare Physics Processes at Homestake, Missouri River Institute, and more. New PhD programs have been created to offer USD students exceptional training and mentoring in Materials Chemistry, Computational Science and Statistics (joint with SDSU), Biomedical Engineering (joint with SDSMT), and Political Science. The U continues to expand its capacity to collaborate with industry. Our researchers participate in sponsored R&D, and serve as consultants to manufacturing and business partners. An expanding portfolio of innovative technologies is available to our collaborators and the U is pleased to work jointly with industry to bring these technologies to market. Other links: USD OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND SPONSORED PROGRAMS: http://www.usd.edu/oorsch/ CRDLM: http://www.usd.edu/2010crdlm/ COBRE (Neuro): http://www.usd.edu/neurogroup/COBRE.cfm MISSOURI RIVER INSTITUTE: http://www.usd.edu/mri/ NPURC: http://www.usd.edu/npurc/ SD Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network: http://www.usd.edu/brin/
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Yankton Area Progressive Growth, Inc
The Yankton Office of Economic Development assists companies with investment and operations in the City of Yankton and Yankton County. Yankton is focused on maximizing resources to assist in the development and growth of biotech companies in all phases of project development in animal, plant and human sciences.
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