MANUFACTURING
MEGAZYME INTERNATIONAL, Bray Business Park, Southern Cross
Road, Bray, Co Wicklow. Tel: 01 2861220. www.megazyme.com
Testing
success
Apioneerinthetesting
ofenzymes,Megazyme
developsinnovative
diagnostictechnologyfor
industriesworldwide
‘In the past five years, we
have developed 54 food
test kits that have been a
major improvement on
similar products offered by
major multinationals’
Also shortlisted in the
Innovator category
Dr Barry McCleary
W
HEN your mother told you to eat your “Export sales currently are running at 97pc of total “Inthisarea,wecompetewithmultinationalcompanies,
porridge, she was on to something. In the sales. We attend international trade shows and scientific includingRocheDiagnostics,andwehavereplacedthem
Eighties, Dr Barry McCleary, founder, conferences, and we advertise in international journals. asthemajorsupplierinseveralcountries,”addsMcCleary.
CEO and technical director of research- Currently,weareproducing‘hands-on’trainingvideosto “Amongthemanyaccountswehavewonaresuchpres-
based biochemical company Megazyme, developed a assist our customers in the use of our products.” tigious companies as Hardys’ and Foster’s wines in Aus-
method to test for the presence of a polysaccharide called Aquickresponsetimetointernationalcustomersisalso tralia and Moët & Chandon in France.”
beta-glucan: the very chemical that makes oats a healthy key: Megazyme ships internationally with FedEx and can A molecular biology division was also established at
foodstuff. His method is now the world standard. have products in many countries the next day. “The prod- Megazymein2003,withmajorinvestmentinscientists,new
Megazymestartedlifeintwogaragesoffthefamilyhome uctswedevelopwouldberequiredandusedinternationally, research laboratories and equipment, partly supported by
of McCleary, and a healthy appetite for innovation and so the marketing was focused that way,” he says. EnterpriseIrelandthroughResearch,TechnologyandInno-
growth brought it to Bray via Sydney in 1996. Recognising the value of research, McCleary says vation funds and National Development Plan grants.
The company now focuses on the development of pio- Megazymehasalwaysinvested15-20pcofgrossturnoverinto And, looking to the future, McCleary says Megazyme is
neering test methods in kit form for the measurement of this area. “This has resulted in many innovative products, investing in research into the biofuels area. “One poten-
components that dictate food and beverage quality. manyofwhichhavebeenadoptedasinternationalstandards. tial source of liquid fuels will be from the conversion of
“Inthepastfiveyears,wehavedeveloped,fromfirstprin- Seven of our methods have been validated and adopted by woody materials to ethanol or butanol.”
ciples, 54 food test kits that have either been absolutely theAssociationofOfficialAnalyticalChemists,International However,tohavesuccess,aresearchfacilitymusthavein-
novel, or have been a major improvement on similar and/or the American Association of Cereal Chemists.” depthknowledgeofpolysaccharidesandpolysaccharideasso-
products offered by major multinationals. TheseMegazyme-developedstandardsincludemethods ciations in wood, as well as the ability to develop enzymes
“We are leading the world in methods development for formeasuringdietaryfibreandothercomponentsthatdic- able to convert these materials into fermentable sugars.
measurementofdietaryfibreandparametersthatdictate tate the quality of wheat and malt. “We are currently developing research associations to
wine and cereal quality. In2002,thecompanyestablishedamolecularbiologydivi- assistusindevelopingafungalenzymeexpressionsystem,
“AllofthemajorenzymemanufacturersturntoMegazyme siontoproduceenzymesviageneticengineeringandtodevel- which will allow us to produce and search for novel
forreagentsforthestandardisationoftheircommercialprod- op test procedures for measuing the quality of wine, food enzymes,” says McCleary. “We are also improving our
ucts and for enzyme discovery,” says McCleary. and dairy products. To this end, ¤4m was invested into a organicchemistryskills,sothatwecandevelopimproved
What drives this constant innovation push is both the new research facility, equipment and scientists. enzyme screening procedures.”
desire to capture an all-important global market and the “Withinmonths,wewerecloninggenesand,withinthree Megazyme’s appetite to look at greener energy genera-
strategy of plighting back profits into new research. In the years, we had produced a full range of advanced test kits tion for a plant dependant on oil and coal could not have
pastfouryears,thecompanyhasgrownby20pcyear on year. for the wine, dairy and food industries. come at a better time.
10 SFA NATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS AWARDS WWW.SFA.IE/AWARDS
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