Freemont, CA-based WaferGen Bio-systems, Inc.has been awarded a one million euro matching grant by the Luxembourg government to expand its European operations in Luxembourg. The first tranche of 350,000 Euros is expected to be received this quarter and will defray start-up and personnel costs. WaferGen has started to recruit sales, support and technical personnel and plans to establish research and diagnostic capabilities in Luxembourg.
“This grant will help us expand our European sales activities and enable us to provide regional support and service capabilities,” said Ivan Trifunovich, president and CEO. “We are grateful to receive this support from the government of Luxembourg and are looking forward to being a part of the country’s growing biotechnology sector.”
“Luxembourg has made significant progress in developing effective innovation networks with healthcare and biotechnology being one of the strategic areas of investment. We are pleased to support WaferGen and the innovative technology it has developed,” said Etienne Schneider, Minister of the Economy and Foreign Trade of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. “We believe its capabilities will complement the other life science initiatives in Luxembourg, including the collaboration with the Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg.”
WaferGen Bio-systems, Inc. is an innovative life science company that provides a range of high-throughput capabilities including microRNA and mRNA gene expression profiling as well as single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping.