Researchers Katie and Brian Thompson of the University of Missouri took the plunge to start a company a few years ago. They relocated to the Missouri Innovation Center in Columbia, which provides them office space and mentorship support. The husband and wife team developed a technology that stabilizes enzymes. They created a platform technology, which has applications in many industries.
Inside a new facility in Blair, Neb., north of Omaha, a gleaming maze of steel tubes connect a line of giant fermentation tanks that will cultivate some of the most advanced biotechnology in the ethanol industry.
