Emergent Sensor Technologies moves research out of the lab

Sell-by dates on food products might soon expire, thanks to research and development company Emergent Sensor Technologies.
Dr. Craig Weilbaecher and Dr. R. Cody Stringer, both University of Missouri doctoral graduates in biochemical engineering, launched a research design and development startup company in March. Emergent Sensor Technologies is an affiliate of the Center for Emerging Technologies, which is a business incubator in St. Louis.
“Currently, our primary goal is to advance sensor technology in various fields including food safety, environmental monitoring and, to a lesser degree, health care diagnostics,” Stringer said.
The management team consists of Weilbaecher, president, and Stringer, vice president. Emergent Sensor Technologies also has two scientific advisers who act as consultants for the company: Dr. Sheila Grant of the University of Missouri Biological Engineering Department and Dr. Majed El-Dweik of the Lincoln University Cooperative Research Program.
The idea for the company emerged when Weilbaecher and Stringer became “a little bit disenfranchised with what we saw as the dormant cycle of academic research,” Stringer said. Many research projects with the potential to solve real-world problems are dropped solely on the lack of grant funding.
“Because of this, a lot of the academic research projects we had worked on never left the laboratory,” Stringer said. “We felt like we had the expertise and the creativity — and most of all the motivation — to really go beyond the laboratory and bring our ideas for these projects from the lab out to the field where they could really do some good.”
Grant, who served as the doctoral adviser for both Weilbaecher and Stringer, said she believes the company will be a success. “Cody and Craig have some innovative ideas and have identified a market need,” she said. “They are very motivated.”
The current research focus of Emergent Sensor Technologies is on food safety and food processing. The company is developing a patch sensor for the food industry that detects food-borne pathogens and senses illness-causing bacteria.

“What we’re really targeting is more of a continual monitoring process that would monitor food products all the way from the processor until the product reaches the grocery store shelf,” Stringer said.
Also under development is a select infiltration product that uses a unique material that’s able to specifically target and remove one chemical or compound. This technology could also prove useful in the food-processing industry for food preservation and extended shelf life.
These products “are kind of the brainchild of Dr. Weilbaecher and I,” said Stringer. “We feel they are valuable projects to be seen from the ground level through the commercial level.”
EST is currently pursuing Small Business Innovation Research grants to continue funding its projects. These grants provide federal funding for high-risk/high-benefit projects in cutting-edge technology so that companies can pursue projects into commercialization.
In terms of grant funding, Emergent Sensor Technologies is also targeting other potential collaborators, including MU and Lincoln University.
Weilbaecher and Stringer are constantly pushing state-of-the-art technology forward with the primary goal of problem-solving. “We need researchers like Cody and Craig,” Grant said, “to continually improve technology, whether it is homeland security or health care.”
In terms of the impact technology will play in the upcoming years, Stringer said: “I see myself as the eternal optimist. I see the boundless opportunities that technology provides and all the ways that technology can enrich our lives.”