SANTA BARBARA, CA, -- Privately-held Innovative Micro Technology (IMT) of Santa Barbara, CA announced that it has formed a life sciences division focused on developing miniaturized products for the medical, diagnostics, and research markets that employ MEMS. In conjunction with formation of the new division, the Company also announced the appointment of James P. Linton, Ph.D., MBA, a twenty-year veteran of the life sciences industry, as the division President.
"The convergence of technology and life sciences is creating new and exciting opportunities for IMT, its customers, and its partners," stated John Foster, Chief Executive Officer. "We are very pleased to have someone of Jim's caliber join the IMT team as we seek to accelerate the implementation of MEMS to create new and powerful miniaturized solutions that have the potential to improve the quality of health care and enhance the discovery of new medicines."
IMT established the Life Sciences division specifically in response to growing demand for smaller, smarter, and more efficient devices including, micropumps for drug delivery and patient management, non-invasive medical sensors, and point-of-care diagnostics. The division offers fee-for-service and collaborative co-development programs for both customers and partners. The company already has established life science customers and partners in areas such as drug delivery, real-time diagnostics and cellular therapeutics.
Dr. Linton brings to IMT more than twenty years of commercial and entrepreneurial experience in the life sciences arena and has held executive positions at premier life sciences companies, including Invitrogen, Prometrix, Genicon Sciences, and Cyntellect. In addition to raising more than $250 million in strategic funds and equity investments, he has also been involved in the successful commercialization of a variety of life science products. He received his M.B.A. from University of California, Davis and his Ph.D. in molecular genetics from Emory University, and performed his post-doctoral research at Merck.
MEMS, which are commonly smaller than the size of a penny, integrate mechanical elements, sensors, actuators, and electronics on a common silicon substrate through microfabrication technology—similar to that used to produce microelectronic integrated circuits (MICs) for computers. MEMS uniquely combine the "thinking" of computer chips with functional subsystems that carry out physical tasks, such as "seeing," "sensing," "measuring," and "moving" materials, fluids, gases, and more. As a result, MEMS have the potential to create "smart" systems that can also significantly reduce product size and reduce product cost. MEMS have already been employed in a wide variety of "smart" products around the world including automotive airbag deployment systems, traction-control systems, ordinance guidance systems, broadband communications platforms, and even in infrared imaging applications.
About Innovative Micro Technology
IMT is the world's leading MEMS contract manufacturer/foundry partner with a diversified range of customers and products. IMT was formed in 2000, specifically to produce MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) devices. IMT's 130,000 sq ft facility contains a 30,000 sq ft Class 100 clean room/fab, the largest and best-equipped independent MEMS fab in the world. The company was built for volume manufacturing, and provides complete foundry services from design through production. IMT currently has more than 35 customers in diverse applications, including relays and relay arrays, drug discovery, drug delivery, biomedical implants and cell purifiers, microfluidics, displays, inertial navigation, optical telecommunications, printing, various sensors, night vision, IR emitters, telephone/DSL switching, RF devices, power management, and others. IMT's overriding goal is to partner with companies to develop and manufacturer products based on MEMS technology.