May 30 2015
Dr. Paul Pereira, CEO and Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors at MHG is pleased to announce the company has increased their research and development capabilities by opening their own specialty labs and gaining access to equipment at the University of Georgia.
With this agreement, MHG has the ability to use many of the University’s unique resources to further advance formulas to meet customer needs.
The specialty labs at the University allow researchers to determine certain properties and characteristics of bioplastic formulas that have been created at the Bainbridge facility. By doing this, MHG can determine the proper formula for clients by making minor changes to optimize their biopolymer applications. Access to state-of-the-art equipment such as the 900Mhz Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer (NMR) otherwise unavailable, has allowed MHG to create cutting edge quality products more efficiently. The research findings from the labs at the University can easily and quickly be replicated at the headquarters.
In addition, MHG has been able to gain FDA Approval of different products at an accelerated rate due to the ability to use the facilities at the University of Georgia.
On May 26, the Board of Directors and MHG’s Executive Team toured the facilities. The Board is tasked with determining MHG’s growth strategy and was interested in seeing the newest asset of the company and learning about the benefits of this location. On the tour, the Board and Executive team met leading scientists at the University including Dr. Jason Locklin and Dr. Jenna Jambeck, who will be visiting MHG’s headquarters on June 4.
Pereira stated, “The Board and our Executive Team were extremely pleased with what they saw at the University. There are many great resources, such as their 900 MHz NMR but the truly great opportunity comes from being able to harness the brainpower of young and energetic scientists, increasing our bench strength by multiples, which has been unachievable in the past. This provides us the unique opportunity to further advance our research and development of our bioplastics and into a realm otherwise not possible. We look forward to our future with the University of Georgia.”
MHG has been very active in academia. Chief Science Officer, Dr. Isao Noda, the Father of Nodax™ PHA, has had many speaking engagements on Nodax, as well as 2D spectroscopy. Most recently he spoke at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology in Seoul, Korea. He has given talks at UGA in the past and is an Adjunct Professor at The University of Delaware. Pereira has presented on MHG at the University of Georgia, and is a Professor at the University of Paris. In addition, MHG serves as an industrial advisor for the University of Minnesota, which is part of the Center for Sustainable Polymers.