MICROBIOLOGY – genetics – biochemistry – biotechnology

Custom Contract Research

Welcome to Proxima.

Proxima is a first in class provider of a wide range of scalable and customizable scientific services with an emphasis on affordability and accessibility for small and medium enterprises. Our evolved and inviting approach to the contract research and scientific services space focuses on applied biotechnology.

We supply services to academic and industrial scientists in the fields of bioproducts, pharmaceuticals, biofuels, food, crop development, pure research, and more. Whether it is a custom reagent, vector and protein services, development and implementation of an assay, or our wide range of biochemical and technical services, Proxima is ready to help you achieve your scientific goals.

Who Do We Serve?

Brewers and Winemakers

Proxima helps brewers and winemakers elevate their products to the next level by providing a suite of affordable analytical services. Proxima’s scientific services allow our customers to easily track the course of their fermentations and help them develop new recipes. Our unique microscopy and microbiology services accurately and quickly diagnose brightness and clarity issues and microbial contamination.

Proxima also offers a wide range of customizable assays and tests including analysis of thiols, terpenes, alcohols, esters, and other flavor compounds; both in finished beer and wine as well as in hops, malt, must, and grapes.

Biofuels and Bioproducts

Proxima helps our clients to unleash the potential in biofuels and bioproducts as alternatives to fossil-fuel derived energy and materials. We are experts at developing specialized media and isolation pipelines for microorganisms with applications in food, biofuel, bioproducts, and bioremediation. This includes the ability to test, select for, and improve the ability of microorganisms to metabolize specific substrates.

Our small-scale high-throughput fermentation capabilities and expertise in assay development allow clients to select optimum strains for production of biofuel and bioproducts. We also deploy cutting edge DNA sequencing, genetic manipulation, and bioinformatic techniques, including CRISPR, to accelerate selection, modification, creation, or optimization of organisms. These capabilities allow our clients to increase or eliminate specific metabolites or achieve high-yield production of bioproducts or recombinant proteins.

Academic Labs and Life Sciences

We help academic labs by providing DNA vectors and protein reagents at affordable costs so precious grant dollars, and student and researcher time, are focused on their critical scientific questions. Using our QC-verified custom DNA vector and protein products ensures that research projects proceed smoothly with reliable results for both our academic and industrial life sciences clients.

Proxima helps our clients ensure their precious DNA vectors are kept safe and accurate through our line of vector archiving services. By eliminating tedious and error-prone plasmid maintenance and preparation steps we save our clients time and money and allow them to focus with confidence on what is truly important to them – their research.

Agtech and Crop Development

Proxima helps crop development by developing and deploying high-throughput methods for analysis of protein and carbohydrate content and composition, enzyme activity, and small molecule analysis. We can assay multiple compounds and enzymes that positively or negatively affect the flavor and performance of agricultural products. Proxima can also handle sample processing for extraction and analysis of DNA, RNA, or protein at both low and high throughput.

Proxima can process and analyze animal samples for qPCR, ELISA, and other methods, to support companies developing novel feed additives and other products for use in animal agriculture. We further support research in animal agriculture through deploying a wide range of biochemical assays for a variety of metabolic markers.

What Do We Do?

Brewing, Winemaking, and Fermentation Industry Services

Proxima combines our experience and expertise in microbiology, biochemistry, and genetics with a passionate interest in yeast, brewing, and fermentation. We understand that in-house labs are often cost prohibitive for any but the largest breweries and wineries. That’s why Proxima offers cost-sensitive options to allow even the smallest producers access to the top-quality scientific services they need to guide their brewing or vinting journey.

Our services include analytical testing, as well as microscopic and microbiological analysis. We also provide high-throughput screening of yeast strains or ingredients in small-batch fermentations to assist in product development. Proxima has cutting edge expertise and technology for creation of custom yeast and bacterial strains through introduction of novel or existing characteristics through specialized techniques including CRISPR.

Vector Construction And Archiving Services

Ensure your precious DNA vectors are kept safe and accurate by depositing them with Proxima. Upon deposit we completely sequence your vector using NGS methodologies and provide the resulting data as a quality control reference. Then, when you need more vector, simply order it from Proxima like any other catalogue item and receive it, sequence verified, sterile, and pure. By eliminating tedious and potentially error prone plasmid maintenance and preparation steps you can focus on what is truly important – your research. We also offer bulk discounts, so the more vectors you archive with Proxima the lower your price!

Proxima can also handle your entire vector construction project. Simply supply your backbone and we’ll perform NGS sequencing to verify it, clone your insert(s) of choice, NGS sequence the product, and provide you with 500 µg of your new vector.

Protein Services

Proxima has extensive experience in protein chemistry, expression, and purification. Our team can efficiently express and purify a vast array of proteins in bacterial, yeast, or mammalian cell systems. Proxima can carry out purifications to customer specifications of activity and purity or develop novel methodologies and assays as needed.

We can also provide proteins with virtually any conjugation your research requires including HRP, AP, fluorophores, biotin, or “click chemistry” compatible conjugates. We can also easily produce custom resin conjugates of any protein for use in affinity chromatography applications. Proxima also specializes in purification of native proteins from natural sources.

In addition, Proxima offers standard rates on production of HIS-tagged proteins in E. coli. If there is a protein you use regularly, whether an enzyme, assay component, or tissue culture additive, Proxima can likely make it for you for less than you are paying now.

Contract Research Services

Proxima’s greatest asset is our well-equipped laboratories and extensive expertise in biochemistry that allow us to deploy a wide range of customizable assays and to support your biotechnology research.

Given virtually any biomolecule, Proxima can design or implement an assay to detect and quantify it, a procedure to isolate and purify it, or a method to synthesize it. Moreover, we specialize in creating high-throughput and low-cost methodologies for biomolecule detection and quantitation based on established or novel methods.

Proxima can isolate, culture, maintain, and archive nearly any kind of microorganism and can extract, sequence, and analyze DNA, RNA, protein, or other biomolecules. We have expertise in extraction and analysis of DNA, RNA, and Protein from plant, animal, fungal, bacterial, and environmental sources and are experts at developing novel genotyping and phenotyping assays.

Reagent Services

Proxima can produce any reagent you use commonly in the lab including custom or customer provided formulations with assured confidentiality and quality at affordable rates. Whether it is a simple or common reagent which you need in bulk or a highly specialized requirement Proxima can provide you with quality and value.

Proxima Leadership

Zach Belak, PhD

Co-Founder
Bio

Iain Wallace, M.Sc