PhytoTechnology Laboratories

PhytoTechnology Laboratories is a privately held small business, which manufactures and distributes products to the plant tissue culture, plant biotechnology, and plant science markets. Dr. Kenneth C. Torres, Ph.D., and his wife, Janet, formed the company in 1997; their goal was to propel the company into becoming a world-class supplier of media, biochemicals and supplies to the plant science market.

Location
PhytoTechnology Laboratories is located in Overland Park, Kansas, a suburb of the Kansas City Metro area. This location provides direct access to most major markets around the world. PhytoTechnology Laboratories is near the University of Kansas, Kansas State University, the University of Missouri, and a number of smaller liberal arts and sciences colleges and universities allowing them to draw upon the fine students and graduates of these institutions. Manufacturing, product development, administration and distribution of products are in-house at the PhytoTechnology Laboratories’ new 18,000 square foot facility.

International Business
International sales currently make up over 30% of PhytoTechnology Laboratories' current business. PhytoTechnology Laboratories has over 25 distributors around the world that help promote and distribute their product line world-wide. Current projections are that International sales will make up 40% of their total revenue by the year 2010.

Products
PhytoTechnology Laboratories’ product line, which now encompasses over 450 products, is ever-expanding. They also custom-manufacture a number of media for clients to aid in their production and research. They are continuing to expand their research and product development efforts with new emphasis on molecular biology, plant bioreactors, and sterile liquid products.

People


PhytoTechnology Laboratories has over 60 combined years of plant tissue culture research, product development, media manufacturing and testing experience.



Each member of their staff is committed to bringing you the highest quality product available. In addition to quality products, they make every effort to provide the best possible service in the industry. Most orders are shipped within 24 to 48 hours of receipt. New technical information is continuously being developed to help technicians use their products. In addition to their in-house staff, PhytoTechnology Laboratories has a network of outside consultants and advisors that counsel them in the strategy for the development of the company, and the planning required to maintain a healthy business community.

Continuing Mission
PhytoTechnology Laboratories’ goal from inception has been to do one thing and do it right. You will not find them manufacturing products for mammalian or insect cell culture. PhytoTechnology Laboratories has experienced tremendous growth over the past few years thanks to you, their customers. Their vision is: Helping to ensure a better tomorrow through plant science. They understand the importance of having quality products and reliable customer and technical service. Quality, Innovation, and Service: they are more that just words at PhytoTechnology Laboratories. They are the back bone of their corporate culture.

MISSION STATEMENT

PhytoTechnology Laboratories’ mission is to be the innovator and supplier of products, technologies, and services of unsurpassed quality for the global plant science community.
 * We strive to accomplish this mission with products and services for:
 * Educators
 * Commercial, government, and private researchers
 * Bio-pharmaceutical production
 * Micropropagation Labs
 * Nursery Productions
 * To provide quality products and services to our customers at a fair-market price.
 * To achieve a level of customer satisfaction that motivates our customers to rely on PhytoTechnology Laboratories as their primary source for plant science products.
 * To develop or utilize emerging technology to create and improve value-added products and services.

Manufacturing Capabilities
PhytoTechnology Laboratories manufactures its entire media line according to cGMP standards in their environmentally controlled manufacturing facility in Overland Park, KS. PhytoTechnology Laboratories can develop and manufacture proprietary media formulations to meet the requirements for any specific plant cell lines. Their capability gives plant researchers the opportunity to have proprietary custom media manufactured either as a dry powder medium or a liquid medium in batch sizes ranging from 10 L to 40,000 L. This service saves you time in media preparation and reduces the possibility of technician error in the formulation of the media. A mutually signed confidentiality agreement assures you that all records pertaining to the custom media will be held in the strictest of confidences.

Dry Powder Manufacturing (DPM) PhytoTechnology Laboratories currently has four environmentally controlled rooms dedicated to dry powder media manufacturing. Each of these rooms is monitored daily for temperature and humidity. Three of the rooms are dedicated to manufacturing products of non-animal origin. The mills, grinding media, trays and other related equipment for these rooms are isolated and have never been exposed to animal derived components. The fourth DPM room is set aside for manufacturing products that contain animal derived products such as peptones, casein, or amino acids. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are written, and rigorously adhered to, covering each step of the formulation, manufacturing, and cleaning process of dry powder manufacturing.

Packaging

There are strict SOPs and specific guidelines for the packaging of Dry Powder Media and biochemicals, to which the technicians stringently adhere. This helps to ensure the accuracy, lot-by-lot consistency, and overall quality expected from their products. PhytoTechnology Laboratories currently has three environmentally controlled packaging and formulation rooms. A fourth packaging room is dedicated to the formulation and packaging of Animal Derived Products, and the fifth is dedicated solely to the manufacturing and packaging of antibiotics.

For larger orders, they can custom package media and biochemicals in ready-to-use packages. This eliminates your technicians spending time weighing out chemicals and improves their efficiency.



Liquid Media Manufacturing (LM) The supply of liquid media offers scientists and production personnel sterile, ready to use media for bioreactors, micropropagation production, and research. All LM products manufactured by PhytoTechnology Laboratories are tested and meet the US Pharmacopeia (USP) specifications. SOPs specific for each phase of liquid media formulation, manufacturing and packaging are ardently followed. PhytoTechnology Laboratories can currently package LM in package sizes ranging from 10 mL bottles to 200 L bags. Their goal is to have batch capacity up to 6000 liters by the end of 2006. They currently have three LM production rooms: an ante (or gown-up room), a class 100 sterile fill room with laminar flow hood for making sterile connections and small bottle fills, and a staging room for filling 10 L to 200 L sterile media bags. A fourth LM room is scheduled for completion in 2006 and will be dedicated solely for the packaging of sterile antibiotic solutions.

Product Development & Continuous Quality Control
PhytoTechnology Laboratories’ plant tissue culture media and reagents are prepared from the highest quality raw materials available. Most raw materials meet appropriate ACS, BP, EP, or USP specifications. Each lot of material brought into their facility is assigned its own internal lot number. This lot number is cross-referenced to the vendor lot number for traceability back to the vendors. The PhytoTechnology Laboratories lot number follows the raw material through all phases of manufacturing and packaging, permitting complete traceability on all lots manufactured or packaged. All raw materials must meet release specification prior to formulation and manufacturing into either DPM or LM. All of their media and basal salt formulations are manufactured and tested in-house. Additionally, products may be randomly selected and sent to an outside third party testing lab to verify specific testing protocols. As outlined in Figure A, quality is monitored at each step of their process.

All media are prepared according to their original formulae or accepted modifications as noted in their technical literature and catalogues. Once manufactured, each lot of product is assayed for chemical, physical, and biological specifications to make certain that the quality of the lot meets their standards. The specifications set for each product ensure lot-by-lot consistency.

The growth promoting activity of all plant tissue culture products, where applicable, is evaluated with a minimum of two commercially important plant cell line (species). Media are supplemented with the appropriate concentrations of biochemicals and/or plant growth regulators (PGRs), where applicable, and suitable cell lines are tested. Each lot of product is compared to product history and periodically literature references for growth promoting activities. PhytoTechnology Laboratories, where applicable, evaluates the lot or product in test for active production of shoots, embryos, or plantlets without morphological aberration, increase in callus fresh weight, root production, cell growth, and/or overall appearance of the tissue.

PhytoTechnology Laboratories maintains retention samples of each lot of raw material, biochemical and medium for a minimum of seven years or according to the time specified in the respective Standard Operation Procedure. Retention samples are routinely pulled for stability studies to ensure a long stable shelf-life of their products.