Corrections or additions?
These articles were prepared for the February 15, 2006 issue of U.S. 1
Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Life in the Fast Lane: Linguagen
Ten years after founding a drug discovery company, F. Raymond Salemme
successfully sold it to Johnson & Johnson and was recruited to head
another promising company, Linguagen. Less than two years later, he is
leading that 22-person firm in a major expansion.
Linguagen, a molecular biology firm, develops ingredients used to
improve the taste of food, beverages and pharmaceutical products. It
will more than triple its space with a move from 5,100 square feet at
Eastpark at Exit 8A in Cranbury to 18,577 feet at 7 Graphics Drive in
Ewing. Tom Giannone of Cushman & Wakefield represented Linguagen in
the lease with BioMed Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust
that owns the 72,000 square-foot building formerly occupied by J.D.S.
Uniphase; another tenant of the building is Medeikon.
“We have plans to expand our range of capabilities,” says CEO Salemme.
“One of our key product development areas has to do with the creation
of more acceptable and more efficacious formulations. To put those
together and test them requires some unique facilities.”
Salemme started out as a crystallographer, described as “a physical
scientist who is interested in biology.” It is actually similar to his
late father’s profession, metallurgy, which focuses on the crystal
structures of metal.
Even as a child, Salemme was drawn to crystal structures. He tells of
wanting Tinker Toys when he was 12 years old. “My mother asked me what
I wanted for Christmas, and I pointed to the toys with the little
sticks and nodes. Like many good mothers, she read the age group for
that toy, ages six through nine, and said, ‘This is not an advanced
enough toy for you.’ But I have spent my whole life investigating
those kinds of structures,” says Salemme. At age 14 Salemme bought his
own set of “sticks and nodes” and notes, “In my career I have spent
quite a few tens of millions of dollars doing similar stuff.”
A molecular biophysics major at Yale University (Class of 1967),
Salemme has a PhD in chemistry from the University of California at
San Diego. He set up drug-discovery groups specializing in
structure-based drug design, biophysics, and computational chemistry
at Sterling Winthrop Pharmaceuticals and DuPont Merck Pharmaceuticals,
and he founded 3-Dimensional Pharmaceutical in 1993.
When he came to Linguagen in 2004, he left crystallography behind. “I
broadened my technological capabilities to many aspects of drug
discovery besides crystallography,” he says, “and now I do a half
dozen things reasonably well, including building a company.”
He has his name on more than 25 patents from his 3DP days, and in his
18 months at Linguagen he has filed some more. Says Salemme: “That’s
one of the best parts about working in a small company, you can
contribute to the projects.”
Linguagen, 2005 Eastpark Boulevard, Eastpark at Exit 8, Cranbury
08512; 609-860-1500; fax, 609-860-5900. F. Raymond Salemme, CEO.
Top Of PageContracts Awarded: Semandex
Semandex Networks Inc., 201 Washington Road, c/o Sarnoff Corporation,
Princeton 08540; 609-799-8887; fax, 609-514-4061. Daniel Reininger,
CEO. Home page: www.semandex.net
In 2004 Marines in Iraq found and distributed battlespace information
more quickly by using a content-based network from Semandex Networks,
a company that is headquartered within Sarnoff Corporation’s building
just off Princeton-Hightstown Road.
Now Semandex has landed a five-year, $10 million defense contract to
license its commercial, off-the-shelf networking products and to
provide engineering services to the Department of Defense and other
federal agencies.
To create a “semantic web,” the network uses XML tags to classify
information based on content instead of search terms and URLs. “A
Semandex network overlays current systems and can work through
existing applications, essentially eliminating the user learning
curve,” says a press release.
The networking project allows for the rapid dissemination of real and
near real-time information. According to CEO Daniel Reininger, it can
be used not only by Marines in battle situations but also by those in
embattled industries, such as health care and financial services.
Care Capital LLC, 47 Hulfish Street, Suite 310, Princeton 08540;
609-683-8300; fax, 609-683-5787. Jan Leschly, CEO. www.carecapital.com
The Hulfish Street-based venture capital firm, Care Capital, has
started its third life sciences fund, Care Capital Investments III,
with $300 million from 20 institutional investors. The firm focuses on
later-stage pharmaceutical and biotechnology enterprises.
ABC Computers, 405 Route 130, East Windsor 08520; 609-443-1700. Evan
Rector, president. www.abandccomputers.com
ABC Computers moved from 357 Route 33 to 405 Route 130 in East
Windsor.
Beneficial Financial, Lawrence Square Boulevard South, Village Square
Plaza, Lawrenceville 08648; 609-989-7400; fax, 609-392-8803. Mary Ann
Gliottone, senior account executive.
Beneficial, a member of the HSBC group, has moved its five-person
office from 1719 Brunswick Pike to Village Square Plaza, near Quaker
Bridge Mall. With 850 branches nationwide, Beneficial does consumer
lending, including refinancing and first and second mortgages.
Colfax/IMO Industries Inc., 240 Princeton Avenue, American Metro,
Suite 111, Hamilton 08619; 609-896-7627; fax, 609-896-7633. Thomas M.
O’Brien, vice president. www.colfaxcorp.com
The legal department for Colfax industries and the headquarters of Imo
have moved from 993 Lenox Drive to American Metro Center. Colfax
Corporation was formed in 1997 to acquire Imo. Colfax/Imo Industries
is a marketer and manufacturer of pumps and fluid control devices,
with manufacturing plants in four countries and four states.
Thomas M. O’Brien, senior vice president, general counsel, and
secretary says he expects to add staff members in the next year.
Envirogenics, 18 East 6th Avenue, Mercerville 08619; 609-586-0700;
fax, 609-586-4426. Jeffrey Olcott, managing partner.
Envirogenics, an environmental remediator, moved from 3812 B
Quakerbridge Road in Lawrenceville to Mercerville. This company does
environmental and industrial hygiene audits, as well as asbestos and
hazardous waste management. Although the new office is somewhat
smaller, the company still employs 15 people, according to the office
manager.
General Abstract & Title Agency, 1155 Whitehorse-Mercerville Road,
Hamilton 08619; 609-586-6030; fax, 609-587-2317. Robert E. Mule,
president. www.generalabstract.com
General Abstract and Title Agency relocated from rented quarters in
Yardville Bank at 3111 Quakerbridge Road into 3,000 square feet at the
old headquarters of Roma Bank, the company’s new owner. Roma Bank has
moved to new corporate headquarters and its eighth branch office in
Washington Town Center.
Willis Pooling, 850 Bear Tavern Road, Ewing 08628; 609-538-0159; fax,
609-538-1927. Dave D. Ritch, director.
The risk management company moved last month from 340 Scotch Road,
West Trenton, to 850 Bear Tavern Road in Ewing. The company offers
risk management solutions, risk transfer expertise, and specialized
consulting for public entity pools.
Electrosonic Systems, 684 Whitehead Road, Lawrenceville 08648;
609-393-0884; fax, 609-393-4350. Andrew Kidd, general manager.
The Lawrenceville office of Electrosonic Systems downsized last year,
moving from 11 H Princess Road to about 1,200 square feet at 684
Whitehead Road, according to Andrew Kidd. Electronic Systems, based in
Minneapolis, is an audiovisual company, specializing in the AV needs
of corporate communications, command and control rooms, museums,
retail displays, theme parks, and exhibitions. Of the more than 300
employees, five work here.
Exide Technologies (XIDEW), 13000 Deerfield Parkway, Building 200,
Alpharetta GA 30004; 678-566-9000; fax, 678-566-9188. Gordon A. Ulsh,
president and CEO. www.exideworld.com
Exide Technologies completed its move in 2005 from 3150 Brunswick
Pike, Crossroads Corporate Center, to a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia.
“Alpharetta offers a lower cost of living, and our Transportation
Americas division is headquartered here,” says a spokesperson. “The
new CEO thought it was pragmatic to be closer to the business in a
place that made economic sense.”
Exide had no other operations in Princeton: The reason it was
headquartered here is that its former president and CEO, Craig
Muhlhauser, wanted to live in Princeton. (U.S. 1, March 21, 2001). He
moved the headquarters from Reading, Pennsylvania, to the Carnegie
Center and then, when the firm filed for bankruptcy, to Crossroads
Corporate Center. None of the 40 workers in Princeton took jobs in
Georgia.
Peter Benchley, 65, on Saturday, February 11, from complications of
pulmonary fibrosis. A novelist, screenplay writer, and
environmentalist, he is best known for the novel “Jaws.”
Corrections or additions?
This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com
— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
