Alumna, CEO Brings "Second Time Startup" to UMBC Incubator Program

Amethyst Technologies, a company specializing in services for life science companies and research organizations owned and run by ChBE Alumna Kimberly Brown (M.S. '98 and Ph.D. '05), has moved to bwtech@UMBC, a technology incubator community situated in dedicated office and laboratory facilities at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).

Amethyst, originally founded as Cell Systems, Inc., in 1992, provides overall management, implementation, and execution of current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) compliance systems. These services include equipment calibration and validation, quality management software, process validation, qualification and design services for clean rooms and high purity utility systems, and environmental monitoring system management. Its clients include hospitals, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, biological repositories, and federal government labs and research institutions.

Brown, who had worked at Cell Systems as an intern while pursuing her doctorate, purchased the company a year ago. Since becoming its CEO, she has increased its client list from one to ten companies. She hopes Amethyst's will benefit from bwtech@UMBC's ability to provide networking with other young life sciences companies, marketing and grant application support, and access to students, graduates and faculty interested in working with emerging companies.

Brown said in a recent UMBC press release that her goals are to make Amethyst an industry leader in both the public and private sectors, focus on patient safety, and develop services used to create environmentally-friendly clean rooms.