About Us

Our History Leadership team

TriLink BioTechnologies, part of Maravai LifeSciences, is a best-in-class contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) for the synthesis of nucleic acids, NTPs and mRNA capping analogs. TriLink has scale-up expertise and unique mRNA, oligonucleotide & plasmid production capabilities for companies focused on therapeutic, vaccine, diagnostic and biopharmaceutical breakthroughs.  

Biopharma companies turn to TriLink as a critical supplier of modified nucleic acids and as a CDMO partner to help them move from early research into clinical trials. TriLink’s proprietary CleanCap® mRNA co-transcriptional capping technology simplifies mRNA manufacturing by removing additional enzymatic steps, resulting in high capping efficiency and improved yields over traditional co-transcriptional capping methods.

TriLink’s CDMO services offer a range of manufacturing grade products from discovery-grade (RUO) to its customizable intermediate-grade - GMPLink to full GMP-grade with scale-up and technology transfer expertise. With its recent facility expansion to increase cGMP capacity, TriLink provides support from initial research phases to the production of material for use in clinical trials. TriLink operates a quality system in compliance with ICH Q7, Good Manufacturing Practice Guidance for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, Section 19, APIs for Use in Clinical Trials, and ISO 9001:2015 standards.

TriLink has been a pioneer in nucleic acid synthesis & manufacturing since its inception in 1996. With product and service offerings and expertise that have adapted to customer needs over the decades, TriLink remains committed to taking on challenges others simply will not. TriLink continues to expand its cGMP and general mRNA, oligonucleotide & plasmid manufacturing capacity at its new San Diego global headquarters to support therapeutic, vaccine and diagnostic customers.

Picture of TriLink Facility

Over 20 Years as an Industry Leader in Nucleic Acid Synthesis

1996

1996

Founded in May in San Diego, California. By year-end, TriLink moves into first commercial lab space, begins shipping oligonucleotides, and hires first employees.

1997

Obtains license to synthesize radioactive compounds. TriLink quickly becomes the industry leader and one of the only companies in the world to successfully manufacture radio-labeled oligos.

1997
1998

1998

First customer-written paper citing TriLink products is published in the Journal of Immunology by David Broide et al., Immunostimulatory DNA sequences inhibit IL-5, eosinophilic inflammation, and airway hyperresponsiveness in mice.

1999

Expands into nucleoside triphosphates. Cofounds Solulink®, a company focused on unique bioconjugation chemistries. Outgrows first lab and expands to Nancy Ridge site. First paper under TriLink corporate name is published.

1999
2002

2002

Company continues to experience remarkable growth and expands to a 40,000 square foot building that served as the corporate headquarters.

2005

Receives first of four SBIR grants for chemically modified primers and NTPs for improved hot-start PCR, the basis of the CleanAmp® product line.

2005
2006

2006

Proven pre-clinical oligo production leads to first alliance partnership with large therapeutic oligo CMO, enabling customers to easily transition from R&D to clinical trials.

2011

Leverages expertise with complicated nucleic acids and begins IVT production of long RNA and mRNA for use in pharmaceutical research and development. First patent for CleanAmp® is granted.

2011
2014

2014

Receives ISO 9001 certification. Opens state-of-the-art cGMP manufacturing facility and expands into mRNA and oligonucleotide therapeutics. Secures contract for synthesis of Ebola vaccine with Battelle. Awarded patents for proprietary CleanTag® technology.

2015

Publications citing TriLink products exceeds 6,000. Adds gram scale mRNA production and expands mRNA purification offerings. Launches CleanTag® Small RNA Library Prep kits. Cofounds ETAGEN, a company focused on gene editing technologies, with Tod Woolf.

2015
2016

2016

Strategic investment by Maravai LifeSciences.

2017

Launches CleanCap® - a patented mRNA capping method that makes remarkable improvements over existing technology.

2017
2018

2018

Receives ISO 9001:2015 certification.

2019

TriLink & Maravai move to new global headquarters. Space includes 105,000 sq. ft. facility space with 50,000 sq. ft. of custom manufacturing space, including 5 cGMP suites.

2019
2020

2020

Two patents granted surrounding CleanCap® technology. The patents cover capped trinucleotide primers and capped tetranucleotide primers not limited to any particular sequences.

2021

Expands services to include plasmid manufacturing

2021
2020

2021

TriLink BioTechnologies Expands its Intellectual Property Portfolio with European Patent for its CleanCap® technology

2022

Maravai LifeSciences Acquires MyChem, a Leader in Proprietary Ultra-Pure Nucleotides

2022









 

Leadership Team

Brian Neel, Chief Operating Officer
Brian joined TriLink with over fifteen years of experience as a leader in the life sciences and diagnostics industries. He has significant experience in a wide array of manufacturing operations in life sciences and worked in chemistry and molecular biology-based operations with Life Technologies (acquired by Thermo Fisher) for over thirteen years. Brian has a passion for continuous improvement in operations management and has held key site leadership roles in organic chemistry, bioproduction, and enzyme purification technologies across organizations within 3 different states, including Synthetic Genomics and GenMark. He received a B.A. in Microbiology from the University of Missouri, Columbia.


Michael Houston, Chief Scientific Officer
Mike brings over ten years of experience as a leader in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries to TriLink. Mike worked as VP of Therapeutic Development and later as CSO at PhaseRx, where he developed mRNA-based therapeutics. Mike served as Vice President of Chemistry and Formulations for Marina Biotech, where he led a team in the development of siRNA-based therapies and LNP-based delivery systems. He has significant experience in peptide-based therapeutics, as demonstrated in his role as VP of Preclinical Chemistry and CMC at Ascent Therapeutics. Mike also served as Senior Director of Chemistry and Formulations at Nastech Pharmaceutics. He received a Ph.D. in bio-organic chemistry and a B.Sc. with honors in chemistry from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. 


Jeremy Horton, VP of Manufacturing Operations
Jeremy joined TriLink with over twenty-three years of experience in leadership roles within Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, R&D, Program Management, Customer Alliance, Facilities, EHS, and Engineering across Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, Semiconductor, and Aerospace Industries. His pharmaceutical experience ranges from early phase I/II manufacturing to commercial launch and lifecycle management of commercial drug products. He is a Master Black Belt and Lean Six Sigma Expert who is a proven change agent. Jeremy received a master’s degree in Chemistry and MBA from San Diego State University and has earned the following certifications: ASQ Pharmaceutical cGMP, ASQ Six-Sigma Black Belt (SSBB), APICS Certified Production & Inventory Management (CPIM), PMI Project Management Professional (PMP), ASQ Certified Quality Manager (CQM) & Certified Quality Engineer (CQE), CFA Level-1, SUN Java Programmer (SCJP).



Jeff Whitmore, VP of Commercial Operations
Jeff leads all commercial operations and strategy at TriLink with over twenty years of experience in life science commercial leadership and general management. Jeff served as President and Founder of United BioChannels, an international consulting group specializing in supporting companies in growth and market expansion phases prior to joining TriLink. Earlier in his career, Jeff held a variety of commercial leadership roles in life science companies including Singulex, Protein Simple, Alpha Innotech, Molecular Devices, Bio-Rad Laboratories, and Cargill Inc. He received a B.A.Sc. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.



Peter Stolba, VP of Business Operations
Peter brings over fifteen years of experience in supply chain and operations management in the Pharmaceutical and various other industries. Peter joined Trilink from Pfizer working in the Clinical Strategy and Supply Management organization with experience in design of preclinical through commercial supply strategies. Prior to Pfizer, he worked as Director of Supply Chain at Halo Pharmaceutical; a full-service FDA, BLA and DEA compliant CDMO specializing in oral dosage, sterile ointments, and API manufacturing. Peter is a US Navy veteran who served on the USS Stout DDG-55 based in Norfolk, VA. He holds a bachelor's degree in logistics management from American Military University and an MBA with a supply chain specialization from National University. He also has a certification in financial management from Cornell University and is a certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.

 
Contact for the Media:

Sara Michelmore
MacDougall
+1 781-235-3060
maravai@macbiocom.com

 
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