Grace Bio-Labs

Grace Bio-Labs is a biomedical research-products company headquartered in Bend, Oregon. The company supplies products for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, academic, and other laboratory users, with a focus on tools that support cell analysis, protein assays, tissue printing, and proteomics workflows. Its best-known technology areas are thin-cast nitrocellulose film slides and fluid-management chambers used with glass microscope slides. The company was founded by Charles McGrath in 1986 and originally operated near Detroit, Michigan. It moved to Bend, Oregon, in May 1990. Its development was supported in part by Small Business Innovation Research funding, which helped the business establish two principal product families: incubation chambers for cell culture and analysis, and the ONCYTE Nitrocellulose Film Slide platform. Grace Bio-Labs' chambers are designed to contain and deliver fluids over microscope-slide surfaces during hybridization, incubation, and related assay procedures. By helping control reagent placement and exposure, these systems are intended to improve the efficiency and sensitivity of fluorescence-based and colorimetric protein and cell-analyte assays. They can be used in both manual and laboratory-process settings. The ONCYTE platform uses a microporous nitrocellulose film in a slide format. The material is designed to capture biological material while helping preserve aspects of its three-dimensional structure. Initially developed for applications including tissue printing and cell-lysate capture, the platform became particularly relevant to proteomics and protein microarray work. It can support automated or manual array workflows and is intended to increase the amount of biological information that can be processed on a slide-based format. The company's customer base includes university laboratories, biotechnology companies, private researchers, and pharmaceutical organizations. Its reported distribution footprint spans North America, Western and Central Europe, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. Publicly available reference material describes Grace Bio-Labs primarily through its products and technical applications; detailed information about ownership, executives, financial performance, and corporate structure is not established in the supplied sources.

Grace Bio-Labs was established in 1986 by Charles McGrath. The company began near Detroit, Michigan, and later relocated to Bend, Oregon, in May 1990. The move placed the business in the region where it is identified as being based in public reference material. In its early development, Grace Bio-Labs built its activities around two complementary product areas. The first was a group of incubation and hybridization chambers for microscope slides. These products provide a controlled space for delivering and containing fluids over biological samples during cell-culture, hybridization, and analytical procedures. The second was a nitrocellulose slide technology that evolved into the ONCYTE Nitrocellulose Film Slide. Small Business Innovation Research funding supported the company's development. The funding helped Grace Bio-Labs advance products intended to improve the handling and analysis of biological samples in laboratory workflows. Its chambers were designed to support fluorescence-based and color-based assays involving proteins and cellular analytes, where consistent reagent contact and efficient use of sample material are important. The ONCYTE platform is based on a thin, microporous nitrocellulose film cast in a slide format. Nitrocellulose provides a surface capable of binding biological material, while the film format enables integration with microscope-slide research methods. The technology was initially associated with tissue printing and cell-lysate capture. It subsequently found broader use in proteomics, including automated and manual protein microarrays. The platform's stated purpose is to capture biological material and help protect relevant three-dimensional or tertiary structural features during downstream analysis. Grace Bio-Labs serves a specialized but geographically broad customer base. Its customers include university research laboratories, biotechnology companies, private researchers, and pharmaceutical companies. Distribution has been reported across North America, Western and Central Europe, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. This market profile places the company within the life-science research-tools sector rather than the consumer healthcare or therapeutic-drug markets. The available reference material does not provide a detailed chronology of later corporate events, acquisitions, leadership changes, financial results, or changes in ownership. It does, however, establish the company's continuing identity as a supplier of pharmaceutical, biomedical, and biochemical research products, with its distinctive contribution centered on nitrocellulose biochip slides and slide-based incubation and hybridization systems.

• 1990

  Relocation to Bend, Oregon

  [1]Grace Bio-Labsen.wikipedia.org

  Grace Bio-Labs relocated from the Detroit area to Bend, Oregon, in May 1990.

• 1986

  Company founded

  [1]Grace Bio-Labsen.wikipedia.org

  Charles McGrath founded Grace Bio-Labs near Detroit, Michigan, establishing the company as a developer and supplier of biomedical research products.

• Development of core product platforms

  [1]Grace Bio-Labsen.wikipedia.org

  With support from Small Business Innovation Research funding, the company developed its incubation-chamber products and ONCYTE Nitrocellulose Film Slide platform.

• Expansion into proteomics applications

  [1]Grace Bio-Labsen.wikipedia.org

  The company's microporous nitrocellulose slide technology expanded from tissue-printing and cell-lysate capture applications into proteomics and protein microarray workflows.

A specialist life-science tools supplier focused on slide-based assay systems, porous nitrocellulose biochip substrates, and controlled incubation or hybridization environments for protein, cell, and proteomics research.

• Biochip substrate and microscope slide

  ONCYTE Nitrocellulose Film Slide

  A thin, microporous nitrocellulose film slide designed to capture biological material and support slide-based bioassays. The platform was developed for applications including tissue printing and cell-lysate capture and is used in proteomics, automated protein microarrays, and manual protein-array workflows. Its porous film format is intended to provide a high-value surface for biological capture while helping preserve relevant three-dimensional characteristics of the material.

• Laboratory assay equipment

  Incubation chambers

  Chambers that provide controlled fluid containment and delivery over microscope slides during incubation and related cell-analysis procedures. They are intended to improve reagent management, sample exposure, and workflow efficiency in fluorescence-based and color-based assays involving proteins or cellular analytes.

• Laboratory assay equipment

  Hybridization chambers

  Slide-compatible chambers designed to contain and manage fluids during hybridization procedures. Together with the company's incubation systems, they support controlled processing of biological samples on glass microscope slides and can be used in research workflows involving protein and cell analyte assays.

1. 1Grace Bio-Labsen.wikipedia.org