(St. Louis Business Journal) Danforth subsidiary launches new startup

A subsidiary of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center on Monday launched a new startup pitching an easier and more effective way of identifying the molecules produced by the body during metabolism.

The startup, called Metablify, is the product of the Danforth Technology Company, a wholly-owned division of the plant science center created to facilitate early-stage development of startups built from technologies developed at the Danforth Center.

The software typically used for identifying metabolites produces "large and noisy data files" that make identifying them "like finding a needle in a haystack," Metablify said. Its technology uses algorithms to buttress signals given off by metabolites across large numbers of biological samples so that they can be detected. The startup says its technology makes detection faster, more accurate and applicable to population-scale screening.