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Breedlove showing off an imaging machine in a shared laboratory at the Sid Martin Incubator. She was named Innovator of the Year by the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce.

ALACHUA – Her name is Patti Breedlove, and from the moment she began running the Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator in Alachua, she exuded excellence and professionalism. This is just some of what Alachua Mayor Gib Coerper said following the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual banquet last Thursday, Jan. 30.

The chamber formally recognized Breedlove for her work running the incubator last week, naming her the Innovator of the Year.  

“Alachua is very proud of her and the job she has done from day one in running the incubator,” Coerper said.

The mayor said he and the City of Alachua have retained a close relationship with the Gainesville Area Chamber for years now.

“She was chosen for this award, for running the number one incubator in the world,” Coerper said.

The Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator was chosen as the world’s best in 2013 by Sweden-based research group UBI.

Breedlove arrived at Progress Park in 1998, working her way up to from a junior role, she said. She said she is proud to be the director now, and notes this as one of her highest honors to date.

“It was truly a thrill,” said Breedlove about the award.

The incubator boasts several successful businesses, including AxoGen and Nanotherapeutics. The award shows that the contributions made toward the success of these and other companies in the incubator have been recognized, Breedlove said.

Perhaps the most successful company to come out of the incubator is RTI Surgical, formerly RTI Biologics, Breedlove said.

“RTI is UF’s most successful spinout, with UF making over $60 million after RTI went public,” she said.

The company is now the largest in Progress Park, and continues to grow still. There are only about 500 of their employees who currently work in the park, but they have many others now in other locations, she said.

“To me, it will be a tremendous mark of success if some of our graduate companies grow to have the type of economic impact on our community that RTI has had,” Breedlove said.

Deborah Bowie, vice president of chamber development for the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce, praised Breedlove’s work.

“The award that Patti received is in recognition of her career work, as well as her outstanding efforts with the incubator,” Bowie said.

With the incubator being ranked as the best in the world, Bowie said the board met to discuss possible candidates for this honor, and Breedlove was “a resounding yes.”

“Patti’s work has singlehandedly led to international recognition,” Bowie said. “She embodies the spirit of innovation.”

While Breedlove downplays her individual role in accomplishing all of this, she said she does understand her importance to the success she and the incubator strive for.

“My most important role has probably been establishing a culture of professionalism and mutual respect,” she said.

It is a fine line in providing a helping hand in the development of these young companies, and allowing them to also experience their own progress and failure required to find absolute success, Breedlove said.

“I’m very proud of our team,” she said. “They work hard, listen to each other and never forget that we’re here to help our companies make a real difference in this world.”

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Photo special to Alachua County Today

Two women eating watermelon at last year's festival. The event is one of the longest running festivals in the country.

 NEWBERRY – In 1946, the City of Newberry held a watermelon festival to celebrate the end of the Second World War and to embrace the country’s return to prosperity after the Great Depression. There was a plentiful harvest of crops, and the residents of the town thought it was a fitting way to celebrate. That tradition continues today.

“As far as we can tell, it’s one of the longest continual festivals in the country,” said Kathi Lee Thomas, who now serves as the president of the festival after being its secretary since 1993.

The event is ushered in with a parade, followed by an auction and watermelon eating contests.

Residents then go head-to-head, competing to see who has the biggest melon, and the Watermelon Queen is named.

The search for the queen begins weeks before the festival, with a pageant for prospective watermelon royalty. Newberry’s queen takes on the role of an agricultural advocate as she competes at the state level.

Meagan Morgan became Florida’s queen a few weeks ago.

Morgan, born and raised in Chiefland and studying dental hygiene at Santa Fe College, became involved with Newberry during a Teen Queen pageant in 2012.

Her connections helped her prepare for the state watermelon pageant. She will compete in the national campaign in March 2015, after she spends the year promoting Florida watermelon agriculture by attending conventions. She will even be going to markets to help folks pick out the ripest watermelons.

“It should have a mellow, yellow belly, no bruises or scratches,” Morgan said. “Since it’s 92 percent water, it should be pretty heavy.”

She has had a passion for agriculture, and this is her way of becoming involved with Florida’s watermelon industry, one of the top producers in the country.

Morgan works with Florida Watermelon Association and Florida growers as a spokesperson to promote the watermelon market sustained by local agriculture.

“Once watermelon season starts in April, we will go somewhere different every weekend,” she said.

“We even have a convention planned for Canada, which will be pretty exciting.”

Festival day is May 17, at Destiny Community Church off Highway 26 in Newberry. All the proceeds go to the Watermelon Festival of Newberry, Inc. Scholarship Fund. The Florida Watermelon Queen becomes part of a large public relations campaign to promote Florida agriculture once she receives her crown, going to local super markets like Publix and Hitchcock’s to hand out fresh slices of watermelon, as well as going on farm tours, taking pictures with local growers and visiting schools.                   

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Photo special to Alachua County Today

Haylee Miller jumping rope at last year's event. Jump Rope for
Heart aims to encourage a healthy lifestyle.

ALACHUA – Irby Elementary is thinking about hearts this Valentine’s Day.

Irby Elementary School is holding its annual Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser next week.

If weather permits, the event, a school wide fundraiser, will be from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in the bus loop of the school on Wednesday, Feb. 12.

“We are going old-school this year,” said Aimee Pricher, co-coordinator of the event. Instead of using the cafeteria, the school will be jumping rope in the U-shaped bus loop. If it is raining, they will reschedule to Thursday morning, Feb. 13.

This year will be the 38th anniversary of the American Heart Association, and the event is designed to raise money for the organization’s cause, as well as to educate children.

Jump Rope for Heart is aimed not only to raise money, but to promote healthy habits.

“It’s a chance for kids to help themselves by getting healthy, and help others by raising money and awareness,” said Ray Crone, physical education teacher and co-coordinator of the event.

The event aims to promote health awareness within the family and the community of Alachua. Crone is educating his students to live a healthy lifestyle with good food, exercise and adequate sleep. He hopes this will carry the students into adulthood and to practice with their families.

“It’s had a really positive impact. Irby has been jumping for nearly 20 years,” Crone said. This is his 13th year handling the event.

The event also raises money for the school. For every $2,000 raised, the school will receive vouchers from the American Heart Association in order to pay for equipment and rump ropes to promote healthy living.

The event is expected to have 650 to 700 people jumping rope, and the aim is to raise around $8,000 for the cause. Last year’s event made $7,500.

“It’s a tradition, and it’s doing justice at this school,” Crone said.

The American Heart Association is giving out plastic golf-ball-sized ducks as an incentive for raising funds. They have ninja ducks, glowing ducks and striped ducks. Ducks will be given out for every $5, $15, $35 and $75 raised.

“The kids are really excited about the ducks. My last class wouldn’t stop talking about them,” Crone said.

Crone has a series of warm-ups and activities for the kids to do for the occasion. He has also been playing videos for the kids from the American Heart Association, which educates children on sick hearts and ways to live healthier. He has been incorporating these lessons into his physical education classes at the school.

“It’s a culminating event,” Pricher said.

There will also be individual jump-ropers, small groups and big groups during the event, so everyone can join in.

“The entire school participates at the same time. It’s unique,” Pricher said.

Everybody gets involved, Pricher said. “Everybody does a little bit of everything,” she said.

“It’s just a really feel good event.”

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Photo special to Alachua County Today

This microscope image shows the structure of the fertilizer made from recycled rubber.
ALACHUA – Dan just spent the entire day working on his lawn, laying fertilizer throughout his yard. Then just 15 minutes after he heads inside, the clouds open up and rain begins to pour down. Any chance of that fertilizer being effective would have been washed away, but a new product could change that.

The company is called Eigenchem, and they are working on a new recycled waste product that acts as an efficient fertilizer, as well as an asset to the ground, even after the nutrients are released.

Alexander Oliferenko is the president and chief science officer or EigenChem Technologies Inc., and he and the company have been working in the Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator in Alachua for the past three years.

The idea was to set out and conduct research with recycling waste and find a way to reduce the harmful impacts it can have on the environment, Oliferenko said.

“The plan was to liquefy rubber, and we actually discovered, quite accidentally, a very good nitrogen fertilizer,” Oliferenko said. “Our product is approximately 60 percent fertilizer and 40 percent rubber, after the reaction.”

It looks similar to rubber, but has a very different composition to it. It appears to have little holes or pores, and is much softer as well.

The patented product is called NTireForm, which, when broken down stands for nitrogen, tire and formula. It also can be read like entire-form, for a complete formula, Oliferenko said.

It works just like any other fertilizer, until it reacts with water. Standard fertilizers are almost completely washed away when it rains, but NTireForm absorbs the water, swells up and releases the fertilizer over time. It takes roughly two to three months for the process to completely release all the nutrients, Oliferenko said.

“After the nutrients have been dispersed into the ground, the left-over agent is incredibly absorbent,” Oliferenko said. “It is very sponge-like, and can hold almost eight times its own volume in water.”

The company began working on the product several years ago. Six months ago, it received a $150,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to test their idea and work on a proof-of-concept. Oliferenko turned in his last report for the grant two weeks ago.

“We had a good proof-of-concept and produced eight batches of material,” Oliferenko said. “We also managed to add potassium to our product, making it an even greater fertilizer than before.”

Now, the project is set to enter phase two. They have applied for another grant, this one for $750,000. For the next two years, EigenChem is going to be working alongside Jason Kruse in the Environment and Horticulture Department at the University of Florida to conduct field trials.

The main facet of phase two is going to be in commercialization and customer identification, Oliferenko said.

“I think the best application for our product in the field trials will be in turf-grass management,” Oliferenko said. “It could be golf courses or sports fields. But, it will also be an excellent product for landscaping and other lawn maintenance.”

EigenChem is a notably successful business out of the Sid Martin Biotech Incubator, said Patti Breedlove, the director of the incubator. The average stay for a company in the program is five years, but it can be more or less.

“A company must apply for admission, and not all are accepted,” Breedlove said. “Each year, they are reviewed to see if they will be renewed for another year, and graduation is customized for each company.”

The incubator provides business guidance, introduces companies to investors and helps with networking the young companies as well, Breedlove said.

The program lowers barriers to entering the market by giving access to affordable lab space and offering leadership throughout, said Nathalie McCrate, a public relations intern for the incubator.

“Any early-stage bioscience company has to overcome daunting challenges, and Sid Martin helps the likes of EigenChem translate scientific discoveries from the lab bench to the marketplace,” McCrate said.

“It truly is a great facility,”Oliferenko said. “We started with just two of us and an idea, and now we have two full-time and two part-time workers on the project.”

Oliferenko started three years ago with a problem he hoped to solve.

“It is always tempting to work on turning waste into a valued product,” he said. “We took that desire and turned it into a great opportunity.”

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