Grenova News

Each year, Grenova welcomes a team of talented interns to its Richmond headquarters to develop new skillsets and to prepare for future careers that will impact communities all over the globe. Throughout the summer, college students participating in Grenova’s internship program are able to gain valuable, firsthand experiences in a cutting-edge manufacturing facility that is creating the world’s only pipette tip washing technology. In addition, they become part of a family of passionate Grenovaians working to spread the word about reducing plastics in the lab industry, and throughout the biotech and life sciences community.  

Grenova's location in Richmond, Virginia is an essential part of the company’s identity. The sustainable biotech firm has been headquartered in Richmond ever since the company’s founding 6 years ago. 

After working in the laboratory consumables market for eight years, Ali Safavi, founder and CEO of Grenova Solutions, realized that the industry would not be able to sustain itself indefinitely. Working as a laboratory engineer, Safavi took notice of the sheer amount of plastic waste accumulating around him each day. He quickly saw that pipette tips, which he previously considered small and easily dispensable, were to blame for a sizable portion of the laboratory plastic waste created. There was no way to reuse pipette tips, and recycling these products was often costly. Safavi explains, “I worked in the industry for quite some time, and during that time I discovered that there is a hole in the laboratory consumables market. It’s a linear, not cyclical model; it’s not sustainable and it won’t last forever. For me, I found that plastic consumables were being discarded after a single use, and I saw that there was no way that the industry could sustain itself forever.” 

Throughout the current health crisis, Grenova has had one goal— to leverage our technology and expertise to help fight the spread of COVID-19. Richmond Inno, a media outlet featuring innovative businesses, recently recognized Grenova’s efforts in the healthcare and life sciences community during this time of crisis. Grenova was nominated as a finalist in the Crisis Innovator Award, which honors companies stepping up in the face of coronavirus.  

Laboratory consumables like pipette tips are often forgotten when labs across the globe look for ways to save money and the environment. Although small and seemingly insignificant, discarding pipette tips can have an enormous impact on a laboratory’s carbon footprint. Recent research conducted by Grenova Inc. has shown that the company’s pipette tip cleaners effectively clean tips without carryover and decrease a company’s carbon footprint by 93% per wash. In addition, if a 96-count rack of standard, polypropylene-made pipette tips are washed with a Tipnovus, a laboratory’s carbon footprint will be decreased by 15.18 lbs. per 10-minute wash cycle. So why has every pharmaceutical, biotechnological, and clinical lab not adopted this technology yet in 2020? 

Companies around the world are increasingly realizing the importance of reducing their plastic waste. Aramark, the Coca Cola Company, and McDonalds are only a few of the large businesses who have committed to reducing their single-use plastics and increasing their use of reusable and compostable products. Big names are starting to use their platforms and resources to help drive real change to reduce single-use plastics.  

American inventor and tech mogul Steve Jobs once said, “The only way to do great work, is to love what you do”. At Grenova, this moto rings true. One of the most important characteristics of a job is a fun, inspiring, and welcoming workplace culture.  

Grenova is proud to join the Technical Sales Association at the “270 Research Corridor” Biomedical Equipment and Supplies Exhibit at Johns Hopkins University, Montgomery County Campus. Maryland is now home to the third largest concentration of life sciences companies in the United States. The majority of these companies as well as major research institutions are located in the I-270 corridor and are encouraged to attend the exhibit on June 27, 2019.

Grenova actively supports and engages in the AACC’s mission to help lab professionals adapt to change and do what they do best -- provide vital insight and guidance so patients get the care they need. Like AACC, Grenova is dedicated to clinical laboratory science and its application to healthcare. At the upcoming 71st AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo, Grenova will showcase its cutting edge science and technology that is shaping the future of laboratory medicine.

Grenova is pleased to announce that it will demonstrate how innovative laboratories across the country are eliminating lab waste and saving money at the 67th ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics. Hosted June 2 - 6, 2019, the ASMS Conference will be held in Atlanta at the Georgia World Congress Center. Here, Grenova will showcase its patented tip washer systems, which have been validated and implemented in CLIA and CAP certified production labs on multiple assays without carryover.