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Ceno Tech inks $200K Bahrain contract

Friday, August 12, 2011

Tracey Drury
Buffalo Business First Reporter - Business First

A Buffalo biotechnology company says a new contract with a Persian Gulf aerospace company could open up new markets.

Ceno Technologies Inc. signed a $200,000 deal with Mena Aerospace, the exclusive provider of aviation services in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The contract calls for using Ceno’s proprietary technology to make an airplane hangar invisible to radar systems to enable better handling of aircraft coming in and out of Bahrain International Airport.

“We have to take this large aircraft hanger and make it radar invisible,” says Scottpatrick Sellitto, founding partner.

Dealing with radar

The project, which should be completed by January, includes treating the exterior of the 16,000-square-foot hangar building with an 8-millimeter-thick coating that both absorbs and dissipates radar signals, then covering it with a fine metal mesh fabric. The result should make the building invisible to radar systems.

Sellitto says this will be the first full-scale installation of the technology. Talks are underway to potentially license the technology to a radar technology company.

“This opens up a whole new market for us,” he says.

The contract with Mena Aerospace grew out of research completed as part of a project with the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and Penn State University, Sellitto says.

Founded in 2006, Ceno just completed a reorganization that brings on new partners and includes the spin-off of its bio division into Ascent Biotech Inc. Partners in both companies include Sellitto, founding partner Dr. Daniel Viders; Dema Mahmoud, research director; and Keith Blakely, chairman of The InVentures Group Inc.    , who is now managing partner.

Ceno Technologies specializes in high-tech particle research, including coating and treating microscopic spheres for use in drug development, personal care and military applications.

The company moved this summer from space in the University at Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics & Life Sciences into temporary lab space at the Innovation Center while a larger 3,000-square-foot office and lab are completed in the building. The company is working to recruit up to 10 PhD level researchers.

Revenue for 2011 is expected to top $1 million. The firm is also continuing to develop photodynamic therapy (PDT) technology with proprietary compounds to treat cancer tumors while developing cosmetic applications for acne, uneven pigmentation, wrinkles and rosacea.
The work on the cosmetic side is also helping to attract potential investors: Sellitto is hoping to land $2-5 million in venture capital support.