Patrick Cunningham, left, chairman and co-founder of Identigen Ltd., visits with lab technician Bobby Birhiray at the company's North American headquarters, 4824 Quail Crest Place in Lawrence. On Wednesday, Birhiray demonstrated how cattle IDs are scanned into a database. Identigen provides DNA testing to the agri-food industry, with major operations in Ireland and now in Lawrence.

Identigen Ltd. has big plans for Lawrence – starting with a dozen scientific, technical and support personnel in town to serve as the Irish company’s headquarters for North American operations, a location anticipated to grow to 200 or 300 employees within the next two to five years.

But two of the company’s top officials – Patrick Cunningham, the parent company’s co-founder and chairman; and Don Marvin, Identigen’s president and chief executive officer for North America – also are counting on growth in area businesses, institutions and potential government operations as their own bioscience company aims to thrive.

“We think this company can grow within the next couple of years into a $100 million revenue company, because the business is out there to be done,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham traveled from Dublin, Ireland, last week to join Marvin and others in celebrating the grand opening of the Identigen complex at 4824 Quail Crest Place, where the company conducts daily its DNA “TraceBack” testing on as many as 20,000 meat samples from customers around the world.

The executives thanked the government officials, business leaders and others – from the Kansas Bioscience Authority to the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce – who helped put together incentives and show them that Lawrence was the place to set up shop.

They also agreed to answer some questions about the future – of the company in Lawrence, partnerships with Kansas University and growth of bioscience efforts in the region.

Some excerpts:

Identigen spun out of research conducted at Trinity College in Dublin. Do you see more opportunities like that here, working with Kansas University?

Cunningham: “Absolutely. I mean, we grew out of a university research group, and we still retain strong contacts there. And, in fact, a lot of our developmental research is still contracted back to colleagues, former colleagues, associates in the university, and we hope to develop the same kind of linkages here. That kind of university-business bridge is something that we’re very happy to be able to make work in our own environment, and we expect to replicate it here.”

How important is it for universities to recognize the potential for commercializing research?

Cunningham: “I think every university in the world – not just here in the U.S., but in Europe also – recognizes that a university has a different place in society than it did a couple of generations ago. A couple generations ago, it was there essentially to train people for professional services, like doctors and so on.

“Today it’s, in fact, a kind of powerhouse of the economy. And as we’ve seen with a lot the electronics and the pharma industry that has grown out of university spinoffs, a lot of the wealth and the success of today’s economies in fact grows out of that kind of origin. We’re just one example of that. There are dozens of others, and I expect that kind of linkage will grow rather than go the other way.”

Two sites in Kansas – Manhattan and Leavenworth – are in the running for a National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, which would cost $451 million and generate dozens of high-tech jobs and other spending. How important is it for Kansas to get that lab?

Marvin (who serves on a task force appointed by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to work on securing the lab for Kansas): “It’s a source of future technology. It’s a source of employees. It’s a source of innovation. It’s a source of great science. And we believe our science is on the leading edge today, and we want to keep it there in the future, so we’ll continue to make improvements to our science and technology, and having those types of capabilities in the state of Kansas makes it easier for us do that.”

How can Identigen help Lawrence land more bioscience companies?

Marvin: “I think we’re probably a poster boy for what’s going on here in Lawrence, and that’s important.

“We don’t mind playing that leadership role. Bioscience is important to this state. Let’s face it: We’re a land-locked state. Most of the bioscience and biotechnology is on both coasts. We have some really good natural resources here, whether it’s the ethanol plants or the wheat or our cattle industry. And we have to take advantage of that and we ought to be able to tell that story. :

“I think what we do today and how successful we are going forward is going to portend well for the state of Kansas.”