Vita Aidelos takes a new step in its strategy this month moving its headquarters to Bizkaia Technology Park to accommodate the company growth. In its new facilities, Vita Aidelos will increase its personnel to extend product sales throughout Europe, and will start new R&D lines related with the detection of pathogens, one of its two lines of business.

Currently, Vita Aidelos main area of work is in the development and sales of practical biotechnology kits and multimedia material (interactive CD-ROMs and programmes that can be downloaded online), all for the educational sector. It also deals in specialised training services in biosciences and practical consulting.

The biotechnology kits are protected by European patents, which have allowed Vita Aidelos to generate a range of 9 different products that can be combined with each other. These 9 products are kits that fall into two categories, Molecular Biology and Microbial Biotechnology, which bring biotechnology closer to society via simple experiments.

Students and users of these kits use molecular biology techniques to extract bacterial DNA, identify species of fish, detect varieties of transgenic vegetables or understand forensic applications such as the diagnosis of family relationships. Other kits bring people closer to the uses of enzymes (proteins) and microorganisms in industry, including the food industry (for example, the production of yoghurt) and the environmental industry (biodetergents).

Students using these kits, which include interactive guides with animations, step-by-step explanations, mind maps, work protocols and self-checking questionnaires, can do practical work in the classroom or in workshops in science spaces or museums without needing additional material or reagents.

Vita Aidelos products provide important support materials for classes, and are aimed both at teachers and students in the area of biosciences or specialised subjects in training cycles related with microbiology (Clinical Diagnosis, Control and Analysis, etc.).

In 2010, the company will market these products in other parts of Europe. Vita Aidelos has two other European patents: a method for loading DNA samples into an agarose gel, which is simpler and cheaper than conventional systems, and also a disposable piece of equipment which is a component for electrophoresis, with various applications.

Vita Aidelos shareholders include Seed Capital Bizkaia (a venture capital company attached to the Bizkaia Regional Government), and is also financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the National Innovation Enterprise (ENISA), part of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce. The company works closely with the BIOMICS Research Group from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), with who they are collaborating on a new R&D line.