Protean BioDiagnostics to Create Jobs After Moving Company Headquarters to Orlando
Protean BioDiagnostics' move to Lake Nona will generate up to 15 high-skilled jobs.
“Dr. Anthony Magliocco was searching online for new lab space for his formerly Tampa-based medical technology company, Protean BioDiagnostics Inc., when he came across Lake Nona.
The Orlando community possessed several of the features he was looking for: available lab space, proximity to an airport and near other companies. Last August, Magliocco took what he described as a “field trip” to Lake Nona. He was impressed and decided to move his company’s operations and 15 employees to the University of Central Florida Lake Nona business incubator, Magliocco told Orlando Business Journal.
Protean opened its new headquarters in Lake Nona in July, and will more than double in size during the next two years. Those jobs will primarily be in the medical field, developing new testing and diagnostics procedures.
‘Rapid Scale Up’
The company will hire up to 15 people by 2022. The new positions will include lab technologists, scientists, digital pathology and artificial intelligence experts, scientific coordinators and traditional business functions such as customer service, sales and marketing and graphic design.
The wages for these roles vary, with technologists starting at $20-plus per hour and pathologists earning more than $95 per hour, Magliocco said. In Orlando, the majority of these roles pay more than the local average annual salary of $46,140, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Protean wants to grow even more in the future. The company is launching a Series A fundraising round, and it’s working to expand its services, offered in the U.S. and Canada, to India, Magliocco said. That’ll bring more work to the Orlando headquarters.
“We’re envisioning a rapid scale up of our lab to provide services locally, nationally and internationally,” Magliocco said.
Economic Diversification
Protean is a strong addition to the region’s tech industry, Carol Ann Dykes Logue, UCF director of programs & operations for innovation districts & incubation program, said in a prepared statement. “We truly believe this is a company that will be on the forefront of Central Florida’s biosciences industry for years to come."
Protean emphasizes collaboration with other companies, and it has worked with a number of partners to evaluate new testing technology for Covid-19, Magliocco said. The company’s focus is improving diagnosis and treatment of cancer, but it can apply its services to other areas as well, Magliocco added.
Developing small businesses is important for Central Florida, as those firms can add local jobs and create economic impact as they scale. Startups also create innovative solutions for businesses, help develop a community and make it easier for other new companies to form in the future.
Growing high-wage industries like health care and technology are more critical now, as the pandemic has ravaged the region’s convention, hospitality and tourism sectors. That’s contributed to a 15.3% unemployment rate in Orlando, higher than the state average.
Initiatives to generate a more diverse economy are imperative, Rob Panepinto said during OBJ’s recent Affordable Housing Roundtable. Panepinto is the director of innovation districts strategy at UCF, as well as chairman of the Central Florida Housing Action Team.
“Hopefully, not just at the local level but the state level as well, there will be more of a focus… on planting that flag in the sand that, over the next 10 years, we got to start making those changes.”“