December 08, 2016
Peter Christey, PhD
CEO, General Automation Lab Technologies (GALT)
General Automation Lab Technologies, Inc. (GALT) is transforming microbiome research and microbial product development with our innovative high throughput microbiology research platform. Technology commonly used in microbiology research labs today – petri dishes, Bunsen burners, loops, tubes and shakers – is over 100 years old and has low productivity. As a result, less than 1% of microbial species on earth today have ever been cultivated in a laboratory. The uncultivated 99% represents a huge untapped reservoir of novel capabilities and scientific insight. With explosion of interest in the microbiome, the rise of synthetic biology and greater appreciation of the incredible diversity that exists in the microbial world there is a dire need for new improved research tools to drive our understanding of complex microbial populations and their interactions with their hosts. We are currently focused on solving two core problems in microbiology: 1) cultivating target microbes that are difficult or impossible to cultivate using current technologies, and 2) screening microbiomes, strain collections or engineered populations of microbes for target phenotypes or metabolites.
Peter Christey, PhD, is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of GALT. Peter has extensive experience developing and commercializing instrument based solutions for life science laboratories. Prior to co-founding GALT, Peter spent 10 years at Applied Biosystems/Life Technologies in multiple roles including leading the DNA forensics product line and General Manager for the Sanger sequencing business.
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