Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability

Don’t Dump your Pumpkin! Post-Halloween Uses

Posted on by Riley Bell

Pumpkins have historically been a sure sign of the Halloween season in the United States. Although they are most used for Halloween, there are many ways to use pumpkins after those spooky October days.

Every year in America, more than 1 billion pounds of pumpkin gets tossed in the trash and wasted. Instead of leaving them to rot in the landfill, try one of these ways to get more use out of your pumpkin after this year’s Halloween!

Hopefully, after reading this list, you are able to revel in the fact that a pumpkin is not just for Halloween. Not only can this help you save money, save time, and cook delicious dishes, but it also takes a much more eco-friendly approach instead of wasting food or creating garbage.

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iGEM Malaga: Recycling Waste Olive Oil into Paint for Kids

Posted on by Promega

Today’s blog was written in collaboration with Melissa Martin, a global marketing intern with Promega. She is a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she is double majoring in zoology and life sciences communication, with a certificate in environmental studies.

In the best circumstances, leftover cooking oil ends up in a recycling center and is eventually burned as a biofuel. But it is also frequently dumped down kitchen drains where it proceeds to pollute sewage, water treatment facilities, and waterways.

Is there a more valuable and less harmful way to use up waste cooking oil? A group of students at the University of Málaga thinks they have a solution that will also make science more approachable and exciting for children.

Picture of UMA_MALAGA team in their lab where they are working on a project to recycle waste olive oil
The UMA_MALAGA team. Front row, left to right: Natalia Cardoso, Fran Antequera, Isa Antequera, and Alex Jiménez. Back row, left to right: Maria Rodríguez, Alvaro Jiménez, Juan Herrera, Alex Rojo, Dani Díaz, and Christina Viúdez.
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How to Commit to Global Responsibility with Local Accountability

Posted on by Michele Arduengo

This summer, Dr. Anette Leue, Director of Digital Marketing and PR Promega GmbH, represented Promega Corporation in Sustainability Day activities sponsored by Smart Lab Connects. Dr. Leue presented Promega Corporation’s corporate responsibility activities and joined a panel discussion about global responsibility with representatives from Eppendorf, Max Planck Sustainability Network, and NIUB Sustainability Consultants.

Dr. Anette Leue, pictured, talked about global responsibility as part of Sustainability Day.

As the Sustainability Day activities progressed, what became apparent is that calls for sustainable business growth are coming from all directions. Customers of life sciences companies are asking, “what are you doing to be a responsible company”? And, employees also are asking the same question of their employers. This interest sustainability and global responsibility by customers, employees and local communities is bringing into sharp focus the activities of companies to be good corporate citizens. Sustainability and global responsibility programs are no longer nice extras for life science companies, but rather are requirements for doing business.

“Sustainability is not a “nice to have”, but something that should be intrinsically implemented in the companies.”

Dr. Anette Leue
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Greening the Lab: Tips from Lab Manager’s Green Lab Digital Summit

Posted on by Promega

Today’s guest blog was written in collaboration with Melissa Martin, a former global marketing intern with Promega. She is a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she is double majoring in zoology and life sciences communication, with a certificate in environmental studies.

Infographic illustrating the places where simple actions can be taken to help build greener labs: greening the lab

Schools, businesses and organizations across the globe are increasingly implementing sustainable practices within their workspaces. From large-scale projects like installing solar arrays to behind-the-scenes initiatives like composting cafeteria food waste, “going green” is a reality of the modern workplace.

But one workspace otherwise known for being cutting edge and innovative is still struggling to implement the practices and culture of sustainability.

In her role as a teaching lab coordinator at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Nanobiotechnology (INTB), Christine Duke noticed a contrast between campus-wide sustainability initiatives and research labs:

“There is something missing here. Why aren’t we doing anything in the labs?”

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2030 Sustainability Goals: Our Most Ambitious Ever

Posted on by Jordan Villanueva
Solar Panels on three Promega Madison buildings - Corporate Responsibility focuses on sustainability and supporting our employees, customers and communities.

The Promega Corporate Responsibility Report captures a variety of stories of how we’ve supported our employees, customers and communities over the past year. For example, in 2020, 735 million samples were tested for SARS-CoV-2 using Promega reagents. We launched a new scholarship to support students from underserved backgrounds, and we completed our three largest solar arrays on our Madison, WI campus. As we look to the future, we recognize that there are always more opportunities to reduce our environmental impact. That’s why we’re setting our most ambitious sustainability goals ever.

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Shifting Conservation Status: Endangered Species Get a Second Chance

Posted on by Riley Bell

On May 21st, 2021 we celebrate National Endangered Species Day. This day helps raise awareness and increase knowledge of endangered species and wildlife, in hopes to save them. We have been lucky enough to collaborate with organizations and partners to help save species that were on the brink of extinction. Take a look at some species that are hoping for a second chance to survive and thrive.

Kit Elizabeth Ann the Black-Footed Ferret

Picture of black footed ferret Elizabeth Anne, one of the endangered species that Revive & Restore is working on.

In February 2018, resurrection efforts began for the then endangered black-footed ferret. With the help of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Revive and Restore, partners ViaGen Pets & Equine, San Diego Zoo Global, and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the successful cloning of a black-footed ferret was announced in February 2021. “Elizabeth Ann” was cloned from Willa, a female ferret that died in 1988, using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Elizabeth Ann’s genetic variants reveal a lot of much-needed hope for the genetic diversity of wild ferrets. Check out the full story on Elizabeth Ann’s journey here!

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Growing Through Sustainability Sensibilities

Posted on by Riley Bell
Inside Kornberg Center at our Fitchburg, WI campus.

We recently announced the opening of our newly constructed Kornberg Center research and development facility on our Fitchburg, WI campus. While we grow our company through new facilities around the globe, it is vitally important that we expand our sustainability efforts along the way. We are committed to preserving and improving our environment for a thriving future.

Prioritizing Sustainability with Best Practices from Around the World

Incorporating sustainability best practices from around the world is key to our long-term planning. Each new Promega facility is designed to meet ambitious sustainability objectives, and innovations incorporated in one project inform the next. We also align projects to meet United Nations Global Compact Sustainable Development Goals. All of our locations collectively contribute to minimizing the effect we have on our environment.

Here are a few of many sustainability initiatives Promega practices around the world:

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Sanitation and World Water Day 2021: What Would You Change about Water in Your Area?

Posted on by Kari Kenefick

Today, March 22, is World Water Day 2021, recognized by the United Nations and people around the world as a time to focus on the goal of available clean water for all.

United Nations World Water Day 2021 Graphic

Clean water for drinking is essential for our existence. A human can only survive without water for about three days.

While water is essential for life, the need goes beyond simple consumption. As is true of so many things, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us the need for sanitation—being able to wash our hands, our clothes and ourselves with clean water, being able to rinse foods and a safe means by which to dispose of, or recycle the dirty water afterwards. And, even the need to monitor wastewater to help track infectious disease outbreaks.

World Bank and Sustainable Development Goal #6 (#SDG6)

The World Bank provides an extravagance of data on their sustainable development goal #6, Clean Water and Sanitation, noting the importance of water “for health, the environment and sustainable development”.
To add to the needs surrounding water and its scarcity, the World Bank states that:

Despite gains, more than half the world’s people lack access to safely managed sanitation services.

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The Wild Genomes Program: Optimizing Conservation Outcomes Using Genomics

Posted on by Natalie Larsen

Although it is easy to get swept up in the dark year that was 2020, one advantage of overwhelming darkness is it makes it easier to find the bright spots, the beacons of hope, the people working to make the world a better place. One of these bright spots was the launch of Wild Genomes, a new biobanking and genome sequencing program through Revive & Restore.

Back in 2018, the Catalyst Science Fund was established by Revive & Restore with a 3-year pledge from Promega for $1 million annually. The purpose of the fund is to help support proof-of-concept projects and to advance the development of new biotechnology tools to address some of the most challenging and urgent problems in conservation that currently lack viable solutions, including genetic bottlenecks, invasive species, climate change and wildlife diseases. 

Through this fund, the Wild Genomes program was launched, with the goal of getting sequencing and biobanking tools into the hands of people working to protect biodiversity right now, and to help support them in applying genomic technologies towards their wildlife conservation efforts.

In their first request for proposals , the competitive Wild Genomes program received over 58 applications from researchers in 19 different countries, all of which aimed to address various species conservation issues using applied genomic technologies. The second round of projects, to be announced this Spring, will focus solely on marine species. Take a look at these first 11 amazing projects that have been awarded funding and the species conservation challenges they are taking on below:

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Buckling Down to Scale Up: Providing Support Through the Pandemic

Posted on by Riley Bell

The past year has been a challenge. Amidst the pandemic, we’re thankful for the tireless work of our dedicated employees. With their support, we have continuously stayed engaged and prepared during all stages of the COVID-19 pandemic so that we can serve our customers at the highest levels.

How We Got Here

The persistent work by our teams has made a great impact on the support we can provide for scientists and our community during the pandemic. From scaling up manufacturing to investing in new automation, every effort has helped.

Promega has a long history of manufacturing reagents, assays, and benchtop instruments for both researching and testing viruses. When the pandemic began in 2020, we responded quickly and efficiently to unprecedented demands. In the past year, we experienced an approximately 10-fold increase in demand for finished catalog and custom products for COVID-19 testing. In response to these demands, we increased production lines. One year ago, we ran one shift five days per week. Currently, we run three shifts seven days per week. This change has allowed 50 different Promega products to support SARS-CoV-2 testing globally in hospitals, clinical diagnostic laboratories, and molecular diagnostic manufacturers. Additionally, our clinical diagnostics materials make up about 2/3 of COVID-19 PCR tests on the global market today. Since January 2020, Promega has supplied enough reagents to enable testing an estimated 700 million samples for SARS-CoV-2 worldwide.

Developments and Advances

Promega products are used in viral and vaccine research. This year, our technologies have been leveraged for virtually every step of pandemic response from understanding SARS-CoV-2 to testing to research studies looking at vaccine response.

Promega product: The Lumit™ Dx SARS-CoV-2 Immunoassay

Who Got Us Here

We are extremely grateful for our employees. In the past year, we hired over 100 people and still have positions open today. While welcoming newcomers, this challenging year also reinforced the importance of our collaborative culture. Relationships at Promega have been built over multiple years. The long history of our teams allows us to stay coordinated while prioritizing product distribution to customers across the globe. It also leads to effective communication with colleagues and vendors. Those leading our manufacturing operations team, for example, have an average tenure of 15 years. Their history in collaborating through challenging situations helps them quickly focus where needed most.

Our 600 on-site employees support product manufacturing, quality, and R&D. They do it all while remaining COVID-conscious by social distancing, wearing masks, working split shifts, and restricting movement between buildings. While we continue to practice physical safety precautions, we also prioritize our employees’ mental health and wellness. Promega provides a variety of wellness resources including phone and video mental health sessions, virtual fitness and nutrition classes, and stress and anxiety tools.

What’s to Come

While we acknowledge that the COVID-19 is not over, we are proud of the support we have been able to provide to customers working both on pandemic research and critical research not related to COVID-19. Our policies of long-term planning and investing in the future has allowed us to respond quickly and creatively and learn from the experience.

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