Science Corp. set to expand RTP facility

A California medical technology startup plans to expand the Research Triangle Park facility it bought in 2022, adding 50 jobs and spending up to $65 million on the project.

Science Corp. in Alameda, Calif., is developing brain-computer interface devices such as a visual prosthesis for degenerative retinal diseases. The devices will be manufactured by the company’s Science Foundry division, using its MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) foundry at Alexander Drive and Cornwallis Road.

Science Corp. bought the foundry from French company MEMSCAP, which in turn had acquired it from JDS Uniphase in 2002.

Durham County commissioners have approved a $930,000 incentive award for the 57,000-square-foot expansion. The award requires Science Corp. to meet job creation, investment and community partnership targets. In addition to developing its own devices, Science Corp. foundry services at its RTP center to other companies needing MEMS capabilities for advanced medical devices.

“Our long-term goal is to become the go-to manufacturing partner for the next generation of medical and brain-computer interface devices,” Kara Zappitelli, director of Science Foundry, said in a blog post on the Science Corp. website. “The construction of our proposed facility, and our state and local partnerships, will enable us to increase production and achieve our goals. We are thrilled to be a part of the Research Triangle community and are very grateful for this support.”

Science Corp. is focused initially on devices that restore vision. CEO Max Hodak, a graduate of Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering, founded the company in 2021 after serving as president of Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain technology startup.

The company’s visual prosthetic implant technology, called PRIMA, helps restore vision by stimulating bipolar cells in the retina. In retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa, photoreceptors in the eye fail, leading to vision loss. PRIMA, which is implanted behind the retina, bypasses the photoreceptors to directly stimulate cells. Patients wear a special set of glasses with a built-in projector to send light signals to the implant.

Science Corp. acquired the technology from Paris-based Pixium Vision SA in April. PRIMA is in a clinical study in Europe for treatment of age-related macular degeneration and is undergoing a feasibility study in the United States, according to Science’s website.