R&D gun for hire

If ever a history of Long Island biotechnology is written, microbiologist Lorrence Green should get a footnote.

His feat: inventing what may be the Island's first commercial biotechnology product in 1981. It was then that Green, senior scientist at Plainview-based Analytab Products, devised a test for measuring streptococcus antibodies that can cause rheumatic fever.

"The idea was patented," Green recalled. "It was that novel."

Over a dozen years at Analytab Products, Green developed 40 test kits used at clinics and hospitals to detect nasty microbes like candida, shigella and salmonella. By 1993, Green was director of new product development and product support. But the previous year, Analytab had been acquired by a French company, bioMerieux Vitek, and plans were afoot to move the company to St. Louis.

"They offered me a job as their director of research and development," Green said. "I had a nice salary, five weeks of paid vacation, but I made a decision to stay on Long Island. I was in a lot of local scientific groups, and I just didn't want to pick up and go."