Lincoln biotechnology company Geneseek is opening on the global stage.

The company, which has 18 employees and operates out of the University of Nebraska Technology Park, plans to open offices in India and Britain.

“The bottom line is we are trying to go global, and these are the two big pushes we are making right now,” said Abe Oommen, Geneseek’s president and CEO.

The office in Britain will be in a development called BioCity Nottingham, which houses dozens of small and start-up biotech companies. Nottingham is about two hours north of London.

Oommen said the company is opening the office to be closer to its clients in Europe and, particularly, Britain, among them the Roslin Institute, where Dolly the sheep was cloned, and the British Alpaca Society.

He hopes the move will foster growth in Europe.

“European expansion is an important component of GeneSeek’s growth strategy,” Oommen said “By selecting BioCity Nottingham as the location for our European operations, we’ll be able to leverage the region’s skill base, well-established science industry, and access all of our key markets.”

If Geneseek’s move to England could be considered a big step, the move to India might be more like a quantum leap.

Known for its work in animal genetic research, including tracing the origin of the first confirmed case of mad cow disease in the U.S., Geneseek hopes to move into human genetic research in India. 

Oommen said the human research would focus on the same areas, such as gene sequencing and diagnostic services, as the company’s work on animals.

He declined to give more details, saying the plans were in “very preliminary” stages.

But he said the company will likely be releasing more detailed information in the coming months.  The office will be opening in Hyderabad. 

It may seem unusual to suddenly make the jump from small Nebraska company to global tech firm, Oommen said that once you know how to do certain things well, it doesn’t matter where you do it from.

“Today, business, in my opinion at least, is never going to be local,” he said. “It’s always going to be global.”

Reach Matt Olberding at 473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.