Following the passing of her mentor from post-menopausal cancer, Loretta Mayer sold her assets and moved into cancer research to learn more about heart disease in women. Mayer holds a B.A. in sociology from the University of California, San Diego and a M.S. and a Ph.D. in Biology/Biological Sciences from Northern Arizona University. In a post-doctoral appointment with the College of Medicine at the University of Arizona, Dr. Loretta Mayer and Dr. Pat Hoyer co-developed a chemical method of inducing peri- and post-menopause in rodents. Mayer later joined forces with Dr. Cheryl Dyer intending to further study post-menopausal mice, but after considerable interest and application requests from colleagues they realized they had created a useful commercial product as a result of their research. Senestech was officially incorporated in 2004. SenesTech was featured on the TV show"Brave New World" with Stephen Hawking.
Products
ContraPest
Senestech's first product, ContraPest®, is a liquid contraceptive designed to reduce fertility in brown and black rats. ContraPest is a form of a birth control or contraceptive, not a sterilant, so a continuous supply is required to maintain reduced populations. ContraPest was submitted for registration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on August 23, 2015, and the EPA granted registration approval for ContraPest effective August 2, 2016. Removal of the "Restricted Use Only" label from ContraPest was ordered by the EPA in October 2018. The active ingredients of ContraPest are 4-vinylcyclohexene diepoxide, which reduces oocytes in immature ovarian follicles and triptolide reducing reproductive effects on both males and females.
Deployment
Currently the city of Washington D.C. is utilizing a 5,000 unit, four-year supply of ContraPest® to be used in all eight wards of the city in an attempt to combat the increasing rat population. Other notable locations include deployment by Pestmaster Services at a major transit agency in Southern California, as well as by the St. Louis Gateway Arch Park Foundation in Missouri.
Awards
Senestech has received a number of awards including: 2014 – AZBio Fast Lane Award in honor of its achievements in outstanding milestones 2014 – TiE50 Company in recognition of it as a top life-sciences start-up in Silicon Valley 2015 – SBA Tibbetts Award recognizing high-tech small businesses for innovative and outstanding contributions
