Mini marvel

Sarasota chemist and entrepreneur Alexey Gusev grew up in Moscow, so the cold and dreary winters in northwest Ohio were a cinch when he earned a Ph.D. at Bowling Green.

It was the drastic differences between the socialism he knew as a child and the capitalism he encountered in the States that really left an imprint on Gusev. And when faced with a choice of chasing a tenure-track job in academia or starting a company, Gusev chose the latter. The raw get-it-done-or-else value system of running a business, he says, was more enticing than the cushy comforts of a teaching gig. “From day one,” says Gusev, “it's been a race to have a revenue product.”

That race, with a company Gusev co-founded in 2010, US Nano, could be nearing a key milestone. In June, the Sarasota-based company plans to hold its final test runs for its patented core product, nano-biosensors. After that, Gusev believes US Nano will move into sales mode.