MetaMorphix® Inc. was formed in 1994 as a research collaboration between Genetics Institute, now a part of Wyeth (a pharmaceutical company) and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The purpose of the collaboration was to discover and characterize Growth Differentiation Factors. The collaboration discovered 16 unique growth factors. MetaMorphix®'s initial platform technology is based on one of these factors, Myostatin.

On March 1 2002 , MetaMorphix® acquired its technology genomics, from Celera Genomics, the biotechnology company that sequenced the human genome. MetaMorphix® also obtained Celera’s AgGen operation, a wholly-owned subsidiary and one of the largest animal genotyping facilities in the world.