TriVext Corporation is a private genetics research firm based in the Citadel Building in Lightningburg, a suburb of Thunder City. It also had a branch in a secret underground facility in Chicago that was operated separately.
In March, 1996, it discovered the metagene, a gene that exists in all humans and can grant a person superpowers when it is activated. It announced the discovery of the metagene in August, 1996.
The head of TriVext in Thunder City, and the head of metagene research, was Dr. Zachary Knell. The assistant head of metagene research was Dr. Charles Walker until he was transferred in September, 2001, to head the Chicago branch.
By 2000, TriVext secretly developed a method of cloning (despite its being illegal) in order to duplicate powerful metahumans as well as to activate and manipulate the metagene. TriVext performed cloning at its Medical Duplication Sanctuary (MeDuSa, nicknamed the "Clone Dome" after Knell's nickname of "Doctor Clone"), a half-dome facility in the Citadel Building. There, in September, 2000, it successfully created a clone of Edulcore Cicciotto, called Eddie, who was brought to term and "born" in June, 2001.
In 2001, TriVext began testing U.S. citizens to find those with an active metagene, beginning with newborns and all hospitalized or institutionalized people. According to Dr. Henry Quantos of the Mandelovia-based Malvan-X Corporation, TriVext was building an army of metahumans for the U.S. government in order to fight a possible extraterrestrial invasion. Quantos believed the corporation's goal was to test all U.S. citizens and possibly everyone in the world for the metagene in order to build this large metahuman army.