LabCentral

LabCentral supports creation of innovative startup biotechnology companies by providing a world-class environment for entrepreneurs, and a fully functional life sciences laboratory within the Kendall Square innovation hub.

To paraphrase an important recent article from Doug Crawford (Executive Director QB3/UCSF):

Once biotech entrepreneurs are convinced that they should try to bring their work to market, either with or without bridging-the-gap funding, they are often astounded by the next mental adjustment: the amount of effort required to turn their attractive innovation into a useful product. Besides securing intellectual property and developing a business plan, the budding entrepreneur must find a location for the new company – ideally with low rent, important equipment provided, access to supporting services and other needed resources (*).

LabCentral provides all of this in the center of the world’s most active life sciences cluster, Kendall Square. We are next door to MIT, Novartis and Pfizer and close to many other large and medium-sized pharma companies, funding sources and academic institutions. We plan to be the premier laboratory facility for the next generation powerhouse biotech start-up.

Very successful co-working facilities have been built for aspiring IT companies in many centers of innovation, but for companies requiring laboratory space, such offerings have been missing. Laboratory resources are costly, and the initial investment is much larger than just a desk and a good broadband connection. LabCentral solves this problem by adopting very conscious design choices to optimize use of available space, and to facilitate shared use of resources, equipment and infrastructure. This is combined with a goal-oriented understanding of “concierge” services that remove many operational burdens from startup companies.

Models for this approach exist in various places, including UCSF’s facility (QB3) and Cambridge BioLabs, which together have helped create over 80 companies in the past six years. LabCentral is a not-for-profit made possible through sponsor relationships and the active involvement of the community. From these roots we will;

1. Enable a collaborative environment which allows thought-sharing and creative exchange
2. Offer best-in-class infrastructure to enable efficient and uninhibited practice of science
3. Promote cost efficiencies through sharing of many services such as purchasing, maintenance, IT, security and others
4. Anticipate needs and roadblocks for founders in order to provide the smoothest possible path to growth
5. Create a bioinnovation ecosystem that fosters collegial interactions among industry, investors, government, and academia.

To unclog the biotech start-up pipeline, an innovation hub must provide an awesome shared-lab space with business support services to create a fertile environment in which visionaries can thrive. We hope you will agree that LabCentral is that place.

Finally, a premier, biotech-capable shared lab facility comes to the Kendall Square innovation hub!