With 26,000 total square feet of lab space, the expansion cements the non-profit incubator as one of the largest collaborative life sciences spaces in Massachusetts’s booming biotech ecosystem.
MANSFIELD, MA, October 25, 2022 – Mansfield Bio-Incubator, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing life science innovators with affordable laboratory space, announced today the opening of its newest and largest facility, Southeastern Massachusetts’ Campus for Life Science Innovation and Innovators.
Community leaders, investors, and technology providers gathered at the Mansfield site on Wednesday, October 19, for a ribbon-cutting ceremony, networking, and presentations from the groundbreaking start-ups the incubator will host.
This latest expansion triples the non-profit’s laboratory footprint, offering state-of-the art shared and private BSL2+ laboratories to life sciences and biotech start-ups at all stages of development. The Mansfield Bio-Incubator provides founders and their teams with critical R&D and production support, enabling them to further their innovative research and development while attracting early-stage funding from investors and venture capital. The non-profit further fosters accelerated growth through academic-style collaboration and business support, allowing incubator start-ups to better fund and scale its operations.
“Mansfield Bio-Incubator is one of the fastest-growing life sciences laboratory campuses in the Boston-Providence innovation corridor and we’re elated to kindle up the next phase in our expansion,” remarked Russ Yukhananov, PhD, President of BioInc. “The unique conceptual design with emphasis on open space stimulates the exchange of ideas and creativity and promises to be a lasting contribution to our region’s leadership in life sciences and an investment in the future of so many innovators.”
“Mansfield Bio-Incubator’s newest facility expands our total laboratory space by 10,000 square feet,” Chief Operating Officer Alex Margulis said. “This means more space for new start-ups, new technologies, new collaborations, and more room for groundbreaking research and development in some of the most promising areas of life sciences—from opioid deterrence to breast cancer, to sustainable biomaterials and more.”
“A key differentiator of the Mansfield-Bio Incubator is the powerful relationships that form between supporters and start-ups,” Phenomenex President Matthew Turner said. “We have the opportunity to work within this innovative ecosystem to push our technology to the next level—and this helps us better support our customers who are working on some of the world’s toughest problems. We’re happy to have a presence in this community and look forward to continuing to build strong relationships.”
The grand opening coincides with the opening of a 700 square feet laboratory suite by Phenomenex—its first formal lab presence on the East Coast. Phenomenex is a global technology leader committed to developing novel analytical chemistry solutions that solve the separation and purification challenges of researchers in industrial, clinical research, governmental and academic laboratories.
The Phenomenex laboratory is comprised of cutting-edge analytical instruments such as mass spectrometers, UHPLC, and sample preparation tools and technologies. The high-end equipment will be available to member companies and will be staffed by Phenomenex’s biopharma experts, serving as an indispensable suite for current and future start-ups.
The celebration featured remarks from leaders and experts, including:
- Russ Yukhananov, PhD, President, and Alex Margulis, PhD, COO, Mansfield Bio-Incubator
- Matt Turner, President, Phenomenex
- Jake Auchincloss, Massachusetts Representative
- Margaret LaForest, Boston Regional Director at MA Office of Business Development at Commonwealth of Massachusetts
- Paul Feeney, Massachusetts State Senator
- Ben Bradford, Vice President of Economic Development and Workforce, Massachusetts Biotechnology Council
- Kenn Turner, President and CEO, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center
- Kevin Dumas, Town Manager, Town of Mansfield, MA
- Imran Chowdhury, PhD, Diana Davis Spencer Chair of Social Entrepreneurship, Wheaton College
Alongside Phenomenex, presenting companies included:
- Hilltop Bio is a veterinary biotech company developing innovative regenerative therapies focused on helping our four-legged friends reduce inflammation from injuries or disease.
- 3Daughters is a Women’s Healthcare Company developing a new evolutionary intrauterine device (IUD) for contraception, based on physics, that conforms to a woman’s body.
- Beyond Biotech provides rAAV-related services to biological and medical researchers in universities, institutes, hospitals and biopharmaceutical companies.
- Entrinsic Bioscience leverages proprietary biomapping and electrophysiology platform to identify, target and validate combinations of amino acids as functional ingredients and APIs that deliver highly specific, efficient, and life enhancing health benefits.
- Emitech is developing a wearable bracelet for real-time and reliable narcotic detection that offers wireless communication with a user interface (smartphone, computer), with multiple sensors in the array to test for many narcotics (mostly synthetic).
- Oncovolution is developing a new generation of platinum-based chemotherapies designed to increase tolerable dosages for patients.
- Therabene is developing highly targeted PROTAC molecules to attack cancers, as well as viral and autoimmune diseases.
- Eighty-Eight Pharma, Inc. is developing two pipeline medical products, the Oppotoxy™ Bottle and the CAREspace Container. Eighty-Eight is also looking for a marketing partner for the Tuttle Safe™.
- UpLevel Foods produces condiments that contain the most optimal nutrient density, and that’s important for the health and vitality of you and your family.
- Turtle Health is bringing fertility care to your doorstep. They are developing the most accurate at-home fertility testing options to provide you with personalized, medically meaningful information to help you plan and manage your fertility journey, early and affordably.
About Mansfield Bio-Incubator
Mansfield Bio-Incubator is a non-profit organization whose mission is to facilitate and assist the creation, growth, and success of the next generation of biotech companies. Our incubator assists these companies and nurtures entrepreneurial and economic development in the community by maintaining affordable lab and office space to lease, services, training, mentoring, and a network of professional advisors. We provide entrepreneurs, innovative life-sciences start-ups, students, and faculty of Massachusetts colleges and vocational schools with the lab space to rent and resources they need to test out, challenge, and nurture early ideas and will teach students the skills for a successful career in the biotech industry.
