An essential component of company building revolves around the infrastructure strategy applied to each company. BioGenerator, where needed, works with companies, the portfolio, and its partners (regional facilities, institutions, and incubators) to identify the best options for success.
In 2010, BioGenerator established the initial BioGenerator Labs in the Cortex Innovation Community as a unique option for startup companies. BioGenerator Labs, the first co-working wet lab model in the nation, is now home to a community of over 50 companies with over 200 users.
In 2019, BioGenerator, Washington University, and Cortex again expanded the BioGenerator Labs to its current location at 4340 Duncan, where the Labs and its companies are the anchor tenant of the new building.
Current and former clients include: MediBeacon, Aclaris Therapeutics, Arch Oncology, Indalo Therapeutics, Canopy Biosciences, Wugen, Geneoscopy, VaxNewMo, Viosera, Mitochondria in Motion, Archer Dx, Synchrony Bio, RiverVest Archer Fund, and Matatu.
Most clients in the BioGenerator Labs are not BioGenerator investment portfolio companies – many are clients of BioGenerator Fundamentals and/or recipients of BioGenerator Grants. The Labs overview, details, and history are detailed below.
BioGenerator expanded its co-working lab model to the 39N district in 2019, opening a shared lab focused on agtech startups.
The BioGenerator Labs facility provides access to collaborative lab and office space and state-of-the-art equipment for portfolio and pre-incubator companies. The BioGenerator Labs is a critical asset for companies overcoming barriers to company creation through:
The BioGenerator Labs is an 40,000 square-foot facility located in the Cortex Innovation Community. It provides lab facilities, capital equipment and office space for promising, but very early stage companies. Access to the facility reduces costs for client companies while offering the space and equipment necessary to move research forward and drive a company to its next funding milestones.
In the earliest phases of commercialization, the pre-equipped labs allow researchers and entrepreneurs to establish lab operations and to initiate proof of concept studies without having to raise additional capital to purchase most equipment and rent lab/office space.
The labs were constructed in 2010 through BioGenerator operating funds and donations from the James S. McDonnell Foundation, Cortex, Missouri Technology Corporation, and the Life Sciences Research Trust Fund. Expansion was completed in 2013 and 2019.
Key features include:
"I think BioGenerator is a supremely unique asset. That combination of attributes – funding, physical assets, and network – in a single organization was a huge factor in our decision to move the company here."
– Chad Stiening
CEO and Founder, Kypha