Wexford Science + Technology held a ribbon cutting ceremony January 19 for the grand opening of Connect Labs, a new coworking space on the Phoenix Bioscience Core geared toward life science startups.
Located in 850 PBC, Connect Labs features 34,000 square feet of space that includes flexible wet lab, office, lab support and convening areas designed to enhance collaboration among innovative companies, entrepreneurs and university researchers, according to a press release from Wexford. The space includes labs that range from 250 to 8,000 square feet, and office suites that include single desks or 12-desk layouts. There are also large and small conference rooms available for companies to host meetings.
“Connect Labs PHX fills a critical need within the Phoenix life sciences ecosystem and will help to ensure that great research coming out of the area’s universities and health systems will be able to scale and thrive in our region,” said Christine Mackay, Community and Economic Development Director at the City of Phoenix.
The space is already home to several strong life science companies, including:
- BacVax
- Cirrus Bio
- ElectraTect
- Regenesis Bio
- Sense Neuro Diagnostics.
When the space is fully built out, Connect Labs PHX will be able to house 25 companies and over 100 researchers, scientists and entrepreneurs.
“It’s the only place in Arizona that you can have access to those resources. It took us from being siloed in one little lab to having access to scientists and equipment,” Erica Tassone, executive director of life sciences for Regenesis Biomedical told the Phoenix Business Journal about Connect Labs. “Just being able to run into someone in the break room and chat about some of the issues you are having … it’s really those sort of, those simple interactions that you would get in an academic setting that you don’t get as a company.”
Check out this video from Fox10 Phoenix on the Connect Labs grand opening!
Wexford Science & Technology has partnered with the Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation from Maricopa County Community Colleges to operate Connect Labs PHX. CEI will also program workforce training and professional development in the space.
“Connect Labs Phoenix fills a much-needed void in the region’s innovation ecosystem and is a perfect complement to CEI’s existing lab incubator and our Market Validation Lab and LabForce bioscience training programs,” said Tom Schumann, CEI’s Executive Director. “There is no better place for the Maricopa Community Colleges to offer exceptional education programming than in our city’s Innovation District.”
Connect Labs PHX is the first of its kind from Wexford Science & Technology, which has Knowledge Communities around the country in major life science hubs such as Philadelphia, Baltimore, St. Louis and Pittsburgh.
“Connect Labs strengthens the value of Wexford’s Knowledge Communities, for our partners and tenants, by providing the critical infrastructure and lab-ready spaces required by today’s emerging life science companies,” said Thomas Osha, Wexford’s Executive Vice President. “With the opening of our first location in Phoenix, we continue to deliver creative and productive environments that provide access to great talent and research; facilitate collaboration; engage communities, and now also accelerate the development timeline for establishing new lab capabilities and operations,” Osha continued.
To learn more about Connect Labs by Wexford, please visit wexfordscitech.com/connectlabs. For additional information on 850 PBC or to schedule a tour, please contact Kyle Jardine, Wexford’s Phoenix Market Executive at ([email protected]).