As one of the first businesses to establish a presence at the
University City Science Center's Port Business Incubator,
Integral Molecular built
relationships with nearby universities and received instruction from
experienced entrepreneurs that helped them stay afloat in the company's
pivotal, early years. Now that Integral Molecular is an established
company with a 10-year track record of protein and drug discovery
research, they are returning the favor with an investment of their own.
This month, Integral Molecular announced a 10,000 sq. ft. expansion to
the Science Center that will add new laboratory and office space to 3711
Market Street. Since launching in 2001, Integral Molecular has grown to
inhabit nearly half of the incubator space at 3701 Market Street. This
build-out comes on the heels of a 10-year lease with the Science Center,
keeping biotech jobs in Philadelphia and adding 10 new positions to
this growing firm.
"We have been able to customize the features we wanted here all along,"
says Integral Molecular President and CSO Benjamin Doranz. "The building
itself is designed to house lab-based biotech companies like ourselves
so putting in the kinds of features we need--like chemical hoods,
required ventilation--those kinds of features are already designed into
the building, making things easier for us."
The addition, which is 60 percent new lab space, will bring features
like sterile tissue-culture rooms, lab glass washers, purified water
systems and improved ventilation systems. But the main feature of the
addition is space, allowing Integral Molecular to meet the demands of
many pharma projects it hopes to pursue in 2011. The addition is
currently under construction and expected to open in March.
"We have labs at 3701 but we are really outgrowing them," says Doranz.
"This will give us lab space that is not necessarily better in general
but better for us because they are customized for exactly what we do."
Source: Benjamin Doranz, Integral Molecular
Writer: John Steele