A German biomedical research institute is putting down roots in New Haven, with newly announced plans to move into a local lab space later this year as it partners with a biopharmaceutical company to study “immunology and tissue engineering.”
That research firm is called BioMed X.
On Monday, the Heidelberg, Germany-based group published an online press release about how it plans to set up its first U.S. institute in New Haven as part of its collaboration with a biopharmaceutical company called AbbVie.
“The current partnership with AbbVie is focused on the development of a new tissue engineering platform to produce complex human ex vivo models (disease-on-a-chip) from primary human cells and tissues to study human tissue inflammation,” the press release states about the new BioMed X‑AbbVie research project.
Why pick New Haven for its first U.S. outpost?
“Neighboring the historic campus of Yale University, the US branch of BioMed X will be embedded in the New Haven life sciences hub,” the press release states.
That same release quotes Yale Ventures Managing Director Josh Geballe as stating: “Yale is devoted to academic leadership as well as global strategic partnerships to foster innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit. We welcome BioMed X to our biosciences community and appreciate the opportunities this alliance ushers in, including cooperation with international industry partners and networking with the European biotech ecosystem.”
BioMex X Founder and Managing Director Christian Tidona added: “We are grateful to be able to bring our unique innovation model to New Haven and Yale University, one of the top places in the world for groundbreaking discoveries in biomedical research.”
In a followup email correspondence with the Indepenent about this project, Mark Johnston, who is going to manage the new New Haven BioMed X site, said that the institute’s New Haven location will start out with six full-time employees and two part-time staffers. “Each time we bring on a new project, we will add (more or less) the same number of new FTE’s and PT staff/project.”
Where exactly will this institute be located in the city? “We are still in process of negotiating the lease, but I can say that all of the options we are looking at will be walkable to Yale’s medical school campus, which is important for us in order to be plugged into the local bio ecosystem,” Johnston wrote.
He added that the research group plans to move into its new New Haven lab space in September 2023, which is when the immunology-focused research project should begin.
BioMed X’s New Haven-move announcement comes as biotech businesses across town are on the rise, with Biohaven expanding to the old Quinnipiack Club and Arvinas committing to occupying 160,000 square-feet space at the on-the-rise lab-and-office building at 101 College St., which is right across the street from the Alexion lab-and-office tower at 100 College St. Meanwhile, a North Carolina-based firm called Ancora has committed to building still another lab-and-office building in that same part of the city, at the nearby former Coliseum lot.
"...New Haven and Yale University, one of the top places in the world for groundbreaking discoveries in biomedical research.” And there it is.