American life-sciences firms are relocating their labs to downtown areas.
Upon first glance, the headquarters of Portal Innovations, a business in Chicago, appear similar to any other tech-firm office space. In the main lobby, employees dressed in jeans and t-shirts enjoy fancy coffees and relax on modernist furniture. However, upon further exploration, differences become evident. Firstly, there are hardly any cubicles or desktop computers. Instead, the rooms surrounding the central atrium are filled with laboratory equipment such as microscopes, mass spectrometers, and bioreactors. Secondly, the space is actively utilized. During my visit on a late Thursday afternoon, there were a significant number of workers present. It is clear that almost nobody is working from home, most likely because they do not have access to bioreactors in their living rooms.
Portal is a company that falls somewhere between a WeWork and a venture-capital incubator for life-sciences firms. Its tenants are typically startup firms aiming to develop new drugs. The complex they are located in is Fulton Labs, situated in Chicago’s West Loop, which opened its second building last year. From the outside, it resembles a luxurious hotel or any other modern office building, complete with gyms and balconies. However, the interior is primarily dedicated to laboratory space. In addition to Portal, the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, a charitable research lab established by the Facebook founder, also occupies space in the building and opened in October. The construction of Fulton Labs represents a belief that scientists will gravitate towards city centers, even if office workers are slow to return.
According to John Flavin from Portal, until recently, biosciences primarily took place in the suburbs. Large pharmaceutical companies operated extensive labs in corporate business parks. However, he insists that this is changing because bioscience is becoming more similar to the tech industry.
2023-12-07 09:46:10
Source from www.economist.com
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