Ground-breaking laboratory ‘hub’ will catalyze life science industry in Calgary

Early-stage life sciences companies get ground-breaking new home to spur growth and opportunity in Alberta

Calgary, AB – Thanks to over $1.4 million in federal funding from Western Economic Diversification Canada, biotech companies have a new home in northwest Calgary with the launch of Biospace 1, a lab facility established to support early-stage life science companies through vulnerable scale-up and expansion phases.

Biospace 1 is the result of a partnership between DynaLIFE Medical Laboratories and Biohubx, a not-for-profit organization established to provide space and resources to scaling companies advancing health, wellness and human performance. Both DynaLIFE and Biohubx seek to foster a thriving life science industry as a critical component of a diversified and vibrant Alberta economy.

The facility, located at 32 Royal Vista Drive NW, has 9100 sq. ft. of shared clinical laboratory space and offices to support early-stage life science companies. Through shared resources and access to programming, companies can expedite their manufacturing and clinical testing goals, enabling them to produce at scale and reach global markets.

“We’ve heard from small- and medium-sized firms in the health and medical sector about the importance of helping them to validate and test their products in clinical settings, as it’s the key to their technologies becoming commercialized and adopted,” said Terry Duguid, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages (Western Economic Diversification Canada) and to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change (Canada Water Agency), on behalf of the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages and Minister responsible for Western Economic Diversification Canada. “This is why I’m proud to see this collaboration between government, industry, and innovators to capitalize on the increased global demand for medical diagnostic technologies and further bolster Alberta’s growing life sciences sector.”

DynaLIFE has catalyzed Biospace 1 through its support of the facility. Serving as an anchor tenant, DynaLIFE uses a third of the space for their diagnostic operations, representing their first facility in Calgary. Based in Edmonton, DynaLIFE provides clinical laboratory services for northern Alberta. Recently they have been expanding operations to help increase COVID testing in the province.

“DynaLIFE has long planned to expand its provincial operations to Calgary,” says Jason Pincock, CEO of DynaLIFE. “Biospace 1 and BiohubX fit perfectly with our immediate need for diagnostic space and with our deep commitment to being an active, leading supporter of the entire life science ecosystem. We look forward to a long-term partnership.”

Other tenants in Biospace 1 include:

• Syantra Inc.: Syantra is an early-stage Calgary-based company with a blood test for breast cancer detection.
  
• Tap Labs: Tap Labs provides at-home blood and specimen collection services and same- day COVID 19 PCR testing.
  
• NanoTess: NanoTess uses nanotechnology to solve the world’s toughest health challenges, beginning with chronic wounds.
  

About Biohubx

Biohubx was founded in March 2020 by a group of Calgary entrepreneurs and scientists who wanted to address a gap in the innovation ecosystem by developing a commercial-facing growth-oriented life sciences hub in the city. For companies and entities both inside and outside the province that are scaling and want to have a significant presence in Alberta, Biohubx serves as a key contact for accessing space, expertise and leadership in the Alberta ecosystem.
“In Alberta, we have educational facilities and talent to foster innovation; we have incubators and accelerators to support start-up phases,” says Jim Gibson, a founding director of Biohubx and partner at Calgary’s Thin Air Labs. “The gap is translating promising health, performance and life sciences technologies into commercially viable enterprises that remain – along with their high paying, future-ready jobs – in Alberta. Biospace 1 is what’s needed now.”
Biohubx has advanced plans for Biospace 2 and beyond. It looks to expand into other key areas of the life science ecosystem, including biomanufacturing in partnership with the province’s public and private partners.

Media contact:

Nancy Whelan

Email: nancy@biohubx.com
Phone: 403.471-7541
Website: https://www.biohubx.com/

To arrange interviews with DynaLIFE CEO Jason Pincock, please contact Cathy Kiss at 780-886-2760.

About DynaLIFE

Headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, DynaLIFE Medical Labs is a major Canadian medical laboratory offering a complete range of diagnostic testing services. Our 1400 employees are proud to be seen as industry leaders – bringing reliable, innovative services to more than 2,000 physicians for two million patient visits annually – performing greater than 19 million laboratory tests every year. DynaLIFE has been operating clinical laboratory facilities in Alberta for more than 60 years.

About Western Economic Diversification Canada

For more than 30 years, Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD) has been working to diversify the western economy while improving the quality of life of western Canadians. It has a mandate to build a strong, competitive West by focusing on business development, innovation, and community development, as well as advocating on behalf of Westerners by representing the western perspective in national programs, policies, and projects.