Janssen Labs at San Diego, part of Janssen Research & Development, has opened two new sets of doors to entrepreneurs in the form of a Concept Lab (a shared laboratory that aims to offer entrepreneurs affordable access to single bench spaces to perform early-stage research before committing additional capital) and an Open Collaboration Space (an open-plan office setting that provides companies and individuals with desk space in an environment designed to facilitate interactions with other life-science entrepreneurs). With these additions, Janssen Labs says they can now accommodate more than double the number of companies as when it opened.

These new offerings are geared to provide options for entrepreneurs to get to preclinical proof-of-concept by leveraging big company infrastructure, equipment, and resources. Companies and individuals within the Concept Lab and the Open Collaboration Space will have access to the same amenities provided in the original Janssen Labs model including more than 70 pieces of common equipment as well as essential laboratory infrastructure, such as fume hoods, refrigeration, emergency power, emergency shower/eyewash, conference rooms, and high-speed internet. The “no-strings-attached” model applies to all companies and individuals residing at Janssen Labs.

“In the year since we opened, Janssen Labs has shown to be a place where emerging companies thrive,” said Diego Miralles, M.D., head of Janssen West Coast Research Center. “With the addition of the Concept Lab and Open Collaboration Space, we now can welcome additional scientists and tech entrepreneurs who will bring unique perspectives that can enrich our life science community.”

Janssen Labs says the entrepreneurs utilizing the Concept Lab and the Open Collaboration Space can quickly begin their work in a capital-efficient manner and have the flexibility to move into a larger, private space at Janssen Labs when they require a larger footprint.

Janssen Labs aren’t the only ones who have adopted the community lab concept. Genspace, the world’s first self-contained community lab, opened in December 2010 in Brooklyn, NY, and in May 2011, BioCurious opened a 2,600-square-foot community laboratory in Sunnyvale, CA, having used Kickstarter to raise funds to start the site.

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