Just east of Denver in Aurora, a bioscience hub is growing on the Anschutz Medical Campus.
Since 1996, the Fitzsimons Innovation Community has called Aurora home, helping innovative bioscience companies grow on the collaborative medical campus. It guides startups from ideation to implementation, from a single lab bench to an entire lab.
In order to continue that momentum, Fitzsimons recently announced the expansion of its campus with the opening of its third and largest facility—Bioscience 3. The $55-million space is a 117,000-square foot, three-story building located in close proximity to the community other two bioscience buildings, Bioscience 1 and 2.
The new building features custom built labs, offices, warehouse and manufacturing space for current tenants to expand and grow within or new companies to join the campus.
“As we grow in companies here in Bioscience 1, we’ve had the privilege of watching those companies move from half a bench to a whole lab,” Fitzsimons VP of Business Development April Giles told Colorado Inno. “Bioscience 3 is a direct response to those companies that have grown in Bioscience 3.”
From there, he’s hopeful companies will consider constructing buildings of their own on the remaining medical campus land, noting that there are still 55-acres available.
The campus model is becoming increasing popular in Colorado’s innovation scene, as more leaders see the benefits of companies, large and small, rubbing shoulders. In Denver, Catalyst HTI has become a hub for health care innovation, with startups and established companies operating under the same roof.
The same can be said for Fitzsimons in the bioscience realm.
“Here, a small startup is next to a big company, next to a surgeon, next to a biostatistician, all working together to change the practice of medicine,” VanNurden said. “I’ve seen some of the best companies I’ve worked with over the years come up with ideas in a restaurant or walking out to the parking lot.”
Bioscience 3 already has tenants like Taiga Biotechnologies, Inc., a clinical stage company focused on improving blood stem cell transplantation, and the University of Colorado Center for Surgical Innovation, a multidisciplinary surgical training center. In total, Fitzsimons has more than 75 companies on campus.
As it looks to the future, VanNurden said Fitzsimons has begun planning additional buildings, namely Bioscience 5 that will provide cell manufacturing capabilities.
And in addition to the growth of its own campus, VanNurden touted Anschutz’s available resources and how it will foster innovation in this field.
“There is nothing we can’t do in medicine on this campus,” he said. “A physician can see patients and go to medical school. They can go to a lab at Bioscience 1 and walk over to a company at Bioscience 2, and they don’t even have to move their car."
