Piedmont Triad Research Park said yesterday that it is expanding its wet-laboratories initiative by adding an early-stage startup component to the mix.
The shared space of 780 square feet is part of the new Babcock Demon Incubator program at Wake Forest University. It is in the Piedmont Triad Community Research Center.
The first two tenants in the incubator wet lab are Creative Bioreactor Design Inc. and Salzburg Therapeutics Inc. There are plans to have up to six tenants in the space, according to Tom Clarkson, the director of the incubator.
Creative develops scientific equipment needed to grow tissue and organs in the regenerative-medicine market. Salzburg, based in Yadkinville, makes drug technologies for the treatment of prostate cancer and other malignancies.
Park officials said that companies and entrepreneurs will be considered "on the commercial viability of the idea, the potential for high growth and the likelihood of success of the venture."
"We have a time limit of one year, but that may be extended by the incubator if the situation warrants," Clarkson said.
The incubator Wet Lab is similar to the Wet Lab Launch Pad that debuted last December at the research park. The launch-pad labs were built with donated money and materials totaling $740,000. That includes $125,000 from the city of Winston-Salem that was approved in August.
Tengion Inc. and Carolina Liquid Chemistries Corp. occupy two of the three spaces in the 5,000-square-foot launch pad. Candidates are being considered for the third spot. The cost is less than $20 a square foot for the launch-pad tenants -- about one-third the typical cost for wet-lab space.
Park officials said that the main goal of the incubator wet lab is to help "satisfy the regional need" for early-stage, new-venture efforts in biotechnology, bioscience and nantotechnology, which is the study of items at the microscopic level.
"Inception-stage companies need a full range of support to take them from concept to first funding," Clarkson said. "The role of BDI is not only to provide lower-cost lab space, but to provide a range of business and planning services to help them succeed.
"We believe a strategic location in the research park will be an added value to these companies."
Gwyn Riddick, the regional director of the N.C. Biotechnology Center, said that another goal is assisting these early-stage companies with becoming eligible for grant funding and business loans available from this group.
"The new low-cost wet-lab capabilities now provided by the incubator are essential to companies needing to reach proof-of-concept, which is a requirement before an investor group will consider making the first investment," said Troy Knauss, the fund manager of the Piedmont Angel Network.
Bill Dean, the director of the research park, said he hopes that some of the tenants at the incubator wet lab will "grow to become tenants of the larger Wet Lab Launch Pad and later expand into other space in the research park."
The incubator wet lab represents another piece of developing the local biotechnology sector, said Peggy Low, a senior vice president of technology at the Greater Winston Salem Chamber of Commerce.
"There needs to be a place where companies based on these technologies can get their start," Low said.
■ Richard Craver can be reached at 727-7376 or at rcraver@wsjournal.com.
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