Blog

Disclaimer: the views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this blog belong solely to the individual author, and not to LabCentral or the author’s employer, organization or committee.

While many things have changed over the past several weeks, a lot about LabCentral has remained the same. Core to our operational model is our commitment to safety and providing a facility that is compliant to our permitting. We appreciate our residents following our policies and maintaining low relative density onsite resulting in still no confirmed COVID-19 cases at LabCentral. We remain focused on adhering to our safety policies while collaborating with our residents on safe ways to enable more scientists safely back to work, such as through “shifts” or other creative solutions.

Resident Rebate Extended Through May

For many, the situation with COVID-19 has had significant impact in slowing down research and development. However, many of our resident teams have worked past the challenges and are continuing to grow during this time, onboarding new team members and expanding into larger workspaces. We encourage all companies to work with us and one another to find a way to do this safely.

Through all of this we must be mindful of the effect of density onsite to mitigate the spread of the disease. As a result – and based on the success of the program in April – we will continue to incentivize teams to work remotely through the rebate on the monthly resident fee. We are applying a 25% discount on all resident badges in active use, and a 100% rebate for badges not used for the entire month of May.

Safely Working Together

We continue to work closely with our residents to accommodate our community’s workflow to the realities of the coronavirus epidemic without hindering scientific progress. As mentioned previously, this will require changes in how we live, work, and connect - be it through the introduction of shiftwork that distributes the number of people on site throughout the day, hosting meetings virtually, or creating community connections over Twitter and Zoom.

As our residents discuss, prepare and plan their back-to-work strategies, we are working with them on how LabCentral and our team can partner to provide the best operational support. We look forward to the creative solutions and inventive ideas that will result from our collective thinking as we create a new framework to best support the important science happening at LabCentral – some of its directly addressing COVID-19!

Virtual Events

With so many in the industry working remotely, our Innovation & Biotech in the Time of COVID-19 virtual events have proven to be a great way for the community to still engage, discuss and debate key industry topics. The first three events are recorded and available for playback:

• What’s Happening on the Front Lines
• Advice for Startups Facing Uncertainty
• Impacts on the Economy

On Tuesday, May 5th at 1:30 p.m. ET, the series will continue with a panel discussion on Testing Strategies with a few companies discussing their current work on testing and some hurdles to rapidly expand efforts (register here). Keep an eye on the LabCentral events page for details on next week’s panelists and future events.

On the topic of safely re-opening the economy, LabCentral’s Johannes Fruehauf will be a panelist for a virtual discussion hosted by Venture Café this coming Thursday at 5 p.m. ET – Safely Operating Lab and Office Buildings Post-COVID: Perspectives from CIC, LabCentral and The Engine (register here).

As always – Stay Safe, Stay Healthy, Stay Home!