Bioscience Company On Growth Path Moves to Seaport

Emulate took occupancy of 20,000 square feet of space at 27 Drydock Ave. in the Seaport District.

BOSTON—In another clear example of how a bioscience company can experience significant growth in a short amount of time, Emulate Inc . has moved from smaller offices in Cambridge to its new headquarters in the Seaport District here. The company, which launched operations 18 months ago, moved into 20,000 square feet of office and laboratory space at 27 Drydock Ave . within The Innovation and Design Building last week. The company manufactures its “Organs-on-Chips” technology to better predict the potential efficacy and safety of drug candidates, and to improve the drug development process. Among the firm’s local industry collaborators include Johnson & Johnson Innovation Center and Merck , as well as academic researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University where the Organs-on-Chips technology was originally incubated until Emulate’s launch in July 2014. The  firm currently employs 40 workers and has plans to increase its workforce to 85 in the next 12 months. Chief company officials were joined by a host of state and city dignitaries at a ribbon cutting for its new headquarters offices on Friday. Company officials say the new offices will facilitate the next stage of its evolution as Emulate moves towards industry launch of its proprietary Organ-Chips technology within an automated Human Emulation system. The effort to create a “plug-and-play system” with lab-ready Organ-Chips instrumentation and software they say will allow Emulate to offer a system that supports more effective innovation, design and safety of products across a range of industries, including pharmaceuticals, agriculture, cosmetics, chemical-based consumer products and precision medicine. James Coon , CEO of Emulate, said of the company’s latest milestone, “We have already made rapid progress along our path to commercialize our Organs-on-Chips technology, and in order to reach our full potential we are actively expanding our hiring plans to recruit new talent. Our new headquarters will support our entrepreneurial culture of integrating design, biology and engineering to further develop our Human Emulation System—and to enable a new era of improved products, precision medicine and personalized health applications for patients and consumers.” Travis McCready , president and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center , said of the firm’s noteworthy growth, “Already, in its first 18 months since launch, Emulate has capitalized on its presence in the Commonwealth’s life sciences ecosystem by establishing impressive collaborations with pharmaceutical partners that have local R&D centers.  Emulate’s Organs-on-Chips technology intersects with many of the life sciences areas that MLSC supports, including innovative drug development, neuroscience research and advancing big data technology in healthcare.”