Babraham Research Campus launches expanded LiveLabs facility to investors, innovators and the wider Campus community

29/09/2025

Earlier this month, Babraham Research Campus welcomed guests from both the Campus community and its extensive wider network to celebrate the companies and facilities based within its expanded LiveLabs facility – a coworking lab space providing early-stage life science ventures with everything they need to hit the ground running.

 

Specialist support for early-stage science

Supporting early-stage science has always been part of the Campus’ core offering and underpins its vision to be the best place in Europe to start up a life sciences venture.

LiveLabs’ co-working environment not only provides flexible, fully serviced laboratory space for very early-stage life science companies and researchers, but the chance to work, share, learn and network with other co-founders and CEO's who are both 'doing it now' and 'been there, done it before’. 

The labs - which due to their expansion currently have availability to welcome new ventures - come fully equipped for molecular biology, cell culture, and microbiology, with on-site lab management support and access to the Campus’ world-class facilities such as flow cytometry, genomics, and imaging.

Based in the Meditrina building, LiveLabs now has capacity to house up to 35 companies. It’s supported by partners Promega, Sartorius and Zeiss and also hosts the UK’s Nikon BioImaging Lab. 

Ruth Campbell became Lab Operations Manager back in 2022 which, as she admits thanks to the pandemic, was not a great time to be sharing lab space. At that time there were only four or five part time users and one company full time in the two labs which were subsequently rebranded as LiveLabs in 2023.

Now, a mere two years later, LiveLabs spans five labs and is home to 21 ventures. And, when they are ready to move to bigger premises, other flexible bioscience incubator space is available too in lab / write-up spaces from 600 sq ft across various buildings on Campus.

“It’s great to see what the companies achieve in a relatively short amount of time after moving into LiveLabs. After a couple of months, they don’t really need our help.” Ruth says. “The Babraham Research Campus difference is everything else the Campus does to support start-up ventures, including the Institute facilities, the stores and the grants and funding opportunities that are available to those based here. We provide more than just the practical element of space.” 

As the labs have grown so has the team that takes care of the needs of the companies, providing services such as lab coat cleaning, equipment maintenance and calibration. Ruth has been joined by Deputy LiveLabs Manager Rachel Williams, Laboratory Operations Coordinator Corinne Pollard and Lab Technician Abbey Burn. 

Not just lab space – unique opportunities to support growth

LiveLabs has quickly become a hub for scientific innovation and collaboration. At the launch event, tenants highlighted the advantages of accessing state-of-the-art technology without prohibitive capital costs, as well as the value of being embedded in a community rich in networking, funding, and learning opportunities.

Tenants across all Campus start-up spaces are connected to a vibrant community of innovators through workshops, peer-learning groups, and entrepreneurship programmes. With structured mentoring, networking opportunities, and access to unique funding, being based at Babraham Research Campus helps accelerate both scientific progress and business growth - making it an ideal launchpad for scientists ready to scale their research.

An excellent example of this is Promatix, which is developing new classes of cancer therapies using bispecific antibodies. After moving into LiveLabs on April 1 with two benches and two scientists the Promatix team is already preparing to graduate to a larger space within the building while retaining a bench in LiveLabs. Director of Research Katherine Vousden paid tribute to the ‘amazing, collaborative problem-solving community that grows with you’. 

She said: “The team are very approachable and if you want something they make it happen. And we’ve had access to plenty of personal development and learnings around market access; workshops on venture capital; basically, lots of education which has been a surprising benefit. I hadn’t realised that you’d get all that too. The holistic community is unparalleled. Not to mention the access to flow imaging facilities at the Babraham Institute - literally everything you need is on Campus.”

The launch event also gave companies the chance to share their science and make new connections, something Senior Lead Science and Entrepreneurship Jenny Hirst is keen to encourage. She said: “It’s a great celebration of all we’ve achieved and opens up new possibilities as we build on our community. People come and stay because of access to the academics in the Babraham Institute and the value of being co-located with other organisations plus the world class facilities. It’s incredibly satisfying to see these companies achieve more thanks to the value of what we’ve added. We’re pleased to be able to provide that stepping stone and support introductions to potential collaborators or investors.”

In addition to space in LiveLabs, there are multiple additional lab/write-up spaces available in various buildings across the Campus. Developed as flexible bioscience incubator spaces that are capable of sub-division into several different sized tenancies, options are available from 600 sq ft comprising wet laboratory and office/write-up areas. The buildings also offer meeting room / open plan meeting areas with seating to the ground floors.

For further information on the space available on Campus for start-ups contact Babraham’s Director of Business Operations Nicola Kinsey or Ross Hemmings at Savills or visit www.babraham.com/availability.