LifeX Labs, supported in part by the University of Pittsburgh, recently announced it is forming a strategic alliance with the Pittsburgh Life Science Greenhouse to accelerate growth in the industry.
Together, the organizations will provide educational programming resources, company acceleration activities and networking opportunities for early-stage life science companies throughout southwestern Pennsylvania. The collaboration will provide innovators a one-stop-shop for everything they need to advance their endeavors, from laboratory development to commercialization.
The new alliance comes just as the Henry L. Hillman and R.K. Mellon Foundations are also throwing their support behind LifeX Labs’ mission of helping translate life sciences innovations into commercial successes. Their funds will serve to streamline support for regional startups. This will be the R.K. Mellon Foundation’s first financial support of LifeX Labs.
Also this month, Gerald J. Vardzel Jr. was named president and CEO of LifeX. He replaces Evan Facher, director of Pitt’s Innovation Institute and LifeX board member, who’d been serving as interim CEO. Vardzel, a Pitt grad, was most recently president and director at Predictive Oncology Inc., a company that uses artificial intelligence to develop personalized medical treatments.