Huntsville, Ala. – Today the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Paul Propst Center – the latest addition to its biotech campus – providing companies in the life sciences industry additional options to expand or relocate to Huntsville, Ala.
HudsonAlpha is at the center of the growing biotech talent in North Alabama and home to companies that have relocated from all over the Southeast. Offering lab and office space, robust multi-faceted capabilities within information technology and an ecosystem designed to foster business growth, HudsonAlpha leadership believes the campus is well-positioned for discovery and growth.
“The vision of the institute’s founders is to see discoveries and advancements quickly occur with research and business working together,” said Carter Wells, vice president for economic development at HudsonAlpha. “Today, we celebrate not just the continuation but a strengthening of the culture of collaboration and innovation created ten years ago.”
The two-story building includes state-of-the-art laboratories built to National Institutes of Health (NIH) standards for biosafety, more than 47,000 square feet for expanding biotech companies and available turnkey office and lab space for biotech companies interested in joining HudsonAlpha’s campus. Several companies have expanded into the Propst Center from their previous spaces in HudsonAlpha’s flagship building, some doubling their previous footprint. HudsonAlpha associate companies Folio Conversant, Microarrays, Alimetrix and iRepertoire are the new building’s first tenants.
“We came to HudsonAlpha with just a few people and an idea,” said Marshall Schreeder, co-founder and CEO of Conversant Bio, now Folio Conversant. “And now we’ve grown to ten times the number of employees and merged with another company. Being on the HudsonAlpha campus not only puts us at the center of innovation and collaboration, but we also have room to grow.”
Similar in look and feel to the flagship building at 601 Genome Way, the Propst Center will also house components of HudsonAlpha’s education and research programs. Extra details in design – glass walls, common sidewalks, a grand staircase – create a “team science” environment and contribute to a culture of collaboration. 
HudsonAlpha co-founders Jim Hudson and Lonnie McMillian are both serial entrepreneurs who have built life science and technology companies from the ground up. During their experience, both recognized that it was essential to have researchers and entrepreneurs under one roof, working together to improve human health and well-being.
“Through HudsonAlpha, we are able to work with other kindred spirits as they discover, create and build,” said Hudson. “Starting with five companies and now seeing 35 on HudsonAlpha’s campus is not only gratifying but highlights how much more we can do in the coming years. Cutting the ribbon today on the Paul Propst Center was a special moment not only for me, but all of us at HudsonAlpha and in Huntsville.”
To learn more about starting, relocating and expanding business on the HudsonAlpha campus, please visit hudsonalpha.org/800.
