Chesterford Research Park welcomes ambitious new biotech firm

Cambridge spin-out secures Suite 7 in the Park’s Science Village

Cambridge, UK, 22 August 2022: Chesterford Research Park has announced that Constructive Bio has joined the Park’s highly regarded multi-occupier R&D building, Science Village.

The Cambridge-born start-up, which has recently closed a $15 million (£12.45 million) seed funding round (led by Ahren Innovation Capital with participation from Amadeus Capital, OMX Ventures and General Inception) to commercialise its technology, is taking 1,993 sq ft of space within the Park’s Science Village Building. Designed with occupier needs front-and-centre of its design, the facility provides 16 individual and self-contained R&D suites. The suites also come complete with fully fitted, ready-made labs, avoiding the need for lengthy refurbishment or fitting out processes and enabling Constructive Bio to hit the ground running.

The Constructive Bio platform allows the fundamental reprogramming of the genetic code, and creation of molecules that nature could not make itself. Constructive Bio will use these technologies to biosynthesize new classes of enzymes, pharmaceuticals and biomaterials.

Julian Cobourne, Head of Regional Offices at Aviva Investors, joint owners of Chesterford Research Park with Uttlesford District Council, commented: “We are pleased Chesterford Research Park can provide ground-breaking biotechnology companies such as Constructive Bio with the high-quality laboratory and R&D spaces it needs to work and grow.

“Constructive Bio joins a world-leading community at the Park. We look forward to supporting its journey through the continued provision of high-quality facilities that have been developed specifically to help our occupiers flourish.”

Dr Ola Wlodek, CEO, Constructive Bio, explained: “We chose Chesterford Research Park’s Science Village as the physical launch pad for Constructive Bio because of the superb facilities it offers start-ups, particularly those, like us, which are at the very inception of the journey. 

“The Park is an excellent location from which to grow our business and access the Cambridge Cluster network. It is also easily accessible for our staff and offers a beautiful environment within which to work. The well-designed, high-quality labs offer the flexibility to support our scientific aims, and the Park team has been extremely responsive to our needs.”

Chesterford Research Park provides a superb environment for innovative research and development for both established and early-stage biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Current occupiers include Arecor, Domainex, Lonza and Cambridge Epigenetix. Constructive Bio joins fast paced, cutting edge bioscience ventures within Science Village such as recent arrival, Healx, which expanded its operations to the Park in July this year, taking 3,500 sq ft of space.

Focussed on using biology to access novel chemical space and generate polymers with a myriad of commercial applications across multiple industries, Constructive Bio has already been able to programme cells to make new molecules, including pharmaceuticals, and to make completely synthetic polymers containing the chemical linkages found in biodegradable plastics. It recently featured in the Financial Times which referred to the company as the ‘Cambridge start-up which aims to rewrite the code of life’.

Park owners Aviva Investors and Uttlesford District Council are advised by Chesterford Research Park’s joint commercial agents, Savills and Cheffins and developer The Churchmanor Estates Company plc.

Constructive Bio is currently recruiting for Associate Scientists in Genome Assembly and Genome Engineering, and Bioinformaticians,to join them at this pivotal time at Chesterford Research Park.