Genomics-testing company Sema4 this morning opened its second clinical laboratory in Connecticut.
The newly built 70,000-square-foot facility in Stamford ”“ first announced in July 2019 ”“ will be home to 300-plus employees and is designed for Sema4 to process thousands of industry-leading, information-based genomic tests a day.
The lab at 62 Southfield Ave. complements Sema4”™s Branford laboratory, which was expanded earlier this year to meet greater demand and deliver new capabilities, including Covid-19 testing.
The Stamford facility replaces Sema4”™s New York City lab, providing substantial additional capacity to support customers”™ genomic testing needs and expand the company”™s digital health services, the company said in a statement.
“The new facility will be a hub for research and development, enabling us to further improve health outcomes and personalize patient care through innovative predictive modeling solutions and next generation, information-driven testing,” Sema4 founder and CEO Eric Schadt said. “Our opportunity for success will be driven in large part by our highly talented team as well as the access in Connecticut to a large pool of well-qualified candidates to supplement them.”
By the end of the month, there will be approximately 225 employees in the Stamford lab, with about 150 more to be hired next year, according to Radley Moss, senior director, communications.
Sema4 now has more than 500 employees in Connecticut across its two lab facilities plus its headquarters in Stamford, a number that has quadrupled over the last three years.
In addition to lab employees, Sema4’s Stamford workforce includes genetic counselors, bioinformatics specialists and support service staff as part of its health intelligence platform services.
“As a company, we’re betting on Connecticut,” Sema4 Chief Marketing Officer Glenn Farrell told the Business Journal. “We did some research years ago when we created the company, and we found Stamford an ideal location, situated in the ‘biotech corridor.’ There’s an incredible pool of biotech and bioscience talent that stretches from New York City to New Haven and beyond.”
That the company established its headquarters at 333 Ludlow St. in Stamford in 2017 also helped, Farrell acknowledged: “It was natural to choose Stamford again.”
In addition, he noted, Sema4 used only Connecticut-based vendors to build its new facility. Among others, they include Stamford contractor A. Secondinio & Son; Stamford Office Furniture; and CPG Architects, an interior design business based in Stamford.
Between its Stamford and Branford labs, Sema4 will further scale its ability to provide health information across several thousand genetically identifiable diseases to patients nationwide, including its Expanded Carrier Screening test and its suite of Sema4 Signal data-driven precision oncology services.
The new lab will also enable Sema4 to perform scientific research in collaboration with its health system and clinical research clients and partners.
The company is processing an average of 20,000 to 25,000 Covid tests a week, “a significant part of our business,” Moss said.
“I”™m thrilled that Sema4 is making this major investment in the state,” U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy said. “The company is at the forefront of the rapidly growing biotech sector in Connecticut and has been an outstanding partner to the state as we navigate the continued impact of Covid-19.”
“Our region has become a magnet for stellar biotech and digital health companies and talent,” U.S. Rep. Jim Himes said. “As a health intelligence company on the leading edge of science, Sema4 is at the forefront of the innovation that we see across Connecticut.”
