Johnson & Johnson Innovation, LLC. has announced plans to expand J-Labs (formally called Janssen Labs) to include a new incubator located within Texas Medical Center's new Innovation Institute in Houston, Texas.The 30,000-square foot J-Labs facility will accommodate up to 50 life-science start-ups.

The J-Labs network currently hosts 70 life-science companies across its three active facilities located in San Diego, San Francisco, and Boston.  As announced earlier this year, J-Labs in South San Francisco will open in early 2015 and will accommodate up to 50 companies. Applications are currently being accepted across all sites from biotech, pharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostics, consumer and digital health companies, including the Houston incubator.

The flagship location, J-Labs in San Diego, opened in January 2012, by offering emerging life-science companies modular wet lab units and office space, as well as shared core laboratory equipment and business facilities. The flagship incubator has since expanded to add a concept lab offering single bench spaces, as well as an open collaboration office area designed to provide a high-energy space where entrepreneurs can interact and exchange ideas. J-Labs regularly holds events designed to strengthen an entrepreneur's tool kit, ranging from topics such as best practices when filing a biologic investigational new drug application to key insights from those that have completed successful initial public offerings.

The opening of the new incubator is part of the University of Texas System FreshAIR initiative, which is designed to create successful partnerships between UT System health institutions and the life-sciences industry. The University of Texas is part of the Texas Medical Center. TMCx is a life science accelerator and one of the core components of TMC's Innovation Institute, which offers entrepreneurs support, including curriculum about entrepreneurship, a network of advisors and mentors, as well as access to strategic and venture investors.

Source: Texas Medical Center