Station1 Forms New Partnership With and Receives Grant from LabCentral

Station1 is pleased to announce a new partnership and receipt of a grant from LabCentral.

 LabCentral is a private, non-profit institution that is a launchpad for high-potential life sciences and biotech start-up companies. Operating a first-of-its kind shared laboratory space with a total of 100,000 square feet in the heart of Kendall Square and on the Harvard University Campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, LabCentral hosts as many as 70 startups comprising approximately 500 scientists and entrepreneurs.

This grant to Station1 was awarded through LabCentral Ignite, a new initiative that aims to enhance the regional biotech innovation ecosystem by supporting access to and opportunities to engage in leading science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, state-of-the-art research, and next-generation entrepreneurship. LabCentral Ignite is taking an ecosystem and coalition-building approach with a focus on expanding participation of people that have not had access to or have been under-represented in the life sciences industry. 

The objectives of LabCentral Ignite align well with the mission of Station1, which is a nonprofit higher education institution, founded by researchers at MIT in 2016, that is paving a pathway of opportunity through a new model of learning and research – inclusive and socially-directed science and technology. Based upon a foundation of inclusion and equity, this model integrates STEM with humanistic fields and the social sciences in order to interrogate, understand, and shape technologically-driven societal impact towards more equitable, ethical, and sustainable outcomes. Station1 delivers transformative education, research, and innovation programs and leads higher education systems change initiatives.

“Our mission is focused on advancing equity, ethics, and sustainability of leading-edge scientific and technological education and research, with a particular focus on expanding opportunity for college students from low-income households, from under-represented backgrounds, and who are first generation to college,” said Dr. Christine Ortiz, founder of Station1 and Professor at MIT, “We are thrilled to have been selected as one of the first organizations to receive a LabCentral Ignite grant, as it will provide talented students access to state-of-the-art scientific research and technology commercialization, thus creating a foundation for lifelong academic, personal, and professional advancement and success in the life sciences.”

The LabCentral Ignite grant will increase the number of undergraduate students participating in its prestigious flagship education, research, and internship program, the Station1 Frontiers Fellowship, in the life sciences. It will also expand the Station1 curriculum in areas related to the societal impact of the life sciences.

“Station1 and our other grant recipients are already doing important work driving systemic change and creating opportunities for under-represented populations,” said Krista Licata, managing director of LabCentral Ignite. “The intent of LabCentral Ignite is to build connective tissue and amplify the work of nonprofits, industry, and our amazing innovation community through investment in meaningful collective impact that yields scalable results.”