Biotech group launches new HQ in heart of city’s genomics campus

Yourgene Health, the international molecular diagnostics group, opened its newly-integrated facilities and corporate headquarters in Manchester this morning.

Citylabs 1.0 puts the business in the centre of Manchester’s genomics campus, and will enable its continued expansion with a planned further increase in headcount at the company’s UK base.

The establishment of the new HQ on Nelson Street is part of the ongoing integration of the acquisition of Manchester firm Elucigene, which completed in April this year.

Elucigene won the Small Business category of this year’s BusinessDesk.com North West Business Masters Awards, held at Gorton Monastery in March.

Citylabs is based on a joint venture partnership between Manchester Science Partnerships, the UK’s leading science and technology park operator, and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, the UK’s largest NHS provider Trust.

It is the only development of its kind in the UK.

The Citylabs campus, currently undergoing a £95m expansion, is surrounded by Manchester’s leading hospitals and makes it part of Europe’s largest clinical-academic campus.

Following the acquisition of Elucigene, all departments are being combined into a single management structure and manufacturing concentrated onto the one site and the new facility is already generating a strong cultural alignment across the enlarged group.

Plans for process, systems and regulatory harmonisation are well advanced and will be completed by the end of the financial year in March 2020.

Yourgene Health currently employs 125 staff around the world, with 89 staff now based at the enlarged UK headquarters in Manchester.

The company has aspirations to grow staff numbers to support the business growth anticipated over the next few years.

Chief executive, Lyn Rees, said: “I am delighted at the progress we’ve made to integrate the Elucigene acquisition, and the opening of our new facilities and HQ at Citylabs, in the heart of Manchester’s exciting genomics hub, marks a new stage of growth for our business.

“Together, we have cultivated a dynamic fast-paced culture offering a great opportunity to work with class leading products and be part of developing and commercialising the next generation of products to improve patient health globally.

“Citylabs provides us with world-class facilities to operate from and a vibrant place to work for our team.”