LS CancerDiag has new laboratory and office premises in Arabianranta, Helsinki
During the Summer, LS CancerDiag moved to a new location in Helsinki. The new premises will serve as the global company headquarters and central R&D laboratory as the company plans activities for growth and expansion in new markets soon. Below, Philippe Arnez, Chief Business Officer, Anu Harju, Laboratory Technician, and Mikael Kyriacou, Research Assistant at LS CancerDiag, discuss insights on the move and related future aspirations.
The new official address of the company is Arabiankatu 12, 00560 Helsinki, which is in the lively area of Arabianranta (literally translates to “shore of Arabia”), home to many educational institutions and companies in particular in creative industries, within art and design, but also for small and medium-sized enterprises in technology and innovation. The new location is a commercial building called Arabianportaali in which LS CancerDiag occupies 300m2 on the 6th floor, which is home to our new laboratories and offices.
PHILIPPE: We had to build our laboratory from scratch due to the lack of suitable laboratory-ready premises in Greater Helsinki. The upside is that the lab setup is now perfectly optimized for our R&D and business needs from a holistic company perspective.
ANU: From the operational lab perspective, the new location increases lab work efficiency. Safety and compliance with regulations are of utmost importance for running the laboratory, and our custom-built lab enables reaching the required quality standards for our work.
MIKAEL: Like Anu said, moving to the new premises will definitely increase the efficiency of the lab work. Designing the workspaces from the ground up specifically with our company in mind gave us the ability to optimize the lab for our specific needs, which was an important factor affecting the decision to move.
PHILIPPE: Since the company’s founding, LS CancerDiag had been a tenant at the university, which was the easiest way to get started for a university spin-off. However, the university location brought some administrative hurdles for a private company. Also, it was not a sustainable long-term solution since company growth and laboratory expansion were not possible. Also, the non-laboratory staff could not be located there permanently due to the lack of office space, which caused the team to be spread across two sites, which is not ideal.
ANU: It is crucial for the whole team to collaborate and socialize. Moreover, even though the company has a close university background, the change of scenery from a university campus to a like-minded business community feels refreshing.
MIKAEL: Having been working at the new location for a while now, I already feel like we are becoming a more tight-knit team. Being in between the locations during the construction of the new premises and working mostly from home made it difficult to keep up and socialize with people. Having a place of our own that we designed and poured hard work into, and where all members of the team can work together comes with a huge boost in motivation and sense of community.
PHILIPPE: Even though modern technology helps keeping people connected, conversations don’t happen as spontaneously as when you walk across each other in the hallway or meet at the coffee machine. Finally, we have reached a point in our journey and maturity where it is appropriate to be fully independent, including having our own premises and offices.
The company plans to maintain its global HQ in Finland. In addition, the core R&D work will continue in the newly set up Helsinki R&D laboratory, while clinical laboratory services will be conducted in different locations according to the commercial plans and market expansion strategy.
PHILIPPE: The plan is to have the Helsinki location serve as our global HQ, with corresponding business roles located here, and the laboratory will be focusing on R&D activities. The size of the new premises should be sufficient for the next couple of years, both for the laboratory and offices, even though one never knows what the future holds. However, if we need more space, the current location offers many options. In terms of the US premises that we are planning, they will include a clinical laboratory that provides the diagnostic test to customers and is due to be operational next year,. It will have limited R&D activity and be complemented by a commercial team to help us break into this key target market.
We will reveal the final result and how the new premises look like during the occasion of a house warming event in autumn. So stay tuned for more news on that!
Finally, to make sure everything runs smoothly in our new home, we are currently looking for someone to join our as the Administrative Pro, ensuring that the operations work well, supporting the whole team on a daily basis, and many more exciting responsibilities.
