A new biotech incubator designed to support early-stage startups, entrepreneurs, and researchers launched earlier this year, further fueling the recent growth of the Inland Northwest life science industry.

Riverside Biotech Hub LLC launched in May, on the lower level at 502 W. Riverside, below Numerica Credit Union’s downtown Spokane branch.

The roughly 7,900-square-foot shared space features multiple offices, a shared conference room, a full kitchen and common area, and 1,900 square feet of wet lab space that can be used by tenants for research and development, production, storage, and quality control.

Riverside Biotech Hub’s launch came not long before the opening of a separate Spokane incubator.

As previously reported by the Journal, Evergreen Bioscience Innovation Cluster recently launched a 5,000-square-foot bioscience business incubator inside a former NeoGen Corp. facility at 10220 N. Nevada, in North Spokane.

The Evergreen Bioscience incubator is designed to give early-stage bioscience companies affordable, flexible access to office and wet lab space, as well as room to work, grow, and experiment without the financial burden of accepting a year-long lease term.

Although it doesn’t operate under a membership model, Riverside Biotech Hub’s concept serves a similar purpose.

“We were able to work with the landlord here to lease the full facility with the agreement that we can sublease it to other tenants,” says Chandima Bandaranayaka, co-founder and president of Riverside Biotech Hub. “The idea is that we have the equipment access and the space to expand for those companies.”

Riverside Biotech Hub offers standard 36-month leases, as well as short-term leases as brief as three months, he says. Costs vary depending on the needs of tenants.

Bandaranayaka is also the CEO of two separate life science startups, Precision Quantomics Inc. and Photon Biosciences LLC, both of which have relocated their headquarters to the Riverside Biotech Hub space earlier this year.

A third tenant, mineral-based wellness product company BluRegeneris Inc., also subleases space at the Riverside hub. Bandaranayaka is not affiliated with BluRegeneris.

Much of the equipment at Riverside Biotech Hub was purchased by Photon Biosciences through the help of funding from Health Sciences & Services Authority of Spokane County, a grantmaking organization that advances bioscience-based development. Bandaranayaka is a board member for HSSA.

Riverside Biotech leases the equipment from Photon Biosciences, which is available for tenants to share as part of their sublease agreements.

The equipment includes fully equipped benches with standard tools for molecular biology, cell culture, and analytical chemistry.

The downtown space was previously occupied by biotech company GenPrime Inc., which is listed as administratively dissolved on the Washington state Secretary of State website. 

As Riverside Biotech Hub grows and additional funding is obtained, Bandaranayaka plans to add more advanced equipment, as well as provide connections to business resources, such as investor readiness training, business support services, and assistance in identifying commercialization pathways.

For example, Bandaranayaka has been in talks with Spokane-based LaunchPad Inland Northwest LLC, a technology and life science-centered regional entrepreneurial development organization, in addition to other potential partners.

Bandaranayaka estimates the incubator can support a total of four or five companies when fully occupied, but he notes that the space can also be used for individual researchers and entrepreneurs.

In some ways, Riverside Biotech Hub was the result of the needs of Precision Quantomics and Photon Biosciences, where Bandaranayaka has been leading Photon Biosciences since 2019.

Founded by two Washington State University professors, Photon Biosciences was previously located in Spokane Valley, after relocating from Pullman, Washington, a move that Bandaranayaka says was the result of funding from HSSA.

In 2024, Bandaranayaka joined Precision Quantomics as CEO. At the time, the company began leasing equipment and space from Photon Biosciences in Spokane Valley. As additional funding for Precision Quantomics was secured, the company needed more space, so the two businesses moved from Spokane Valley to their current headquarters at Riverside Biotech Hub.

“We have all this equipment, we don’t have 24/7 needs, and we can have many people use that (space),” Bandaranayaka says. 

Bandaranayaka says he has identified various needs or challenges that his two startups have faced, some of which he says are common challenges among other companies in the life science industry.

“One of the limitations is that it’s really hard to bring an idea to marketplace, or even to get the proof of concept,” he says, adding that part of the constraint involves a lack of access to wet lab space and equipment for some companies and individuals in the Spokane area.

“That’s where I think we would come in,” he says of the biotech hub.

For instance, access to lab space and equipment within a university setting is limited for many startups and individuals, Bandaranayaka says. Some university researchers, he adds, also may want a space outside of the school setting to develop some of their ideas. He says he’s come across many people like that, who may not want to do work at a university because of the potential intellectual property issues that could arise.

The need for more wet lab space and equipment in the Spokane area is high, he contends. But with the launch of both Riverside Biotech Hub and the separate Evergreen Bioscience incubator, the life science industry’s infrastructure is growing, which he says can be helpful for attracting other startups to the area. 

Bandaranayaka also points to the important role that HSSA plays for attracting more companies to the area, noting that Photon Biosciences likely would not be in Spokane County if not for funding it received from the organization.

“If there’s a growing life science ecosystem, there’s more interest from the investors,” he says.

Bandaranayaka has been in discussions with other potential tenants for the hub, he adds.

Looking ahead, he plans to form a board for Riverside Biotech Hub.

Bandaranayaka co-founded Riverside Biotech Hub with his colleague, Kevin Lewis, the lead scientist for Photon Biosciences. The incubator doesn't have any employees aside from its two founders.