Biomeme says its new office is a longterm commitment to Philly

Biomeme cofounder Max Perelman is pumped about the two meeting rooms at the company’s new Center City office.
“Our old meeting room used to be the bathroom,” Perelman joked (we think?). “It used to get awkward when someone came in to pee.”
The biotech company just moved into a 4,500-square-foot office at 10th and Chestnut. The move is almost double the size of its previous 2,200-square-foot space in Old City, which was itself a step up from its shared office spaces with NextFab and Dreamit Health).
The company, which is currently at 20 full-timers, will share the space with Lia Diagnostics, the makers of that flushable pregancy test and also a DreamIt grad.

beautiful sunset views from the roof of our new office on 10th and Chestnut pic.twitter.com/dGh3u7uThn

— Biomeme Inc. (@BiomemeInc) November 3, 2016

Lab space was also doubled and upgraded in the new office, elevating it to a biosafety level 2 (BSL2) lab.
“We also have a ‘clean assembly area’ where we can manufacture our own consumables like sample preps and test kits,” Perelman said. “And we have an engineering lab with twice the space where we can do R&D and assemble prototypes.”

Biomeme signed a seven-year lease, Perelman said.
The move is a sign of traction for the makers of those DIY genomics tests (hey, remember when the company came here from New Mexico with just three founders?), but Perelman said it also means doubling down on Philly.
“It’s a commitment to the community here, to local and regional manufacturing,” he said. “We’re not going to the ‘burbs.”