Central and Eastern European drug discovery company, Selvita, has signed a contract for the lease of laboratory space in Poznan, Poland. The new site will be located at in the Wielkopolska Center of Advanced Technologies and begin research activities in the summer of 2016. The initial laboratory space will be 5,500 sq. feet, which constitutes a nearly 20% increase in Selvita laboratory space.

The Poznan facility will be the first Selvita research site outside Krakow.

At the beginning, Selvita plans to employ approximately 50 people in Poznan. Ultimately, the facility in Poznan is meant to be, according to the company, the “second heart of Selvita” providing both contract services, as well as actively participating in internal R&D projects.

“Wielkopolska region has a fantastic scientific potential. We are fully aware that for many talented graduates from local universities, the decision to relocate to Krakow can be very difficult, and for this reason we decided to come to them,” said Miroslawa Zydron, director of the contract chemistry department and member of the management board, Selvita. “The foundation of the Poznan team will be the employees coming from that region, who have already  been working  at Selvita for some time, in our laboratories in Krakow. Recently we have been also recruiting locally in Poznan. Selected candidates are being invited to join Selvita for a few months in Krakow, so they can have the opportunity to get to know our company and its organization, before they start working in Poznan.”

Selvita headquarters and the main laboratories with a research space of 30,000 sq. foot, are located in Krakow, Poland. In 2015, Selvita opened subsidiaries in major biotech centers around the world with Selvita Inc. in the greater Boston area and in the San Francisco Bay area in the U.S., and Selvita Ltd. in Cambridge, UK.