Nanotechnology's Emergence Might Put Pressure on Bay State Lab Space

Perth, Australia-based pSivida Ltd., a biotechnology research firm, recently announced that it will move its headquarters here after purchasing Control Delivery Systems Inc., a Hub nanotech company. Triton BioSystems Inc. of Chelmsford, Angstrom Medica Inc. and BioTrove Inc., both of Woburn, already have established themselves in Boston's suburban market.

"We're seeing some smaller leases," Ryan Weber, who also specializes in life sciences for NAI, tells GlobeSt.com, noting that as with any emerging field, most of the lease up is coming from smaller groups. He says one firm in Cambridge that has the potential to spin off four or five companies.

And with two federally funded nanotechnology centers in thestate at Harvard and MIT, the growth of the industry seems inevitable, observers say. Larson says most of the tenants he's worked with in that field have required "serious chemistry" space but because the industry is still emerging, it is not yet clear whether all nanotechnology companies will have the same requirement.