Growing Biotech Company Among First to Commit to New USD Discovery District Building

A homegrown biotech success story will be among the first to move into the first building of the USD Discovery District.

The Discovery District opened the 50,000-square-foot, two-story facility earlier this year, offering dedicated space for innovators in biotech and life science.

It’s the sort of environment that appealed to Sioux Falls-based OmegaQuant Analytics, president Jason Potreis said.

“It’s really about their vision of the future, being a biotech hub to be able to connect and collaborate with other organizations and companies that will hopefully be there,” he said. “We’re excited to be around like-minded companies, which will hopefully provide innovation not only for our company but others as well.”

OmegaQuant started in a single room at 5009 W. 12th St. in 2015, after graduating from the Zeal Center for Entrepreneurship, now Startup Sioux Falls.

“We’ve been in our current space about seven years and just looked for a little newer, more efficient space,” Potreis said. “And as we’ve grown, we’ve expanded into additional suites we really weren’t anticipating.”

The 20-person team offers the company’s signature omega-3 test, which is based on research Dr. Bill Harris began more than 30 years ago. In 2009, he began to commercialize his Omega-3 Index Test, which measures the amount of omega-3’s EPA and DHA in the blood.
OmegaQuant offers direct-to-consumer tests but primarily provides tests to health care providers. Additionally, the company has received multiple Small Business Innovation Research grants that have allowed it to further study how fatty acids contribute to risk for developing everything from diabetes to dementia.

“With diabetes, for instance, through our SBIR grant we are developing a fatty acid fingerprint index that would be able to identify people at higher risk of developing diabetes,” Potreis said. “We’ve found through our initial research that we’re able to predict five years sooner than the current biomarkers that are used, so we’ve positioned this as a pre-diabetes test.”

At the Discovery District building, OmegaQuant will be leasing 5,300 square feet for a combination of office, laboratory and manufacturing space. The plan is to move in this May.

“This is exactly the vision that so many had in developing the USD Discovery District,” said Joni Ekstrum, executive director of South Dakota Biotech. “We think it’s an ideal fit for a company like OmegaQuant that positions them for the future and shows prospective tenants the caliber of business that we’re already attracting.”

The Discovery District’s build-to-suit office and research building is designed to offer cutting-edge lab space necessary to meet the stringent requirements of research and commercialization. It’s located at 4600 W. Nobel St. in northwest Sioux Falls, to the west of the USD — Sioux Falls classroom building and GEAR Center.

Additionally, the building offers shared resources such as conference rooms and common areas to promote collaboration. Tenants also have access to university services such as prototyping, cGMP facilities and equipment to accelerate development.

In addition to OmegaQuant, tenants include the South Dakota Small Business Development Center and the Prairie Family Business Association, which are well positioned to provide resources to those in the building and beyond.

“We’ve been doing a lot of work behind the scenes to recruit additional tenants for the building and are taking a data-driven approach to that, which has worked out really well,” said Ryan Oines, interim president for the USD Discovery District.

“We’re able to go out and reach specific biotech life sciences companies that could be the best fit.”

The USD Discovery District held an outreach event last week in Minneapolis to personally connect with prospective tenants, in conjunction with the Medical Alley Summit.

“We had a really good response,” Oines said. “We reached a lot of Twin Cities companies, including some with representatives who already had a connection to USD.”

Additionally, a medical device company is currently in the design proposal phase to determine its space requirements within the building.

The building includes a co-working space that can support a handful of consultants or contract researchers who might not need an entire suite built out but see value in working out of the building, Oines said.

“We can see a number of individuals who will support the rest of the tenants in the building and the broader district utilizing that space,” he said.

There’s about 3,000 square feet remaining to lease on the building’s first floor and 19,000 square feet on the second floor, assuming deals in process come together.

“Supported by the experience and expertise of Brian Limoges, AVP of facilities at USD, we were intentional in how we built the infrastructure of the building,” Oines said. “We have the capacity to bring in more HVAC and other equipment as needed, and the goal is that really any particular open space could be used as lab space.”

This first building is just the beginning. The district will grow to fill 80 acres, with plans for 26 privately constructed buildings. While the research district is focused on driving economic growth potential as a hub for biotech and life science research, it will house businesses that span numerous industries – from technology startups to coffee shops.

The USD Discovery District is projected to provide employment opportunities for almost 2,800 individuals through companies situated within the district.

“This is the sort of opportunity that biotech companies are looking for,” Ekstrum said. “The capacity is here to support them at any stage of growth and to surround them with live-work amenities that help support the workforce they need. It’s exciting to see a vision so long in the making begin to come together.”