Could Kentucky support a true life sciences incubator?
That was the question Northern Kentucky regional leadership posed to local government and industry partners — such as CTI Clinical Trail and Consulting, Bexion Pharmaceuticals, Gravity Diagnostics, and St. Elizabeth Healthcare — four years ago when assessing increased life sciences momentum.
At the time, a fresh study from BE NKY Growth Partnership and Ernst & Young revealed that Northern Kentucky’s life sciences employment had doubled between 2014 and 2019, with an estimated 30% increase expected by 2025. The companies— including major players Thermo Fisher Scientific, Zeiss Vision Care and Ethos Labs— the talent and the growth were present in this region, although there was no space available for early-stage founders to cement new foundations.
The only way to explore the viability of a life science incubator in the region was to deliver targeted investment toward it. Early groundwork was laid with the cultivation of a nonprofit corporation now known as LifeSciKY, which was founded to enhance local life sciences entrepreneurship, education and economic development. Backed by Governor Andy Beshear in 2022, the General Assembly approved a $15 million state investment for LifeSciKY to establish a new wet lab within the future OneNKY Center in Covington.
Photo courtesy of LifeSciKY
“The answer was yes,” says LifeSciKY Executive Director Christin Godale. “But at that stage the work was largely vision setting and coalition building. The team studied national models, mapped equipment needs and designed what a shared lab could look like. It was essential groundwork, yet still a concept waiting for an operating strategy.”
A year later, the $26 million OneNKY Center was under construction. The 47,000-square-foot space was designed to house 10 Northern Kentucky growth organizations under one roof, acting as a one-stop shop for community support, business development, tourism and vital innovation.
Photos courtesy of LifeSciKY
Building a Sustainable Model
When Godale joined LifeSciKY in June 2024, the team moved from planning to execution. This meant moving from renderings to real infrastructure; recruiting the first resident companies; launching fresh STEM workforce programs; and building the compliance and operational systems required for a high-quality, modern biotech facility.
“Kentucky does not just need more lab space; it needs a front door for innovation, and that is what we are building,” she says.
One of the first strategic priorities for Godale was to broaden the LifeSciKY vision beyond a single building in Covington, ensuring the development of a functional model that can be replicated throughout the commonwealth. Today, the biggest challenges life sciences entrepreneurs face in Kentucky remain basic: access to lab space, equipment and capital.
Creating adequate lab space costs a pretty penny and is often attached to universities or hospitals with long approval processes and limited room for independent founders. This has limited how fast entrepreneurs can move prior to even attempting to gain capital. Godale says Kentucky hasn’t always had a deep bench of investors comfortable in early biotech risk, although in the end startups are looking for more than checks— they’re looking for expertise to guide them to a successful exit.
“What we hear from companies, whether they’re pre-revenue or preparing for clinical trials, is that they’re looking for three things: a reliable home to do their research; trusted operational support so they don’t have to reinvent compliance and procurement; and meaningful connections to customers, talent and investors,” she says. “Our role at LifeSciKY is to lower those barriers so founders can spend their time on discovery instead of logistics.”
In September 2025, operations at the OneNKY Center officially launched. Encompassing the entire second floor, the LifeSciKY web lab spans 12,000 square feet and provides over $1 million in high-quality equipment available to entrepreneurs, in addition to co-working office space. Godale says that on day one companies walk into a shared facility with equipment, safety systems and compliance already in place. That means experiments happen faster, data arrives sooner and capital stretches further.
“We help remove the operational friction that slows young companies down. Procurement, vendor relationships, lab management and basic regulatory practices can overwhelm a two-person startup,” she says. “We’ve built those systems so founders don’t have to learn them the hard way.”
LifeSciKY then moves to connect emerging companies with the expertise that helps them move forward, whether that be a potential customer, clinical partner, a technical hire or a knowledgeable industry investor.
“We don’t pretend to be everything to everyone, but we do our best to open doors where we have real relationships,” she says.
Worth the Risk
One of the first Kentucky-based companies to relocate to Covington upon learning about LifeSciKY was Clareo Biosciences.
The biotech startup had launched in Louisville, aiming to create a more effective approach to gathering data on diseases and characterizing individual responses to vaccines and treatments. Clareo Biosciences became the first company to offer complete repertoire sequencing, while introducing the first technology that allowed for direct links between immune receptor transcript characterization and a person’s genetic makeup.
Clareo Biosciences CEO Dr. Melissa Smith and Co-founder Dr. Corey Watson had been building foundational technologies alongside each other for over 11 years before the duo realized their potential would be maximized in the same location. Watson was native to Louisville, while Smith was between California and New York in that time before moving her family to the region in mid-2020. The deciding factor was Watson’s vouch for Kentucky’s quality of life, a move that enabled the launch of Clareo Biosciences.
“I can chase my professional dreams while also being close enough to attend my daughter’s kindergarten concerts,” says Smith. “We can afford to invest in a startup enterprise and maintain a quality of life to support our families. We are all chasing the elusive ‘work-life balance’ solution; I’ve never come so close to achieving that as I have been since coming to build a life in Kentucky.”
As LifeSciKY’s future lab was gearing up, the company applied for a sponsored laboratory bench through a “Bourbon for Science” initiative between LifeSciKY and New Riff Distilling. The duo launched an exclusive single barrel bourbon, using proceeds to fund lab space for early-stage life science companies looking to relocate within the OneNKY Center. Clareo Biosciences ended up receiving a $10,000 grant to secure a bench and began expanding its operations to Northern Kentucky.
“Through our relationship with LifeSciKY, we have been able to pitch Clareo Biosciences to Governor Andy Beshear, engage with the Northern Kentucky ecosystem and network across the state,” says Smith. “Our success thus far has come from the relationships we have built locally and statewide. We are so lucky to have a trusted network of experts ready and willing to guide us as we grow.”
Smith’s education and career took her to a variety of domestic and international life sciences ecosystems, though none have possessed the collaborative spirit of Kentucky’s. She notes it was the most refreshing aspect of building a startup in the state, aside from its skilled talent, reasonable operating costs and robust infrastructure that supports life sciences research and entrepreneurial dreams.
“I am so proud to be part of the growing groundswell that recognizes and builds on the unique values Kentucky has to offer as a launching point for cutting-edge life sciences discovery and development,” says Smith.
Stronger Ecosystem Collaboration
Just before LifeSciKY’s official launch, it was announced that the University of Kentucky would pursue a new partnership with the nonprofit through UK Innovate. The move is designed to align the state’s life sciences ecosystem by taking measures to enhance access to lab space, identify statewide life sciences resources, gather regional stakeholders to generate engagement and offer new opportunities for life sciences talent.
“One of LifeSciKY’s core priorities is inspiring, educating and empowering the next generation of life sciences founders across Kentucky,” says Godale. “By combining UK Innovate’s commercialization and translational expertise with LifeSciKY’s purpose-built lab infrastructure, we’re creating clearer pathways for students, researchers and entrepreneurs to move from discovery to company formation.”
The University of Kentucky joins the University of Louisville and Northern Kentucky University in contributing a robust research pipeline within the region. Partnerships of this kind become vital to providing talent and entrepreneurs real-world environments to move forward in a life sciences career, a connection point that hadn’t existed in the state until now.
Godale says that the duo are currently in the midst of building the Kentucky BIO Alliance, which will bring together a number of Kentucky stakeholders to amplify the state’s life sciences assets. The goal is to introduce a united innovation pipeline that opens access to resources and retains talent, while translating Kentucky-based research into solutions that support the entire commonwealth.
Governor Andy Beshear (left) heavily supported the development of LifeSciKY in order to advance Northern Kentucky’s life sciences industry.
Photo courtesy of LifeSciKY/ Emory Davis
As the Kentucky BIO Alliance finds integration, activity at LifeSciKY this year will focus on turning momentum into measurable impact. The lab becomes more than a facility, connecting residents directly to funding, talent and partnerships that transform the space into a proven economic development engine. This includes filling additional labs and benches with homegrown startups like Clareo Biosciences and attracting life sciences company relocations as seen with Knoxville-based PAN Biologics.
“Success for us means companies that start here, stay here and create high-value jobs here,” says Godale.
