Umoja Biopharma is a transformative immunotherapy company creating off-the-shelf treatments that aim to extend the reach and effectiveness of CAR T cell therapies in oncology and autoimmunity.

What started as a scrappy healthcare startup, Umoja has grown into a company approaching 200 employees, with locations in both Seattle, Washington and Louisville, Colorado.

For the past four years, Dynamic Computing has been a major IT provider for Umoja. During that time, we’ve helped them open multiple new facilities including a large manufacturing facility and the company’s new headquarters in downtown Seattle — all while providing the vast majority of the day-to-day support their users need.

Moving Quickly

Our partnership with Umoja began as the complexity and challenges of their IT service needs escalated during a period of rapid growth in their organization, including two primary locations, multiple new facility openings, and a fast pace of hiring to support their growth.

Healthcare in general, and biopharmaceuticals in particular, is rapidly evolving — Umoja needed an IT provider that was able to adapt quickly as the company scaled.

When Umoja was founded, it was housed in a single, small space within an academic research building. As it grew, it first moved into one office/lab space, and then another, before establishing its headquarters in a newly built office building and laboratory facility north of downtown Seattle.

We supported the company throughout each of these changes, expanding networks and moving workstations with little disruption to the company’s work. We also installed security and governance protocols for Umoja to ensure that its employees could work remotely and securely — especially important as Umoja grew rapidly during the early waves of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

Our relationship with Umoja continues to this day and includes providing the support of a senior member of our team on-site with them three days a week.

Going Forward

Now that Umoja’s team has grown to nearly 200, its IT needs continue to evolve.

“Supporting the computing environment of laboratories comes with a whole host of challenges,” Jennifer says. “A lot of proprietary software, computers that come attached to instruments…Dynamic has learned a lot in supporting us and quickly adapted so they can provide support for lab environments as well as our general, user-based IT needs.”

As Umoja continues to grow, we look forward to being along for the ride with them every step of the way.