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The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston is creating one of the first national biocontainment laboratories with a $120 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. The University will contribute the remaining $40 million to build the $160-million, 170,000-sf project. The laboratory will house flexible, high-level biocontainment facilities, clinical facilities, and research support space. UTMB was awarded $48-million in early September 2003 to create a Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research, one of eight such federal facilities. The new national biocontainment lab will support the Center of Excellence by studying emerging disease threats, and developing diagnostic tools, treatments, vaccines, and cures.