The University of Wisconsin-Madison broke ground on the $150 million Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery in Madison on May 2, 2008. The 300,000-sf interdisciplinary biomedical research building will be comprised of four stories above ground and one below, and will house research offices, an atrium, and flexible dry, wet, and combination laboratories. The collaborative public-private research project will accommodate biotechnology, health science, nanotechnology, engineering, and stem cell research. A $20.5 million, 22,400-sf vivarium will be constructed adjacent to the facility housing over 33,000 mice and rats. Site work began in January of 2008 with project completion expected in fall of 2010. The Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery facility will house the private Morgridge Institute for Research (MIR), enabling industry partnerships for the commercialization of research discoveries, and the public Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (WID). Phase two of the project will be built over vivarium.
