Industry News

Iowa State University (ISU) began construction in late 2006 on the first phase of a $51-million renovation of its Veterinary Diagnostics Laboratory and Veterinary Teaching Hospital. The project includes renovations to the existing 100,000-sf facility and a 55,000-sf addition housing an advanced imaging facility with improved biocontainment capabilities. The second project phase entails renovations of a vacant small animal facility to enable future expansion. Both phases are expected to reach completion in late 2009.

The University of Saskatchewan has begun construction on the $110 million International Vaccine Center (InterVac) in Saskatoon. Designed by Smith Carter of Winnipeg, the 165,000-sf facility will include large animal testing facilities and BSL-3 containment laboratories for infectious disease and vaccine research.

Emeryville, Calif.-based Neurobiological Technologies, Inc. (NTI) opened a new pharmaceutical vivarium in Moorrege, Germany, in winter of 2006. The facility is owned and operated by NTI’s partner, Nordmark Arzneimittel GmbH, and houses Malayan pit vipers for the production of Viprinex®, a drug for the treatment of strokes. The GMP facility currently houses 100 snakes and could eventually contain up to 1,500.

AMDeC Co., a consortium representing 35 medical institutions in the New York area, is creating a multi-institutional rodent housing facility in Yonkers, New York. Holding up to 80,000 cages and 40,000 mice, the facility will enable institutions such as Columbia University, Rockefeller University, the New York University School of Medicine, and the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System to share space and equipment for research.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine dedicated the 78,000-sf Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory on Oct. 2, 2006. The facility will test for animal diseases including chronic wasting disease, mad cow disease, and avian influenza. The building, which reached completion in September 2006 after two years of construction,  includes a self-contained 1,200-sf BSL-3 facility, an electron microscope installed on a floating floor, and a 4,000 pound capacity tissue digester.