Industry News

The University of Maryland is engaged in a $545,000 upgrade of three heating and cooling systems on its College Park campus. The project will reduce energy consumption by 55 percent and will replace aging chillers in three facilities: the Lab for Physical Sciences, the Animal Science Wing, and the Physics/Superconductivity Center.

Sacred Heart Hospital initiated construction on a $31.5 million cancer center in Pensacola, Fla., in November of 2008. The 90,000-sf facility is slated for completion in late 2009. The project will house outpatient chemotherapy, radiation and medical oncology, patient support and education, laboratory services, and a pharmacy. Sacred Heart Hospital is affiliated with the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center will partner with GE Healthcare to create 25 international cancer centers. With possible locations in Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Germany, and South Korea, the facilities may offer services such as intensity-modulated radiation therapy and advanced pharmaceutical treatments.

The University of Texas at El Paso broke ground on a $60 million facility for the College of Health Sciences and School of Nursing in November of 2008. The 130,000-sf building will feature a 16,000-sf clinical learning center and a biomedical research laboratory. Occupancy is slated for spring of 2011.

Merck Serono is engaged in a €300 million expansion of its biologics manufacturing campus in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland. The expanded Merck Serono Biotech Center will support the production of therapeutics for colorectal and head and neck cancers as well as autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The project will feature two dedicated production suites, each with a 120,000-liter bioreactor capacity. A logistics center and a wastewater treatment station will also be constructed. Production is expected to begin in 2012.