Industry News

The University of Oklahoma is planning to build the 152,000-sf Life Sciences Research Center on its south campus in Norman, Okla. Funded in part by a $15-million private donation, the three-story facility will accommodate 30 life sciences research groups. Featuring an open and flexible design, the center will include space for industry collaboration as well as core research support facilities for the entire campus.

The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) opened the NRC Institute for Nutrisciences and Health in Charlottetown in early 2007. Sited on the campus of the University of Prince Edward Island, the $13.5-million collaborative facility houses open labs and offices for research and commercialization of nutriscience research discoveries. The Institute includes incubator space and laboratories to enable companies and researchers access to specialized equipment and industry expertise.

Smith College is initiating construction on Ford Hall, a new science and engineering center designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson. RFD (Research Facilities Design) is providing laboratory design consulting services. The facility will house the Picker Engineering Program and programs in biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, and molecular biology.

The long-awatited 5th edition of the Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL) guide is now online on the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at www.cdc.gov/od/ohs/biosfty/bmbl5/bmbl5toc.htm .

UC Davis is proposing to construct five new buildings at the California National Primate Research Center in Davis, Calif. A $5.3-million, 10,000-sf building would accommodate virology and immunology research and would include a 1,100-sf BSL-3 laboratory. Four additional modular buildings would have a footprint of approximately 1,500 sf each, two comprised of laboratory space and two housing office space. Each of the modular buildings would cost approximately $800,000.