Industry News

The University of North Carolina is partnering with Dole Food Company, North Carolina State University, developer David Murdock, and other institutions to create the 350-acre North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis. Upon completion, the campus will comprise over one million square feet of office and laboratory space as well as commercial, retail, and residential facilities. The first 330,000-sf building will include:

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals opened its 1.2 million-sf Grange Castle biotech production facility on September 8, 2005. Located in South County Dublin, Ireland, the $2 billion project began site work in October of 2002. Employing over 1,000 workers, the facility is comprised of three separate buildings: a drug development unit, a drug substance site, and a drug product facility. Production will begin on a phased basis over the next four years.

The National Institutes of Health's National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has awarded the University of Louisville a $22 million federal grant to construct a biodefense research laboratory on its Shelby campus. One of thirteen BSL-3 Regional Biosafety Laboratories in the nation funded by NIAID since 2003, the 45,000-sf facility will be supported by $12.6 million in University funding. The building will house the University's Center for Predictive Medicine.

The National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has awarded George Mason University (GMU) a $25-million grant to construct a new BSL-3 biocontainment laboratory in Fairfax, Va. The facility will be part of GMU's $45-million National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases, an 83,000-sf facility that will accommodate research on diseases considered to be potential bioterror threats.

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth broke ground in September 2005 on a $9-million, 20,000-sf research center dedicated to the study of botulism, a potential bioterrorism threat.