Industry News

West Virginia University opened the $30 million Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute in Morgantown in October of 2008. The three-story, 78,000-sf facility houses technology-rich neuroscience research laboratories and can accommodate up to 100 investigators.

The University of Edinburgh is building the £7 million Centre for Systems Biology in Edinburgh, Scotland. The project began construction in January of 2008 and is slated for completion in 2009. The Centre will be housed in 900 sm in the C.H. Waddington Building, a three-story facility that will accommodate multidisciplinary laboratories and office space for research in biological sciences, informatics, and infectious diseases. The building will also house the Centre for Translational and Chemical Biology.

The University of Nebraska Medical Center is constructing the $74 million Durham Research Center II in Omaha. Construction began on the 10-story, 252,179-gsf facility in August of 2006. Featuring 98 technology-rich laboratories, investigator offices, and lab support, the facility will connect to UNMC’s existing Durham Research Center via a covered parkway.

The University of Minnesota Medical School will construct four biomedical research buildings in Minneapolis. The 56,000-sf Center for Magnetic Resonance Research is slated for completion in July of 2010 and the 120,000-sf Cancer Biomedical Research Building will open in January of 2012. The 120,000-sf Lillehei Heart Building will include the Center for Cardiovascular Repair and is expected to reach completion in July of 2012. The 90,000-sf Infectious Disease and Neuroscience building will open in July of 2013.

Soitec SA opened its 300-mm wafer fabrication plant in Singapore in November of 2008. Sited on 2.7 hectares at the company’s Pasir Ris campus, the facility houses 4,000-sm of cleanroom space. Construction of the €350 million project began in August of 2006. Soitec SA is a manufacturer of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers headquartered in Bernin, France.