Industry News

The University of California, Merced is planning to construct a $7.5 million stem cell instrumentation foundry on its campus at Castle Airport in Atwater, Calif.  Supported by $4.36 million in funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the 8,000-sf facility will enable the creation of devices for single-cell analyses.

The University of Prince Edward Island’s Atlantic Veterinary College opened its $20 million Research Complex in Charlottetown in July of 2008. The 5,300-sm building will house the Centre for Bioactive Valuation, the Centre for Comparative Biomedical Research, and the Lobster Science Centre. Providing 1,100 sm of additional research laboratories and a $3 million CL3 (containment level 3) facility, the project is part of $45 million in infrastructure improvements planned and under way at the veterinary college.

Russian semiconductor manufacturer ANGSTREM-T has selected M + W Zander as project engineer to construct a 200mm wafer production plant at its Zelenograd campus. The 6,000-sm cleanroom facility is slated for completion in late 2009. M +W Zander is based in Germany.

The Medical Research Council has selected HBG to build the £197 million Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in the United Kingdom. Designed by RMJM, the 32,500-sm laboratory will be supported by over 780 structural piles to mitigate vibration and will include an underground heat recovery pipe system. A 4,600-sm energy center will also be built. Construction will begin by year-end 2008 with completion expected in early 2012. The construction cost for the laboratory is £140 million.

The University of Minnesota will construct a plant pathogen laboratory with greenhouses on its St. Paul campus. The project was approved by the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in June of 2008 and will accommodate research on diseases such as the virulent stem rust Ug99. The secure facility will feature advanced air filtration and containment technologies.