Industry News

The Howard T. Ricketts Regional Biocontainment Laboratory at Argonne National Lab officially opened on April 6, 2008 in Argonne, Ill. Designed by Flad Architects, the 54,100-gsf facility will support multi-pathogen research for the University of Chicago’s Great Lakes Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research and other partner institutions. The Ricketts laboratory will enable the creation of vaccines and diagnostic devices to counter bioterrorism and emerging infectious diseases.

Rocky Mountain Laboratories is constructing the $67 million Integrated Research Facility located on 33 acres in Hamilton, Mont. The project is the first National Institutes of Health laboratory to contain BSL-2, BSL-3, and BSL-4 space in the same facility. The 6,750-sf BSL-4 suite is undergoing certification and is expected on open in fall of 2008. Occupancy of other parts of the building began in March of 2008. The two-story facility began construction in September of 2004 and is the only BSL-4 laboratory in the Western United States.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) approved the construction of a BSL-3 laboratory for foot-and-mouth research and testing near Bhubaneswar in March of 2008. Located on 117 acres in Jatani, the facility will enable vaccine development as well as serving as a repository unit for various serotypes. The centre will act as a referral laboratory for the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and will be more technologically advanced than the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.

East Carolina University rededicated the Carol Belk Building in Greenville, N.C., on March 28. Designed by MHAworks, the $9 million renovation project transformed the existing facility to create a home of the College of Health and Human Performance. Designed to promote interaction, the Belk Building houses research laboratories up to BSL-3, teaching labs with low flow hoods and customized storage systems, three auditoriums, offices, work rooms, and conference rooms. The facility features extensive daylighting and an exterior low-e glazing.

The National Centre for Zoonosis Research opened in Leahurst in the United Kingdom in March of 2008. Based at the Liverpool University Leahurst veterinary field station, the facility will accommodate collaborative zoonotic disease research. Supported by a £1.7 million grant from the North West Development Agency, the project included renovating a former graduate student housing facility to accommodate a suite of Category 3 laboratories, including a bacterial zoonoses lab, administrative offices, and lecture facilities.