Animal Research

The State of Idaho is planning to construct the Idaho Center for Livestock and Environmental Studies, a $37 million dairy research facility. Possible sites include the Magic Valley area and Minidoka County. Monsanto will contribute $1 million to the facility’s construction, with $4 million in additional contributions expected from other industry partners. The University of Idaho will contribute $20 million, as the facility will support the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The Garvan Institute of Medical Research is constructing a mouse breeding facility in Moss Vale, New South Wales, Australia. The first phase is slated for occupancy in 2008. Owned by the Garvan Institute and operated by Australian BioResources, the facility will supply mice to the University of New South Wales, the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute, the University of Newcastle, and the Children's Cancer Institute of Australia.

The University of Oxford is constructing a biomedical research facility on South Parks Road in Oxford, UK. Work on the animal research facility was halted in 2004 due to activist unrest but resumed in November of 2005. Part of an ongoing program of replacing and updating existing laboratory space, the £20 million project will provide world-class facilities, reflecting the University's commitment to animal welfare and scientific progress. The new facility will result in the closure of a number of existing animal facilities.

The United States Department of Homeland Security's Office of Procurement Operations will award approximately $24 million over several years to the Plum Island Animal Disease Center in Orient Point, N.Y. The project will improve research productivity and safety at the BSL-3 facility, which accommodates research on harmful zoological disease agents.

Aurora, Colo.-based Merrick & Company received an engineering excellence award in December of 2007 from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Colorado. Merrick was recognized with a Building/Technology Systems Award for work on the BSL-3Ag Large Animal Health Facility project in Ames, Iowa. Merrick provided detailed architectural and engineering design services for one of the initial elements of the $460 million modernization of the USDA National Centers for Animal Health.

Ohio University is planning to construct a $450,000 animal research facility south of its Athens campus in Hebbardsville. The facility will accommodate large animals including cattle and goats for anatomy and physiology studies. Designed to promote faculty recruitment, the facility will enable research on locomotion, feeding, and craniofacial morphology.

Colorado State University broke ground in December of 2007 on a $42 million veterinary science facility in Fort Collins. The 90,000-sf diagnostic medicine center will house specialty laboratories for zoonotic disease research. The facility is one of seven in the nation selected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to test for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.

BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics, a developer of adult stem cell technologies, began constructing an animal research facility at its headquarters in Petach-Tikvah, Israel in late 2007. Housing laboratories for preclinical therapeutics research, the vivarium and cleanroom facility will be built to meet National Institutes of Health and National Research Council guidelines.

The University of Wisconsin, Madison completed construction on the $12.5-million Institute for Influenza Viral Research in November of 2007. Designed by Flad Architects, the 28,000-sf facility houses BSL-3, BSL-3E, BSL-3Ag, and ABSL-3 laboratories with redundant air handling systems, autoclaves, a back-up generator, and an effluent decontamination system. Located at University Research Park in Madison, the Institute will support research on avian influenza and other flu viruses and will house rodents, ferrets, poultry, and monkeys.

Charles River Laboratories opened a 450,000-sf preclinical research center in Reno, Calif., in fall of 2007. Sited in Truckee Meadows, the BSL-2 facility is among the five largest animal testing laboratories in the country and accommodates drug research on rodents, dogs, and monkeys. Charles River invested $107 million to renovate the facility, not including laboratory equipment. The first floor houses a large chemical laboratory and the 50,000-sf second floor houses animal research. The center employs 400 staff members with a projected 900 employees in a few years.

Dalhousie University, in partnership with Capital Health and the IWK Health Centre, is planning to construct the $42 million Life Sciences Research Institute (LSRI) in Halifax. Designed by Halifax-based WHW Architects, the 115,000-sf, five-story LSRI will house post-incubator research projects and laboratory space for tenants, two floors of labs for the Brain Repair Centre, and a CL2/APL2 Integrated Animal Care Facility (IACF) for non-severe biological agent research on the fifth floor.

Iowa State University dedicated the new Dairy Animal Science Education and Discovery Facility on Oct. 20, 2007. Sited three miles south of the main ISU campus, the facility is a fully functional dairy farm of 450 milking cows used for teaching, research, and education. Accommodating research by faculty in Animal Science, Veterinary Medicine, and Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, the facility is also utilized by researchers from the National Animal Disease Center in Ames.

Colorado State University celebrated the opening of its $30 million Regional Biocontainment Laboratory on October 2, 2007. Sited on the Foothills Campus in Fort Collins, the 38,000-sf aerosol challenge facility will house mice for infectious disease and potential bioterror agent research. The BSL-3 laboratory features a $600,000 mass spectrometer, autoclaves, seven-layer epoxy floors, and rigorous HEPA air filtration. The project was built by a joint venture of Heath Construction with Hensel Phelps Construction.

Colorado State University has selected Heath Construction to build the $6.75 million third phase of Colorado State University's Bioenvironmental Research Building. The 21,700-sf, three-story addition to the existing Bioenvironmental Research Building is scheduled for completion in late 2008. The expansion will house research programs on infectious diseases and an array of mechanical and technical systems.

The University of Florida College of Medicine will break ground in September 2008 on the 90,000-sf Veterinary Education and Clinical Research Center in Gainesville, Fla. A design firm for the $58-million project, which will include an expansion of the University’s small animal hospital, will be selected in fall of 2007. The new three-story animal hospital will triple the existing facility’s footprint. The first floor will house examination rooms, waiting areas, an ICU, imaging, and a pharmacy.