Biomedical

Esco announced the launch of a new range of Pharmacon Downflow Booths in July of 2009. Downflow booths are used in the pharmaceutical, chemical, and food industries for operations such as sampling, grinding, dispensing, and filling, which generate airborne particles. The booths support processes that involve hazardous, toxic, or sensitizing materials and protect operators and adjoining areas from exposure to aerosols of the process materials.Esco Pharmacon Downflow Booths feature:

The United Kingdom’s Medical Research Council is constructing the £197 million Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge. Designed by RMJM to foster interaction and collaboration, the facility will provide 27,000 asm of low-vibration research space for 400 scientists and 200 support staff. Construction began on the three-story project in March of 2009 and completion is expected in January of 2012.

Medtronic will open the 150,000-sf Diabetes Therapy Management and Education Center in San Antonio in late summer of 2009. Medtronic will hire approximately 1,400 employees during a five-year period to staff the new facility. The LEED Silver certified building will enable the medical technology company to expand its diabetes products research and manufacturing operations.

The Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation opened its 9,000-sf vaccine manufacturing facility in Rockville, Md., in April of 2009. The project will support tuberculosis vaccine development and production, as well as research into aerosol vaccine formulations. The BSL-2 facility was built by general contractor Whiting-Turner of Baltimore.

Imperial College London, in partnership with Imperial College Healthcare NHS, broke ground on a £99 million biomedical research facility in April of 2009. Slated for completion in late 2011, the six-story building will be part of the planned Academic Health Science Center in London. Housing 450 researchers, the facility will provide laboratories for translational research in cardiovascular disease, arthritis, diabetes, and obesity.

South Dakota State University is building the $51 million Avera Health and Science Center in Brookings, S.D. Created in partnership with Avera Health, the 144,000-sf facility is comprised of 96,000-sf of new construction and 48,000-sf of renovated space. Housing the College of Pharmacy and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, the center will provide classrooms, teaching and research laboratories, and faculty offices. Construction began on the Avera Health and Science Center in June of 2008. The facility will open in fall of 2010.

Pfizer dedicated its newly renovated laboratory and office facility in Kalamazoo, Mich., in April of 2009. The 780,000-sf project will serve as the global headquarters for Pfizer’s animal genetics and veterinary medicine R&D operations. Housing 680 employees, the $75 million project will consolidate staff from Richland Township, Pa., and Sandwich, U.K.

The University of Edinburgh has selected Miller Construction to build the £54 million Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the university's BioQuarter site in Edinburgh. The three-story, 8,900-sm project is slated for completion in mid-2011. The facility represents the first phase of the planned £600 million, 130,000-sm BioQuarter research campus.

The Health Protection Agency is constructing the £12 million Influenza Resource Centre (IRC) in Potters Bar in the United Kingdom. Part of the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, the laboratory will support influenza vaccine research and development, production, and standardization. Occupancy is expected in early 2010.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute is partnering with the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, to construct a $20 million HIV and tuberculosis research facility. Integrated with the Doris Duke Medical Research Institute at Nelson Mandela Medical School, the six-story facility will include two floors of high level biocontainment laboratories.

The Medical University of South Carolina began construction on a 28,000-sf biomedical research facility in Charleston in March of 2009. The $5.5 million Innovation Center project involves renovation of an existing warehouse facility to create a 28,000-sf business incubator housing technology-rich research labs and offices. Completion is expected in November of 2009. The project is created in collaboration with the South Carolina Research Authority and the city of Charleston.

Louisiana Cancer Research Center initiated construction in early 2009 on a $100 million research facility in New Orleans. Created by a partnership of Tulane University Health Sciences Center and Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, the 250,000-sf project is sited on two acres between the collaborating institutions. The facility was designed by RMJM Hillier with Brice Building Company as general contractor. Completion is expected in August of 2011.

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine opened the $45 million Anne and Mike Armstrong Medical Education Building in Baltimore in early 2009. The four-story, 100,000-sf project broke ground in September of 2006 and houses a 70-person learning studio, two 180-seat lecture halls, classrooms, flexible laboratories, offices, and study areas. The facility will support the School of Medicine’s new Genes to Society curriculum, which centers on advances in human genome research.

The University of California-Merced is planning to construct a stem cell research facility in the existing Science and Engineering Building in Merced, Calif. Funded by $4.36 million in funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the $6 million research laboratory will feature a microfabrication facility to analyze stem cells at a single cell level. Construction could begin in October of 2009 with occupancy expected in October of 2010.

Strathclyde University is constructing the £35 million Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences in Glasgow. Designed by Sheppard Robson, the 8,000-sm multidisciplinary facility will support drug discovery and pharmaceutical R&D as well as housing the departments of physiology, bioscience, immunology, pharmaceutical sciences, and pharmacology. The six-story project will include a 160-seat teaching lab, research labs, interactive write-up spaces, and a pharmaceutical cleanroom.