Biomedical

Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) began construction on its Onna-Son campus in late 2006. The interdisciplinary research institute will accommodate approximately 300 faculty and 3,000 researchers in the areas of life science, neuroscience, biology, chemistry, nanotechnology, engineering, computer science, mathematics, and physics. Housing research facilities, laboratories, seminar rooms, a library, auditorium, housing, and dining, the two-site campus will feature a three-wing laboratory zone designed to maximize interaction and collaboration.

Louisiana Tech University celebrated the opening of its $12 million biomedical engineering building in Ruston, La., in early May of 2007. The facility is connected to the Institute for Micromanufacturing and features technologically rich laboratories, classrooms, collaboration spaces, and faculty offices as well as an economic development incubator called the Humana Enterprise Center. Construction was completed in two years. Future plans for the university include a $25 million research park in Ruston.

The University of Iowa (UI) is partnering with Ryan Companies U.S. and the National Genecular Institute (NGI) to build a $20 million research facility in Coralville. Construction began in early May 2007 on the project. The building will be owned by Ryan Companies who will sublease space to the University and NGI. UI’s footprint will consist of the Bioventures Center comprised of 20 wet labs and 16 dry labs that will be subleased to start-up companies.

The University of Texas (UT) Health Science Center at Houston and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center are partnering to create the Center for Advanced Biomedical Imaging Research. Located at the University of Texas Research Park at the Texas Medical Center in Houston, the six-story, 315,000-sf facility is being constructed in collaboration with GE Healthcare and the Texas Enterprise Fund.

UC San Francisco is planning to build a $241-million Cardiovascular Research Institute facility at is Mission Bay, San Francisco campus. Groundbreaking is slated for 2008 with completion expected in 2011.

The Canadian federal government has announced the recipients of its 2007 research budget allocations. Science and technology growth will be supported by $1.3 billion in funding, including:

• $510 million to the Canada Foundation for Innovation 
• $350 million to Centres of Excellence in Commercialization and Research 
• $120 million to CANARIE to develop a next-generation research broadband network 
• $100 million to Genome Canada 
• $10 million to the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research

Scripps Florida is planning to construct its new 350,000-sf facility on the Florida Atlantic University John D. MacArthur Campus in Jupiter, Fla. Slated for completion in December 2008, the $18.6 million project will include three buildings. Building A will focus on chemistry, drug discovery, and translational research. Building B will focus on biotechnology, cells, genomes, and proteins, with an auditorium, cafeteria, and administrative offices. Building C will focus on biology and biomedical research.

The University of Nevada School of Medicine broke ground in March 2007 on the Center for Molecular Medicine in Reno. Designed by Dekker/Perich/Sabatini, the 100,000-sf building will accommodate basic science research departments such as microbiology, pharmacology, and physiology. The Center for Molecular Medicine features a two-wing design. The northwest wing will house vivarium, research space, laboratory, and office space.

The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) opened the NRC Institute for Nutrisciences and Health in Charlottetown in early 2007. Sited on the campus of the University of Prince Edward Island, the $13.5-million collaborative facility houses open labs and offices for research and commercialization of nutriscience research discoveries. The Institute includes incubator space and laboratories to enable companies and researchers access to specialized equipment and industry expertise.

The long-awatited 5th edition of the Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL) guide is now online on the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at www.cdc.gov/od/ohs/biosfty/bmbl5/bmbl5toc.htm .

UC Davis is proposing to construct five new buildings at the California National Primate Research Center in Davis, Calif. A $5.3-million, 10,000-sf building would accommodate virology and immunology research and would include a 1,100-sf BSL-3 laboratory. Four additional modular buildings would have a footprint of approximately 1,500 sf each, two comprised of laboratory space and two housing office space. Each of the modular buildings would cost approximately $800,000.

Gartnavel General Hospital has initiated construction on the £9.5-million Paul O’Gorman Leukaemia Research Centre in Glasgow, Scotland. The facility will feature three floors of laboratory space for blood diagnostics and treatment including hematology, hematooncology, immunology, tissue typing, and blood cancer research. The Leukaemia Research Centre is a joint project of the National Health Service for Scotland and the University of Glasgow and is located on the same site as the West of Scotland Beatson Oncology Centre.

The University of Connecticut has purchased the 113,000-sf FarmTech building in Farmington and will spend $35-million to renovate it as a Center of Innovation for stem cell, genetics, and bioengineering research. Sited on 24 acres, the cross-disciplinary, collaborative facility will house wet and dry laboratories, business incubator space, classrooms, and the University’s human embryonic stem cell core laboratory. Sustainable design features of the building will include heat recovery systems and gray water recycling. The Center of Innovation is expected to open in 2009.

The Swedish Neuroscience Institute opened its new $30-million clinical complex at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle in February of 2007. The facility includes four technology-rich operating rooms at 900,000 sf each, with four additional operating rooms in shell condition that will be developed in the future.

The University of Texas, Austin has selected Research Facilities Design (RFD) to provide laboratory design consulting services for the Dell Pediatric Research Institute on the former Robert Mueller Airport site. The research facility is planned to be a 150,000-gsf building with a budgeted construction cost of $55 million for shell and build-out. The project architect is HOK. Completion is slated for December 2008.