RainDance Technologies dedicated its new headquarters and manufacturing facility in Lexington, Mass., on September 26, 2008. The 28,000-sf facility will house administrative offices and commercial manufacturing operations. RainDance Technologies is a provider of droplet-based microfluidic solutions for human health and disease research.
DuPont opened the Biotech Research Center in September of 2008 in Hyderabad, India. Located at the DuPont Knowledge Center, the facility will support research in crop genetics and industrial biotechnology for DuPont Agriculture & Nutrition and DuPont Applied BioSciences. Additional facilities at the DuPont Knowledge Center will open in successive months to house a total of 600 scientists and engineers when the complex is dedicated by year-end 2008.
The University of Illinois dedicated the newly renovated and expanded Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory (MNTL) in Urbana-Champaign on September 4, 2008. The $18 million project created additional laboratory, classroom, research, and meeting facilities. The expansion will support research for the National Science Foundation-funded Center for Compound Semiconductor Microelectronics. The MNTL houses research laboratories for micro and nanoelectronics, nanophotonics and optoelectronics, nanomedicine and bionanotechnology, MEMS/NEMS, and integrated systems research.
The University of New Mexico will receive $750,000 from the U.S. Department of Commerce to support the fourth phase of development at its Manufacturing Training and Technology Center in Albuquerque. The existing 56,000-sf facility includes a 6,200-sf training cleanroom. The fourth phase will expand the center’s lab-based training programs supporting the industries of biotechnology, nanotechnology, and medical devices.
Rice University is constructing the Collaborative Research Center in Houston. The 477,000-gsf project broke ground in December of 2006 and is slated for completion in early spring of 2009. Sited on 2.9 acres, the ten-story facility will accommodate bioscience and biotechnology research. The estimated construction cost of the LEED-certified facility is between $200 million and $300 million.
Charles Stark Draper Laboratory is planning to create a bioMEMS research and development center at the University of South Florida in Tampa. The facility will support research in microelectromechancial systems for biomedical applications in partnership with USF and its medical school. Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, based in Cambridge, Mass., will also construct a production center in St. Petersburg for the manufacture of multi-chip modules combining multiple integrated circuits on a single chip.
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center will construct a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) tissue laboratory for the Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C. Located in the Richard Dean Biomedical Research Building in Piedmont Triad Research Park, the facility will support the creation of tissues and engineered organs for the rehabilitation of soldiers. The facility is created in partnership with the Department of Defense’s Armed Forces Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a multi-institutional consortium of research centers.
DuPont opened its new maize research center in Los Mochis, Mexico in June of 2008. Supporting the acceleration of seed product development for DuPont’s Pioneer Hi-Bred business group, the facility will enable the delivery of advanced genetics and technologies to increase farm productivity. The center is the fourth Pioneer crop genetics facility in Mexico and will support the development of superior maize hybrids.
Eli Lilly dedicated the Bioproduct Research and Development Laboratory in Indianapolis on May 12, 2008. The 475,000-sf, four-story facility will accommodate 500 scientists and staff in 33 labs engaged in biopharmaceutical research. The project represents the final phase of construction at Lilly’s three-building biotechnology complex. The first two phases include a 250,000-sf bioproduct manufacturing plant and a 10,000-sf research support facility, both completed in fall of 2006.
James Madison University will initiate the planning phase for Centennial Hall in July of 2008. Sited on the university’s campus in Harrisonburg, Va., the biotechnology building will house life sciences instruction and research. The facility will be operated in partnership with SRI International and other Virginian educational institutions. Completion is expected in 2011.
Clemson University will break ground in August of 2008 on a $50 million, 95,000-sf Bioscience/Life Sciences building in Clemson, S.C. Also under construction is the $7 million Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics facility, housing teaching labs, offices and classrooms; completion is slated for December of 2008. Additionally, the $11.5 million Rhodes Hall Annex, comprised of 30,000-sf of bioengineering research space, teaching labs, and classrooms, will reach completion in April of 2009.
Northwestern University has selected Flad Architects to design two new additions to the 750,000-sf Technological Institute in Evanston, Ill. A 54,000-gsf, five-story life sciences engineering addition will house the Integrated Molecular Structure Education and Research Center, electrical engineering teaching labs, core labs, and researcher offices. A 20,000-gsf, three-story addition will include an interdisciplinary cleanroom, an atrium, offices, dry labs, and flexible laboratory space.
Developer JTC Corp. broke ground in April of 2008 on the $100 million Biopolis III building in Singapore. The 41,500-sm facility will consist of two buildings accommodating biomedical research and incubator space. Completion is slated for the fourth quarter of 2009. Crescendas Bionix will occupy at least 50 percent of the facility. A construction start date for the 30,000-sm Biopolis IV has yet to be announced. Biopolis, a biomedical research and development park, is located at One-North in Buona Vista.
St. Louis-based Monsanto is planning to construct a seed corn facility on 150 acres near Independence, Iowa. Slated for completion in 2010, the production plant is part of a $230 million expansion of Monsanto’s Iowa operations to support increasing demand for the company’s DeKalb seed corn. Production facilities in Boone and Grinnell are also being expanded, and Monsanto has increased office and laboratory space at its global breeding research campus in Ankeny.
The University of Maryland, Baltimore dedicated Building Two at its BioPark development in April of 2008. The six-story, 238,000-sf research facility will house tenants including the Institute for Genome Services, Gliknik, Paragon Bioservices, Westat, and the 38,000-sf Baltimore City Community College’s Bioscience Institute. The first two BioPark buildings were developed by Wexford Science & Technology. UMB broke ground on Building Three in spring of 2008. BioPark’s $500 million, 1.2 million-sf campus will be comprised of ten buildings upon completion.
