Genomics

The University of Utah will renovate the existing 71,000-sf George Thomas building to create the Gary & Ann Crocker Science Center in Salt Lake City. The existing structure will be seismically upgraded and reconfigured, and a 52,500-sf addition will be built to accommodate laboratories for the Cell and Genome Research Center. The completed four-story, 123,500-sf facility will also provide lecture halls, classrooms, a café, a business incubator, and a full-height atrium. The project team includes EDA Architects and Okland Construction.

The Jackson Laboratory will begin construction in 2015 on the $21 million Center for Biometric Analysis in Bar Harbor, Maine. Supporting research on the genetic origins of disease, the four-story, 16,000-sf facility will house advanced technologies for imaging, measurement, gene sequencing, and data processing. The estimated duration of construction is 18 months.

Dalhousie University opened the Zebrafish Core Facility in October of 2014 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Located in the Life Sciences Research Institute, the $1.8 million laboratory will support interdisciplinary biomedical research on cancer, neuroscience, and genetics. Housing up to 75,000 adult fish, the 4,000-sf facility features a molecular lab and specialized rooms for cell and tissue studies.

The four-story Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine (JAX GM), containing both biological and computational lab space arranged around a central atrium, houses 160 biomedical researchers, technicians, and support staff from five different temporary spaces on the University of Connecticut Health Center campus. The number of occupants is expected to grow to 300 within three years, and the labs are flexible enough to accommodate the expected trend away from the wet bench toward more computational research.

The new four-story Cancer and Cardiovascular Research Building at the University of Minnesota consists of the 158,000-sf Cancer Research Building, a 96,000-sf addition to the Lillehei Heart Research Building, and a 34,000-sf vivarium used by the entire Biomedical Discovery District. The facility houses the University’s Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, as well as two groups of investigators from Masonic Cancer Center: chemical biologists focusing on studying chemical carcinogens as a cause of cancer, and faculty focusing on novel therapeutic strategies to fight cancer.

The Jackson Laboratory opened the $135 million JAX Genomic Medicine facility in October of 2014 in Farmington, Conn. Located on 17 acres at the University of Connecticut Health Science Center, the four-story, 183,500-sf building features 17 wet labs and 17 dry labs arranged in flexible, collaborative clusters. The facility also provides core service labs, two large conference rooms, offices, a data center, and a 200-seat auditorium.

Novartis is partnering with the University of Pennsylvania to create the Center for Advanced Cellular Therapeutics. Located on the Penn Medicine Campus in Philadelphia, the 30,000-sf facility will accommodate research on personalized cellular cancer therapies using chimeric antigen receptor technology (CAR). Supported by $20 million in funding from Novartis, the project will be built on top of the Jordan Medical Education Center and South Pavilion Extension, which is currently under construction. Completion is expected in 2016.

High-performance core facilities, spurred by proliferating cross-disciplinary investigations and technological advances, can benefit from the long-standing focus on flexibility that has generated so many design efficiencies in the traditional research lab, says Randy Kray, senior vice president and science and technology director of programming and planning at HOK.

The J. Craig Venter Institute in La Jolla is home to 125 researchers and staff dedicated to genomic research involving infectious disease, microbial and environmental genomics, plant genomics, and synthetic biology and bioengineering. It is located on the campus of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), to take advantage of collaboration opportunities with scientists from UCSD, Scripps, and others.

The 21-story Hospital for Sick Children's (SickKids) Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning is believed to be the largest health center in the world devoted to children's health research. It houses more than 2,000 scientists and staff, with room for 260 PIs—previously scattered in six different locations—conducting state-of-the-art genomics, cancer, stem cell, brain behavior, and organ research.

Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Maine completed a three-phase construction project that for the first time consolidates its entire marine research operation into one facility, replacing a collection of buildings, some of which had neither heat nor air conditioning. The new Ocean Science and Education Campus, on 54 acres where the Damariscotta River empties into the Gulf of Maine, includes a shore facility for research vessels.

The Regenerative Medicine Research Building, funded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, integrates and expands the Buck Institute’s stem-cell research program to achieve increased breadth and depth of expertise in the application of stem-cell biology and technology, including how the regeneration of human cells and tissues can be used to treat life-threatening diseases of older age, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, stroke, and diabetes.

The University of California, San Diego dedicated the $113 million Health Sciences Biomedical Research Facility in March of 2014 in La Jolla, Calif. Designed by ZGF Architects, the 196,000-sf building provides wet bench laboratories, open lab space, lab support, offices, conference rooms, and an interaction atrium. A basement level accommodates core labs and mechanical systems.

Hamad Medical Corporation opened the Interim Translational Research Institute (iTRI) in March of 2014 in Doha, Qatar. Located in Hamad Bin Khalifa Medical City, the facility will support advanced biomedical research in genomics, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, respiratory medicine, and neurosciences. The iTRI includes wet laboratories, a clinical studies unit, a conference center, and core labs for sample analysis and other services.

The 183,500-sf Jackson Laboratory (JAX) for Genomic Medicine aims to advance genomic research not only by way of its location—on the campus of a university health center near major research institutions, hospitals, and urban research corridors—but also by utilizing an interior design that comingles the computational and wet lab aspects of research and encourages collaboration. The ultimate goal is to enable quicker development of disease-fighting therapies targeted at individual patients.