NIH Opens Vaccine Research Center

The National Institutes of Health Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center, which broke ground in February 1999, opened in late August 2000. Spaulding & Slye was the developer of the fast-track $32-million, 82,500-sf facility, where researchers in immunology, virology, and HIV will work together toward developing an AIDs vaccine by 2007. The 10-story structure features laboratories, a high-tech education and conference center, cyber café, support spaces, and offices for principal investigators. For flexibility, an open lab plan with 11’ x 13’ space planning modules was chosen. The cyber café features two liquid plasma screens on the wall and Internet-accessible computers. Other features include redundancy in the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems and extremely high security.