Ames, Iowa
The USDA is constructing a BSL-3AG replacement facility in Ames, Iowa. Designed to foster scientific collaboration in animal health and food safety among three separate federal government agencies, the facility is structured for concurrent research on multiple animal disease pathogens. Designed by Merrick & Company of Aurora, Colo., the $60-million facility and $20-million infrastructure upgrade will include 159,000 sf of total space, 52,000-sf of it in high containment areas. Scheduled for completion in October 2006, the facility is being built by contractor McCarthy, who also constructed the BSL-4 facility at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
