Industry News

The University of Wisconsin, Madison completed construction on the $12.5-million Institute for Influenza Viral Research in November of 2007. Designed by Flad Architects, the 28,000-sf facility houses BSL-3, BSL-3E, BSL-3Ag, and ABSL-3 laboratories with redundant air handling systems, autoclaves, a back-up generator, and an effluent decontamination system. Located at University Research Park in Madison, the Institute will support research on avian influenza and other flu viruses and will house rodents, ferrets, poultry, and monkeys.

Charles River Laboratories opened a 450,000-sf preclinical research center in Reno, Calif., in fall of 2007. Sited in Truckee Meadows, the BSL-2 facility is among the five largest animal testing laboratories in the country and accommodates drug research on rodents, dogs, and monkeys. Charles River invested $107 million to renovate the facility, not including laboratory equipment. The first floor houses a large chemical laboratory and the 50,000-sf second floor houses animal research. The center employs 400 staff members with a projected 900 employees in a few years.

Dalhousie University, in partnership with Capital Health and the IWK Health Centre, is planning to construct the $42 million Life Sciences Research Institute (LSRI) in Halifax. Designed by Halifax-based WHW Architects, the 115,000-sf, five-story LSRI will house post-incubator research projects and laboratory space for tenants, two floors of labs for the Brain Repair Centre, and a CL2/APL2 Integrated Animal Care Facility (IACF) for non-severe biological agent research on the fifth floor.

Iowa State University dedicated the new Dairy Animal Science Education and Discovery Facility on Oct. 20, 2007. Sited three miles south of the main ISU campus, the facility is a fully functional dairy farm of 450 milking cows used for teaching, research, and education. Accommodating research by faculty in Animal Science, Veterinary Medicine, and Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, the facility is also utilized by researchers from the National Animal Disease Center in Ames.

Colorado State University celebrated the opening of its $30 million Regional Biocontainment Laboratory on October 2, 2007. Sited on the Foothills Campus in Fort Collins, the 38,000-sf aerosol challenge facility will house mice for infectious disease and potential bioterror agent research. The BSL-3 laboratory features a $600,000 mass spectrometer, autoclaves, seven-layer epoxy floors, and rigorous HEPA air filtration. The project was built by a joint venture of Heath Construction with Hensel Phelps Construction.