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Universities, independent research institutes, and medical centers looking to improve the quality of their research, recruit and retain staff, and compete for funding increasingly focus their attention on establishing core facilities, despite some concerns in the scientific community about where these core facilities are located and possible conflicts between the research groups vying to use them. Almost regardless of discipline, researchers chafe under budgetary constraints—no small problem in the “publish or perish” environment of biomedicine. The tools necessary for even the most basic of protocols are expensive, with cutting-edge equipment running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is hardly surprising that new or remodeled facilities benefit from centralizing certain shared resources, such as imaging instruments, microscopy, cold storage, and animal facilities. But those resistant to the concept cite reservations about establishing accountability, prioritizing purchases, and ensuring equitable access. Do the benefits of core facilities outweigh these potential pitfalls?  

Diverse projects in New York, New Jersey, and Maryland demonstrate that integrating flexible infrastructure, collaborative work styles, daylight, and sustainability all contribute to a “health-positive” scientific research environment, a concept derived from neurological and behavioral research indicating that access to natural light and human interaction improve well-being and productivity.

In the ever-evolving quest for sustainability, engineers and their clients may find the 2013 updates to ASHRAE 90.1, the energy code that predominantly guides the design of buildings, useful in benchmarking energy efficiency for new or remodeled laboratories and vivaria. Regular review of the code ensures compliance for new projects and offers an opportunity to refine best practices for building envelopes, mechanical systems, lighting, and noise mitigation, say Adam Golubski and Philip Walter of The Clark Enersen Partners.

Specialized biomedical core facilities accelerate scientific research and make the most of funding resources, but it takes considerable expertise in both technology and business to attain these results. To ensure the centralized model provides the most productive and cost-effective support to researchers, University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto has assembled a toolkit of proven strategies and operating principles. The foremost requirements are a robust knowledge base in science and technology and a strong business orientation. 

Sam Houston State University has completed the first of a two-phase fit-out of the Woodlands Center to create an Allied Health Nursing Lab for the College of Health Sciences. The 5,680-sf Phase 1 project includes a nursing skills lab/classroom, a shared support and storage room, high fidelity simulation lab, and office suite. Each lab has active headwalls that aid in creation of the mock environment. The simulation lab contains four patient rooms, a home health area, and a control room.