Biomedical

It would have been easier to move than to modernize The Wistar Institute’s iconic Philadelphia buildings, including the original 1894 building and a vintage 1914 vivarium, all embedded within the University of Pennsylvania campus. Staying required a well-orchestrated plan to temporarily relocate people and animals, build a new vivarium under the new seven-story Robert and Penny Fox Tower, and upgrade infrastructure throughout the complex—replacing every major system including heating, steam, chilled water, and air handling—all while the research goes on.

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.

Parkview Health is building the $20 million Mirro Center for Research and Education in Fort Wayne, Ind. The 82,000-sf translational research facility will accommodate clinical trials for pharmaceutical products and medical devices, as well as housing instructional space and a simulation training suite. The building will provide labs, offices, conference rooms, and an auditorium. Completion is expected in early 2015.

iThemba Labs opened the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory in July of 2014 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The facility is the first of its kind in Africa and will support biomedical, pharmaceutical, geological, and environmental research, as well as supporting advanced sample dating techniques for paleontology.

A multi-tenant biomedical research and laboratory building is poised to become a powerful economic driver in El Paso, Texas, thanks to an innovative public-private partnership between the Medical Center of the Americas (MCA) Foundation, the City of El Paso, and a diverse group of investors and committed tenants. Construction has not yet begun on the building, called the Cardwell Collaborative, but key stakeholders—such as the city’s public health department, Texas Tech University, and the University of Texas at El Paso—have already snapped up master leases.

NorthStar broke ground in July of 2014 on a 50,000-sf radioisotope production facility in Beloit, Wis. The project will accommodate support operations for the company’s facility at the University of Missouri’s Research Reactor and is expected to reach completion by early 2015. A second construction phase will create a 20,000-sf addition and is slated for completion by year-end 2016.

The eight-story KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV at South Africa’s University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) is located on the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine campus, adjacent to the King Edward VIII Provincial Hospital, a major referral hospital for KwaZulu-Natal and one of the largest hospitals in Africa. Four floors of medical laboratories accommodate nine principal investigators and their research teams dedicated to the basic science of TB and HIV biology and pathology, as well as the host response to these infections.

The University of Bristol has completed construction on its $92 million Life Sciences building in the United Kingdom. Designed by Sheppard Robson, the 145,000-sf facility provides the School of Biological Sciences with teaching labs, seminar rooms, and offices arranged around a central atrium. A five-story research wing accommodates cleanrooms, imaging suites, labs, acoustic chambers, and greenhouse space. BREAM Excellent sustainable design certification will be sought for the project, which features a 41-ft tall living wall.

United Therapeutics is planning to build a biomedical R&D facility in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Comprising 250,000 sf of new construction and 150,000 sf of renovated space, the project will provide vivarium space for pigs and xenotransplantation research laboratories. The facility will enable the creation of genetically modified pig embryos which grow to be born with human lungs that can be harvested for transplants and tissue grafts.

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.

Alder Hey Children’s Hospital will begin construction in summer of 2014 on a $40 million research and teaching building in Liverpool, U.K. Designed by Hopkins Architects, the 75,000-sf, three-story project will provide research and teaching labs, offices, meeting rooms, lecture halls, breakout spaces, and a library. Comprising two wings adjoining a curved central atrium, the flexible facility will feature a corridor-free interior to encourage interaction and collaboration.

The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) is partnering with Wuhan Frasergen Bioinformatics to create a biomedical research center in Wuhan, China. The facility will support the transfer of basic research to clinical care to provide personalized medicine solutions for cancer and hereditary diseases. JAX's immunocompromised mice will be used as hosts for tumors donated by Chinese patients to enable the development of pharmaceutical therapies.

Tufts University received permission from the Boston Public Health Commission in June of 2014 to begin operating the Arnold 8 Biosafety Laboratory. Supporting tuberculosis research, the BSL-3 facility is located in the Tufts School of Medicine’s Biomedical Research and Public Health Building. Development of the 1,700-sf lab began in spring of 2012 with construction commencing in February of 2013. The project architect was Shawmut Design & Construction.

The University of Tampere began construction in June of 2014 on a $64 million medical teaching and research building in Finland. The 273,400-sf project is being built by NCC Construction and will provide instructional space, teaching and research labs, and administrative offices. Completion is expected in May of 2016.

HemoShear occupied its new headquarters and research facility in Charlottesville in May of 2014. The renovated building provides 16,000 sf of lab and office space with 12,000 sf to accommodate future growth. The facility will accommodate streamlined R&D operations with advanced instrumentation to support HemoShear's translational human tissue platforms and predictive bioanalytics for pharmaceutical discovery.