Biomedical

The Canadian federal government has announced the recipients of its 2007 research budget allocations. Science and technology growth will be supported by $1.3 billion in funding, including:

• $510 million to the Canada Foundation for Innovation 
• $350 million to Centres of Excellence in Commercialization and Research 
• $120 million to CANARIE to develop a next-generation research broadband network 
• $100 million to Genome Canada 
• $10 million to the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research

Scripps Florida is planning to construct its new 350,000-sf facility on the Florida Atlantic University John D. MacArthur Campus in Jupiter, Fla. Slated for completion in December 2008, the $18.6 million project will include three buildings. Building A will focus on chemistry, drug discovery, and translational research. Building B will focus on biotechnology, cells, genomes, and proteins, with an auditorium, cafeteria, and administrative offices. Building C will focus on biology and biomedical research.

The University of Nevada School of Medicine broke ground in March 2007 on the Center for Molecular Medicine in Reno. Designed by Dekker/Perich/Sabatini, the 100,000-sf building will accommodate basic science research departments such as microbiology, pharmacology, and physiology. The Center for Molecular Medicine features a two-wing design. The northwest wing will house vivarium, research space, laboratory, and office space.

The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) opened the NRC Institute for Nutrisciences and Health in Charlottetown in early 2007. Sited on the campus of the University of Prince Edward Island, the $13.5-million collaborative facility houses open labs and offices for research and commercialization of nutriscience research discoveries. The Institute includes incubator space and laboratories to enable companies and researchers access to specialized equipment and industry expertise.

The long-awatited 5th edition of the Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL) guide is now online on the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at www.cdc.gov/od/ohs/biosfty/bmbl5/bmbl5toc.htm .

UC Davis is proposing to construct five new buildings at the California National Primate Research Center in Davis, Calif. A $5.3-million, 10,000-sf building would accommodate virology and immunology research and would include a 1,100-sf BSL-3 laboratory. Four additional modular buildings would have a footprint of approximately 1,500 sf each, two comprised of laboratory space and two housing office space. Each of the modular buildings would cost approximately $800,000.

Gartnavel General Hospital has initiated construction on the £9.5-million Paul O’Gorman Leukaemia Research Centre in Glasgow, Scotland. The facility will feature three floors of laboratory space for blood diagnostics and treatment including hematology, hematooncology, immunology, tissue typing, and blood cancer research. The Leukaemia Research Centre is a joint project of the National Health Service for Scotland and the University of Glasgow and is located on the same site as the West of Scotland Beatson Oncology Centre.

The University of Connecticut has purchased the 113,000-sf FarmTech building in Farmington and will spend $35-million to renovate it as a Center of Innovation for stem cell, genetics, and bioengineering research. Sited on 24 acres, the cross-disciplinary, collaborative facility will house wet and dry laboratories, business incubator space, classrooms, and the University’s human embryonic stem cell core laboratory. Sustainable design features of the building will include heat recovery systems and gray water recycling. The Center of Innovation is expected to open in 2009.

The Swedish Neuroscience Institute opened its new $30-million clinical complex at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle in February of 2007. The facility includes four technology-rich operating rooms at 900,000 sf each, with four additional operating rooms in shell condition that will be developed in the future.

The University of Texas, Austin has selected Research Facilities Design (RFD) to provide laboratory design consulting services for the Dell Pediatric Research Institute on the former Robert Mueller Airport site. The research facility is planned to be a 150,000-gsf building with a budgeted construction cost of $55 million for shell and build-out. The project architect is HOK. Completion is slated for December 2008. 

The Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) began construction in February of 2007 on a new Department of Nursing and Health Sciences in Castlebar, Ireland. Including the renovation of the west wing of the existing St. Mary’s Hospital, the €6-million project will house classrooms, theaters, a clinical skills laboratory, and a library. 

Florida Atlantic University (FAU) is planning to construct the $400 million Charles E. Schmidt Medical Center on 38 acres of its Boca Raton campus. The new academic medical center will be created as a partnership between FAU, the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and Boca Raton Community Hospital.

The City of New York is partnering with Alexandria Real Estate Equities of Pasadena, Calif., to develop the 1.1 million-sf East River Science Park. Groundbreaking will commence in early 2007 on the $700-million mixed-use life science campus sited on 3.5 acres in Manhattan. The first 670,000-sf phase of the project will consist of two towers, the first housing laboratory, office, and conference space; the second tower will house laboratory and office space over ground-level retail.

The University of California San Francisco Medical Center has selected architectural firm Anshen + Allen to design its $1.3-billion Mission Bay hospital complex. The first phase of the project is slated to begin construction in 2011 and reach completion in 2014. The project will include a 70-bed cancer center, a 289-bed acute care facility, a 183-bed children’s hospital, and a 36-bed women’s facility.

Dana Farber Cancer Institute has officially opened the first phase of its new Harbor Campus in Boston’s Marine Industrial Park. Sited in 50,000 sf of leased space on two floors, the facility houses administrative, laboratory, and materials management space. A second phase, currently under construction, will house a research imaging facility with two MRIs, a PET scanner, a CT scanner, and specimen freezers. The third and final project phase will commence in late 2007 and will entail the construction of research laboratories.