Research and Development

Becton, Dickinson and Company opened the $59 million BD Biosciences - Advanced Bioprocessing AF2™ Production Facility in October of 2010 in Miami. The facility is the industry’s first fully dedicated, stand-alone “antibiotic-free” and “animal-free” facility for producing high-quality cell culture media and supplements that are used in the production of vaccines and biopharmaceuticals. BD invested more than $20 million in renovating 90,000 sf at the former IVAX Pharmaceuticals building in North Miami.

Algenol Biofuels opened its 40,000-sf R&D headquarters facility in October of 2010 in Lee County, Fla. Housing chemistry labs and six specialized growth chambers, the facility will support the creation of ethanol and other green chemicals from algae. A biorefinery will also be constructed at the site.

Ground was broken in October of 2010 on the $8 million Sustainable Energy Technology Center (SenTec) in Danville, Va. The 25,000-sf facility will promote the development of biofuels with research laboratories, support labs, graduate student research spaces, and faculty offices. The building is located on the campus of the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research. The lead design architect for the project is Dewberry with Lord, Aeck & Sargent as laboratory design architect and sustainability consultant.

Lawrence Technological University will begin construction in January of 2011 on a $1.6 million renovation of its life sciences research laboratories in Southfield, Mich. The completed facility will include a chemistry lab, a molecular and cell biology lab, and an instrumentation room. The project is supported by $1.3 million in funding from the National Science Foundation. Completion is expected in fall of 2011.

Binghamton University broke ground on the $30 million New York State Center of Excellence in Small Scale Systems Integration and Packaging (S3IP) in October of 2010. Housing laboratory space, offices, and a symposium hall, the 114,000-sf facility will connect the Biotechnology and Engineering buildings as part of the Innovative Technologies Complex. The center will promote collaborative research in microelectronics with industry partners. LEED sustainable design certification will be sought for the project.

The University of North Texas will begin construction on the Nanofabrication Analysis and Research Facility in November of 2010. Located in Denton at Discovery Park, the $6.4 million project will support research in nanotechnology and materials science with 10 laboratories housing advanced instrumentation. The project is supported by $1 million in funding from the National Science Foundation.

Clarian Health will break ground in November of 2010 on a $192 million research complex in Indianapolis. Occupying nearly six blocks, the five-building project includes construction of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence and administrative offices. Occupancy is expected in 2012. The project developer is Shiel Sexton.

SAFC completed a 50,000-sf expansion of its Jerusalem bioprocessing facility in October of 2010. The project houses cGMP fermentation suites for the production of recombinant proteins and small molecules. The expansion includes a 30,000-sf BSL-2 facility. 

The University of California, Los Angeles opened the 9,700-sf Integrated Systems Nanofabrication Cleanroom (ISNC) at the California Nanosystems Institute in October of 2010. Providing Class 100 and Class 1,000 research space for the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and the David Geffen School of Medicine, the facility features two integrated bio-suite bays for work with biological samples. The ISNC houses $8 million in equipment, including an electron beam writer and an ASML optical stepper.

The University of Hawaii at Manoa will break ground on the $120 million Cancer Research Center on October 28, 2020. Located in the Kakaako area of Honolulu, the six-story, 150,000-sf facility will house advanced biomedical research laboratories and offices. The building was designed by Shimokawa Nakamura of Honolulu in partnership with ZGF Architects of Los Angeles and Jacobs Consultancy of New York. The lead contractor is A.C. Kobayashi Construction of Honolulu.

The Hospital for Sick Children is constructing the $400 million Research & Learning Tower Toronto. The 21-story, 750,000-sf facility was designed by Diamond & Schmitt Architects and HDR with EllisDon as general contractor. Housing interdisciplinary research labs, instructional space, and conference rooms, the sustainably designed tower will be built to attain LEED Gold certification. The facility will feature open, flexible labs for team research with a mixture of wet and dry benches to promote collaboration.

The University of Louisville dedicated the $44 million Center for Predictive Medicine in October of 2010. Located on the ShelbyHurst research park in East Louisville, the 50,000-sf project is an NIH-funded Regional Biodefense Laboratory and houses BSL-3 facilities for the study of emerging infectious diseases. The facility was built by Messer of Cincinnati with International Commissioning Engineers as commissioning agent. Ground was broken on the facility in 2006.

The University of Florida broke ground on the $44 million Research and Academic Center at Lake Nona in Orlando in October of 2010. Housing biomedical research laboratories and instructional space for the College of Pharmacy, the 100,000-sf facility is slated for occupancy in summer of 2012. The UF Institute of Therapeutic Innovation, an interdisciplinary biomedical research initiative, will be headquartered in the building.

The Translational Research Institute (TRI) began construction on its $360 million medical complex in Brisbane in October of 2010. Located adjacent to Princess Alexandra Hospital, the TRI will house integrated facilities for the discovery, production, clinical testing, and manufacture of new biopharmaceuticals and therapies. The complex was designed by Wilson Architects and Donovan Hill with Watpac Construction as general contractor. Occupancy is expected in October of 2012.

Pfizer completed construction of the Monoclonal Antibodies Small Scale Facility in October of 2010 in Ringaskiddy, Ireland. The cGMP facility will manufacture, purify, formulate, and bulk fill mammalian culture derived proteins for clinical trials. Establishing a biotechnology manufacturing center of excellence, the Small Scale Facility provides 5,500 liters of bioreactor capacity. The architect for the sustainably designed project was Fluor of Greenville, S.C., with Jacobs Engineering as construction manager.