Research and Development

The University of Southern California broke ground in September of 2008 on the $82.6 million Eli and Edythe Broad CIRM Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research in Los Angeles. Located on USC's Health Science Campus in Boyle Heights, the 81,537-gsf, five-story facility will provide 53,000-asf for basic and discovery stem cell research, preclinical research and preclinical development, and clinical research. Designed by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects to foster collaboration, the building will include shared research space.

St. Cloud State University is building the $15 million Robert H. Wick Science Building in St. Cloud, Minn. The 36,000-sf addition will house chemistry and biology labs and is slated for completion in fall of 2008. Occupancy is expected in the first quarter of 2009. Additionally, the 100,000-sf Integrated Science and Engineering Laboratory (ISELF), a research, teaching, and science facility, is in the pre-design phase.

The University of Texas at Brownsville is planning to construct the $34 million Biomedical Research Laboratories + Community Sciences Building. Comprised of a biomedical research building and a general classroom facility connected by a courtyard, the project is designed by SHW Group of Dallas with Research Facilities Design (RFD) as laboratory design consultant.

The Medical University of South Carolina will break ground by year-end 2008 on a $55 million bioengineering building in Charleston. The four-story, 100,000-sf facility is slated for completion by late 2010. The building will house 36 wet lab and office suites, dry computational labs, and a 600-person conference room. The facility, which will be connected to an 114,000-sf drug discovery center, will support stem cell and biomedical research.

The University of Queensland opened the $33 million Centre for Advanced Animal Science (CAAS) on its Gatton campus in September of 2008. The biocontainment facility will house laboratories for disease and vaccine research, group and individual animal pens, and cattle handling facilities. The project was designed by S2F and built by McNab Constructions. CAAS is a joint venture of the University of Queensland and the Queensland Government.

The University of Illinois dedicated the newly renovated and expanded Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory (MNTL) in Urbana-Champaign on September 4, 2008. The $18 million project created additional laboratory, classroom, research, and meeting facilities. The expansion will support research for the National Science Foundation-funded Center for Compound Semiconductor Microelectronics. The MNTL houses research laboratories for micro and nanoelectronics, nanophotonics and optoelectronics, nanomedicine and bionanotechnology, MEMS/NEMS, and integrated systems research.

The College of William and Mary opened the 111,000-sf Integrated Science Center in Williamsburg, Va., in September of 2008. The facility was completed in two years and houses the department of chemistry as well as space for the departments of biology and psychology. The project, which includes teaching labs, a vivarium, and molecular biology labs, represents the first phase of a multidisciplinary science complex that will connect to the existing 45,000-sf Rogers Hall, which will also be renovated.

The Commonwealth Medical College broke ground on the 185,000-sf Medical Sciences Building in Scranton, Pa., in August of 2008. Designed by HOK in partnership with Highland Associates, the facility will support medical education for over 500 students and will accommodate 175 full-time faculty members. The Medical Sciences Building is comprised of a west research wing and an east instructional wing linked by a courtyard.

The University of New Mexico will receive $750,000 from the U.S. Department of Commerce to support the fourth phase of development at its Manufacturing Training and Technology Center in Albuquerque. The existing 56,000-sf facility includes a 6,200-sf training cleanroom. The fourth phase will expand the center’s lab-based training programs supporting the industries of biotechnology, nanotechnology, and medical devices.

Sterilin Limited, a maker of single use laboratory plastics for life science applications, has created BenchGuard, a highly absorbent paper ideal for protecting benches and surfaces against liquid spills. BenchGuard has a strong polyethylene coating to one side and when placed paper side up it quickly absorbs hazardous spills, protecting the benchtop, the user and also helping to reduce contamination risks. Conveniently packaged and designed for use as a dispenser, BenchGuard simplifies both cleaning and disposal regimes.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will dedicate the National Biodefense Analysis & Countermeasures Center (NBACC) on October 22, 2008. Part of the National Interagency Biodefense Campus at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., NBACC will support biological threat characterization and bioforensic research. The 160,000-sf lab will employ approximately 120 people and will include a vivarium and BSL-3 and BSL-4 laboratories.

The National Institutes of Health will provide $70 million annually over four years to a network of nine centers engaged in chemical probes research. The initiative is designed to support the use of small molecule probes, an important tool for the exploration of cell processes, leading to the development of new therapies. The Molecular Libraries Probe Production Centers Network is the second phase of a program begun in 2004 as part of the Molecular Libraries and Imaging Initiative under NIH's Roadmap for Medical Research.

The University of Texas at Austin dedicated the $55 million Biomedical Engineering Building on August 28, 2008. The 141,000-sf, six-story building houses classrooms, research laboratories, and administrative offices for the Biomedical Engineering Department. The College of Natural Sciences and the College of Pharmacy also occupy individual floors. The interdisciplinary building features nine optics labs constructed two stories below grade for minimization of vibration.

North Carolina State University opened the Man-in-Simulant Test (MIST) laboratory in Raleigh in mid-2008. Located in NC State's College of Textiles, the facility will allow researchers to evaluate the capabilities of protective garments against non-toxic vapors that resemble chemical and biological agents. The laboratory is the only one of its kind located at a university in the United States and was funded by a two-year, $2 million grant from the Department of Defense.

centrotherm photovoltaics is constructing a thin-film R&D center in Blaubeuren, Germany. Slated for completion by year-end 2008, the project will include a thin-film laboratory with leading edge analysis tools and pilot fabrication for CIGS lines. The facility will employ 20 staff members. Construction on the facility began in January of 2008.