Research and Development

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is engaged in a five-year, $40 million renovation of its laboratory space at the John Wesley Powell Building in Reston. The sixth phase of an eight phase project, the renovation will create state-of-the-art labs enabling the USGS to provide reliable biological science information. Designed by Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann, the general contractor for the project is Grunley Construction, with Bovis Lend Lease as construction manager.

Indianapolis, Ind.-based Polaris Laboratories has opened a new fluid analysis testing facility in Houston. The 5,000-sf laboratory, which can complete most routine testing in 24 hours, has the capacity to process 3,000 samples per day. Polaris provides fluid analysis testing to the transportation, power generation, and gas compression industries.

NASA/Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., has awarded the University of California, Santa Cruz a $330 million, ten-year contract to manage the development of a University Affiliated Research Center. As the first such development established by the space agency, the center will focus on interdisciplinary research in information technology, astrobiology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology. NASA is also creating a 200-acre research and education park at Moffett Federal Airfield.

The Boeing Co. will open its new 100,000-sf virtual war simulation center in St. Louis in 2004. The $20 million facility will enable customers to experience how different programs work together, a process that could create more integrated systems business for Boeing. The center will employ 75 workers when it opens, with plans to grow to 150 employees within three or four years.

The University of Texas is planning the Texas Center for High-Intensity Laser Science. The facility will accommodate scientists studying and manipulating the interactions of matter with a high-intensity laser. The center, slated for completion in three years, will be built in an underground bay on the university’s Austin campus.

Treasure Valley Renewable Resources is planning to construct a new biorefinery plant near Ontario, Ore. The $77-million sustainable facility will use corn, wheat, barley, and milo as feed stock to create food-grade fiber, starch, and protein concentrate for human food and aquaculture industries. Carbon dioxide will also be captured for the production of ethanol and commercial sales. Additionally, the wet-spent grain byproduct generated by the facility will be used as livestock feed.

Agricultural biotech company PlantGenix is relocating from Philadelphia to expanded offices in the Great Valley Corporate Center in Malvern, Pa. The new facility will enable PlantGenix to pursue its plant-based production of a variety of chemical and biological compounds.

The Düsseldorf, Germany-based Profil Institute for Metabolic Research is relocating its U.S. headquarters to 8,000-sf in Chula Vista, Calif. The facility is slated to open in October 2003 and will house administrative, research, and quality assurance operations. The Profil Institute is a clinical research organization that contracts with biotech and pharmaceutical firms to test experimental drugs for diabetes in metabolic disorders.

Oregon Health & Science University has received $2.5-million of federal research funding to establish a National Center for Research on Bioterrorism Agents in Portland, Ore. Studying issues important to combating bioterrorism, the center will accommodate over 20 OHSU faculty members focused on disease research. A comprehensive database of pathogens will be developed to create more effective methods of vaccination against a bioterrorist attack.

The University of Maryland-Baltimore’s planned Biomedical Research Park in West Baltimore has received $4 million to assist startup companies from the state’s Sunny Day Fund. The funding will enable young companies to make needed office and lab improvements.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has opened a new regional headquarters that includes the agency's district office and a modern, multi-purpose laboratory. The new regional headquarters, which completes the FDA’s consolidation of 18 outdated laboratories around the country, is located in Irvine, Calif., and will serve the Southwest Pacific Region. Situated on a 10-acre plot purchased from the University of California, the facility will replace a 50-year-old lab in Los Angeles and the district office currently located in Irvine.

Venter Science Foundation Joint Technology Center will open its 60,000-sf facility in Rockville in June 2003. The high-throughput DNA sequencing center will enable scientists from Craig Venter’s Center for the Advancement of Genomics (TCAG) and Duke University to work together to refine genomics research and lower the cost of DNA sequencing technologies. TCAG is a non-profit genomics research and policy center.

The National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) is constructing its 450,000-sf headquarters in Hampton, Va. The NIA is a partnership of six universities with NASA, including Georgia Tech, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, the University of Virginia, the University of Maryland, North Carolina State University, and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. The NIA will offer masters and doctorate degrees and will enable NASA to develop cost-effective and innovative technologies in all aerospace areas and in atmospheric science.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) broke ground on its 281-acre research campus at Janelia Farm in Northern Virginia on May 5. The $500 million development will accommodate over 300 scientists and staff and is slated to reach completion in 2005. The project’s first 650,000-sf phase includes lab, research, housing, conference, and meeting space. The project manager for the first phase of construction is Jacobs Facilities, a subsidiary of Jacobs Engineering of Arlington, Va. HHMI is based in Chevy Chase, Md.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has selected the New England Division of Skanska USA Building as program manager for the redevelopment of the Quissett Campus in Woods Hole, Mass. The project includes a new biogeochemistry laboratory building, a marine research laboratory facility, upgrades to the campus central plant, and alterations to the process and septic systems for the campus. The laboratory buildings are scheduled to begin construction in late 2003, pending regulatory approval.