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 The new regional headquarters, which completes the FDA’s consolidation of 18 outdated laboratories around the country, is located in Irvine, Calif., and will serve the Southwest Pacific Region.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.
Merck is developing a 300,000-sf research center in Boston slated for completion in 2004. Merck is also adding 35,000 sf to its 128,000-sf San Diego facility.
Battelle, an Ohio-based technology research company, opened its $20-million Harford County research facility in early March 2003. Sited on 89 acres at the Higher Education and Applied Technology (HEAT) Center in Aberdeen, Ohio, the facility will accommodate over 200 engineers, scientists and technicians in laboratories dedicated to chemical, biological, and technology R&D.
The University of Pittsburgh is creating the John A. Swanson Center for Micro and Nano Systems with a gift of $1.4-million from the center's namesake. The center will be housed in the recently established four-laboratory John A. Swanson Institute for Technical Excellence, which will work in collaboration with the new center. The Center for Micro and Nano Systems will focus on applied research, giving companies and researchers access to technology, equipment and services for design, modeling and simulation, fabrication and systems integration.
The former Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Research Triangle Park, known as "The Fortress", is being redesigned as the Triangle Life Science Center. The facility, sited on 16 acres, was purchased by Triangle Life Science for $13.15-million in May 2002. Project architect O'Brien/Atkins Associates plans to adapt the facility to accommodate eight to ten tenants; occupancy is expected for late 2003 or early 2004.
The Regional Industrial Development Corp. of Southwestern Pennsylvania will renovate an 80,000-sf facility in Pittsburgh to for potential robotics tenants. Located in the state-designated Lawrenceville enterprise zone, the facility is sited at One Chocolate Square with desirable proximity to the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute cluster. The two-story facility will house up to 11 tenants and create up to 100 jobs.
The Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is constructing the 93,000-sf Automotive Research Building at SwRI's San Antonio campus. Housing SwRI's 600-employee Automotive Products and Emissions Research Division, the facility will feature state-of-the-art facilities for the division's fleet and field evaluations using full-scale vehicles.
