Genomics

DiNAQOR AG completed construction in July of 2020 on a 9,687-sf R&D center in Schlieren, Switzerland. Located in the Bio-Technopark Schlieren-Zürich, the BSL-2 facility will enable DiNAQOR to fast-track the development of its human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) and engineered heart tissue platform. Accelerating the creation of next-generation genetic medicine methodologies, the project also provides sophisticated infrastructure to further optimize the company's proprietary locoregional heart perfusion approach.

University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf is planning to build a 193,000-sf translational medicine hub in Hamburg, Germany. Housing the Campus Research II facility and the Hamburg Center for Translational Immunology, the interdisciplinary complex will provide 150 labs for the study of inflammation, infection, and immunology. The structure will also accommodate collaborative workspaces, instrumentation suites, research offices, and interaction zones.

Genomic Partnership Wales is planning to construct a research facility in Cardiff in the United Kingdom to accelerate the development of pharmaceutical therapies. Created by a consortium of government, academic, and medical partners, the project involves the redevelopment of an existing two-story building to provide leading-edge genetics labs, seminar rooms, treatment suites, offices, freezer rooms, and support. The facility will include CL2 biocontainment research suites to ensure compliance with the UK's HBN 15 regulations for pathology services.

VACUUBRAND is offering continuing education courses approved by the American Institute of Architects and Green Business Certification Inc. Providing engineers and designers with the skills to create sustainable, high-performance laboratories, each course is available as a general webinar, a private webinar, or as an on-demand learning experience. AIA members will receive one LU/HSW (Health-Safety-Welfare learning unit) for each one-hour course.

Audentes Therapeutics is planning to construct a $109 million gene therapy manufacturing facility in Sanford, N.C. The 135,000-sf project will support the production of genetic medicines based on adeno-associated virus vectors for the treatment of rare neuromuscular diseases. The center is expected to be operational by 2021. Audentes Therapeutics is a subsidiary of Astellas Pharma.

St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital is constructing the $13.4 million Shared Resource Center in Memphis, Tenn. Accommodating 60 employees, the project will provide core laboratories and instrumentation suites to accelerate the discovery of new treatments for pediatric cancer and other diseases. Created inside an existing 300,000-sf warehouse, the 100,000-sf center will house: 

Emory University broke ground on a $260 million biomedical research facility in December of 2019 in Atlanta. Designed by HOK to promote synergy and innovation, the multidisciplinary building will offer 346,000 sf of dedicated research space for programs in biomedical engineering, imaging sciences, cardiovascular medicine, oncology, pediatric health, inflammation, emerging infections, and immunity and immunotherapeutics.

Seattle Children’s Research Institute opened the $300 million Building Cure in October of 2019. The 540,000-sf translational research facility provides advanced laboratories for the development of innovative treatments for pediatric cancer, sickle cell anemia, ADHD, and diabetes. One entire floor of the building houses the Cure Factory, a GMP cell-therapy manufacturing center for the creation of personalized medicine solutions.

The University of New Mexico completed construction of the $67 million Physics, Astronomy, and Interdisciplinary Science Center in Albuquerque in October of 2019. Designed by EYP Architecture & Engineering and Van H. Gilbert, the 139,100-gsf facility houses the department of physics and astronomy as well as accommodating research programs in bioinformatics, genomics, electron microscopy, optics, spatial informatics, stable isotopes, and human and primate biomedical research.

North Carolina State University broke ground on the $160 million Plant Sciences Building in Raleigh in September of 2019. Designed by Flad Architects, the five-story, 184,000-sf facility will allow academic, government, and industry researchers to develop innovative solutions for global agricultural challenges. Located on the Centennial Campus, the building will house growth chambers, environmental rooms, core instrumentation suites, and labs for genotyping, spectrometry, ag-bio engineering, and chemical and soils analysis.

BioMed Realty and the University of California, San Diego opened the $92 million Center for Novel Therapeutics in September of 2019. Located on the Science Research Park campus in San Diego, the 137,500-sf translational research facility enables investigators from the UCSD Moores Cancer Center to collaborate with pharmaceutical partners on the creation of innovative cancer treatments. The center also houses the city's first academic-industry drug discovery incubator.

Pfizer is initiating a $500 million expansion of its Sanford campus with the construction of a 100,000-sf gene therapy facility. Supporting the creation of innovative treatments for genetic diseases, the project will feature advance manufacturing technologies for clinical and commercial-scale production of recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors. Accommodating 300 new employees, the facility will complement operations at the existing 628,000-sf Sanford complex and at the company's Chapel Hill and Kit Creek locations.

Adaptive Biotechnologies is expanding its presence in Seattle with the lease of a 100,000-sf headquarters building in Seattle. The lab and office facility is located in the Lake Union life science district and is being developed by Alexandria Real Estate Equities. Adaptive will occupy the entire structure, which is sited adjacent to its existing facility. Building amenities will include an open-air plaza, a rooftop desk, a fitness center, locker and shower rooms, and direct access to water sports on Lake Union.

The University of California, San Francisco opened the $275 million Precision Cancer Medicine Building (PCMB) in June of 2019. Located on UCSF's Mission Bay campus, the six-story facility consolidates outpatient services in a 170,000-sf structure with integrated cancer research labs, 63,000 sf of clinical space, 45 infusion bays, two accelerator vaults, and sophisticated imaging and diagnostic suites.

With demand for human donor organs historically and increasingly outpacing the available, viable supply, researchers and physicians have looked for decades at xenotransplantation—cross-species transplantation—as a possible vehicle to overcome the problem. The traditional approach to xenotransplantation, however, is an “impediment to moving transplantation forward,” asserts Karl Kraebber, director of xenotransplantation operations at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine. His team believes the solution isn’t in expensive and time-consuming renovation of existing buildings. “Our more novel approach is for flexible, modular spaces, to be used for small pilot trials and then scaled up once we have partnership with our governing agencies,” he says. “We’ll take ‘fast and good’ over ‘slow and perfect’ every time. It doesn’t mean we’re cutting corners.”