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Wanted: More Space!New research tower a blueprint for scientific discoveryby Ann Saye
To maintain its edge, Baylor College of Medicine realizes it must expand departmental programs for existing faculty, recruit new chairs and faculty, and develop novel interdisciplinary programs - all of which require additional laboratory space. Exciting advances in molecular medicine and genomics - as well as the ability to bring the power of computer science, bioengineering, chemistry, and other hard sciences to bear on biomedical research - contribute to the demand for new facilities. "The College's expansion of research space has not, in recent years, kept pace with other institutions," said BCM President and CEO Dr. Peter G. Traber. "But the addition of a new research tower is the beginning of a plan that will ensure not only that Baylor can continue to compete successfully with other leading academic medical centers, but also that we can lead the next generation of biomedical research." "All of this requires a tremendous investment on the part of the College," said Traber. "The Board of Trustees committed to this investment in September 2004, when it approved construction of a new biomedical research tower to be located on the East Campus, adjacent to several other Baylor research facilities and on top of an existing subterranean research facility." With a foundation already in place, the research tower can be constructed quickly - by the end of 2006 - to provide 100,000 square feet of laboratory research space and 45,000 square feet for a new vivarium. The building's eight stories will include flexible laboratory and office space for major new interdisciplinary program initiatives identified in the College's Strategic Plan, including cardiovascular sciences, diabetes and metabolic disease, cancer, pharmacogenomics, imaging, informatics, and proteomics. These research programs were chosen with collaboration and optimal interactions in mind. In addition to addressing the need for increased research space within a short time frame, the new research tower also will have an impact in two equally critical areas: the College's ability to retain leading researchers and recruit new ones and the need to invest in technology applicable to biomedical research. "Baylor has some of the best researchers in the country," said Traber, "and they are being actively recruited by institutions that have invested heavily in new technologies and have laboratory space to fill as well as by companies in the private sector. Our own efforts at recruitment and retention of leaders in both basic and clinical research hinge on our ability to provide opportunities for collaboration through access to cuttingedge technologies and state-of-the-art research laboratories." To be truly competitive, research institutions must have faculty who participate in the design and improvement of the latest technical advances. Baylor has been highly competitive in the technology arena in genome sequencing and cryo-electron micro-scopy, but now this focus must be expanded significantly. The College's recently completed strategic plan calls for the establishment of multiple centers of integrative biology encompassing imaging, proteomics, informatics, pharmacogenomics, nanotechnology, and bioengineering. Each of these will require identification of faculty leadership, space, and investment in scientific equipment. This need becomes even more critical because many research funding opportunities emerging from the NIH now require demonstrated access to these new technologies. The research tower represents the first part of a comprehensive plan that will address these issues. The College also is moving forward with plans to acquire research space in for a new research building to be built by Rice University and located at the corner of Main and University, adjacent to Baylor Clinic. The partnership with Rice, along with the physical proximity, will provide outstanding opportunities to develop and enhance clinical research programs and to capitalize on Rice University faculty expertise in such areas as engineering and cancer informatics. And, because this new building will be next to Baylor Clinic, it will facilitate the growth of College programs in translational and clinical research, as well as basic science programs directed by our clinical faculty. As space in each of the new research buildings becomes occupied, laboratory space in the main Baylor buildings (Alkek, Anderson, Cullen, DeBakey, Jewish, Jones, Smith, and Taub) will become available and can be renovated as necessary to accommodate growth of current faculty members' research programs and development of new programs targeted for these spaces - including mental health and neurosciences, one of the major initiatives in the Strategic Plan. "As we translate the promise of molecular medicine into new and improved treatments for disease," said Traber, "it is the patients we serve who are the ultimate beneficiaries of Baylor College of Medicine's commitment to biomedical research." |
Patient CareBaylor Clinic from the Inside Out Oil and Medicine: Profile on Dan Duncan ResearchEpilepsy: Seeking the Cause of a Lonely Disease Epilepsy: A history of stigma and superstition In for a Checkup? Check Out the Research Too EducationAll About the Education Evolution Revolution Community ServiceIntroducing the Problem Solvers College NewsRededication of a Monument to Medicine New BCM Logo Takes Center Stage The Perfect Fit: Putting the Pieces Together
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Volume 1, Issue 1, Spring 2005 |
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| Last modified: October 10, 2008 |
Call it the decade of expansion.
Capitalizing on the doubling of the
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
budget and the incredible scientific
advances of the last five years, many
major academic medical centers have
added as much as 400,000 square feet
of research laboratory space, and most
now have in excess of one million
square feet of total laboratory space.