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Left to right: Missouri Gov. Bob Holden, U.S. Sen. Christopher
“Kit” Bond and NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe
participated in the long-awaited Life Sciences Center dedication.
The new $60 million Center represents the next step of more
than 70 years of life sciences research on the MU campus.
Sen. Bond’s support generated federal funds amounting
to $29 million from NASA and $1 million from the Health
Resources and Services Administration for the construction
of the building. That was matched by another $30 million
for construction from the state of Missouri through the
help of the late Gov. Mel Carnahan and continued support
from Gov. Holden. Private funds from MO-AG Industries and
MFA Incorporated were used to prepare the concept design
of the Center. Bruce Alberts, president of the National
Academy of Sciences, also took part in dedication activities.
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Life
Sciences Center
Is Dedicated
By Christian Basi
The University of Missouri-Columbia’s
state-of-the-art Life
Sciences Center, which officially opened this summer and was
dedicated on Sept. 17, was designed around one central theme:
collaboration. The best minds from multiple academic divisions
will work together to improve food, health and the environment
within the Center’s walls — walls that were specifically
constructed to facilitate this teamwork concept.
The Life Sciences Center is located on Rollins
near College Ave. View
campus map.
“At MU, our life
sciences research and education focus is on three primary
areas that concern us all: the supply and quality of food, prevention
and treatment of disease, and protection and improvement of our
environment,” said R.
Michael Roberts, director of the Life Sciences Center. “Research
of this importance demands an unprecedented level of collaboration
among scientists as they seek to understand the genetic interrelationships
of humans, animals, plants and microorganisms. Ultimately, these
basic discoveries will promote the development of new ideas —
ideas that we can’t even begin to anticipate.”
At the heart of MU’s new Life Sciences Center is a five-story atrium that emphasizes an open design that is providing vital research, teaching and office space for the campus life sciences research community. Steve Morse photo
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What people can anticipate, though,
is an array of life sciences research resources all housed in
a central campus location. Three of MU’s eight core facilities
are located in the Life Sciences Center: the Proteomics
Center, the Molecular
Cytology Core and the DNA
Core. Undergraduate students also are a vital component of
the center, and MU’s Life
Sciences Undergraduate Research Program has its offices there
as well.
The Life Sciences Center contains laboratory
space unlike most other academic laboratories in the nation. The
center will use more than half of the 134,000 assignable square
feet for laboratories. The rest will be used for teaching and
conference space. Individual labs measuring 1,000 square feet
will not be separated by walls, but by partitions, and scientists
will be free to walk among the various labs. Designed to be customized
for projects that don’t fit in standard labs, certain laboratories
do not have the typical furniture found in most research institutions.
Research teams will range from five to 15
people. A total of about 40 researchers will work in team clusters.
Each team of researchers will include both graduate and undergraduate
students, giving these students the opportunity to work among
the nation’s leaders in a variety of scientific fields.
In an effort to foster discoveries, research
results will be posted in various common areas including the Catalyst
Café, “interaction” space outside the labs,
and a reading room where scientists will be encouraged to congregate.
Because researchers’ offices are not inside their labs,
the scientists will be required to walk through the commons area
to reach their offices.
The open design of the Life Sciences Center extends to the extensive laboratory areas, where research teams work side by side with colleagues from schools and colleges across campus. Steve Morse photo
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A 250-seat auditorium provides space for a
variety of seminars and discussion groups, facilitating the discovery
of new knowledge and promoting scientific interaction. Providing
this space close to the scientists’ offices and laboratories
will make attendance much easier and more time efficient. Officials
hope the facility will become a focal point for the campus community,
Roberts said.
“There is no other institution in the
state that can match MU in life sciences research with respect
to the combination of quality, uniqueness, breadth, integration
of research, education and service, and the potential impact on
economic development,” said Michael Chippendale, senior
associate director for the Life Sciences Center. “Now, the
Life Sciences Center is poised to become the hub of collaborative
research among researchers from six academic divisions that will
help take MU to even higher levels of excellence in research activity
and results.”
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Last Update:
November 19, 2007
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