By Mary Fiess

Top: Architect's rendering of the Life Sciences Research Building, and the actual building under construction in October 2001.

A cell biologist by training, University at Albany President Karen R. Hitchcock knows well the critical importance of research in the life sciences. Early in her career, she led a research team that identified a potential treatment for respiratory distress syndrome, then the major cause of death in premature infants.

As UAlbany's president for over five years, Hitchcock also knows well the major investments necessary to advance research in this area. And now, starting with significant funding from New York State and seeking $20 million in private gifts as well as federal grant support, Hitchcock is leading a major new effort that will invest more than $100 million to build world-class strength in life sciences research at the University.

"We live at a time of remarkable breakthroughs in our understanding of the fundamental processes of life, and we can envision even more remarkable possibilities - ranging from new treatments for disease to new approaches to world hunger. Our Life Sciences Research Initiative will position the University at Albany at the cutting edge of these critical research areas," said Hitchcock.

The keystone of this Initiative is the University's new $78 million, 194,000-square-foot Life Sciences Research Building, now rising on campus, and Hitchcock formally launched the Initiative Nov. 13 at a symbolic corner-stone-laying ceremony next to the site. New York Governor George Pataki had been scheduled to join Hitchcock at the event but was unable to attend in the wake of a plane crash the day before in Queens. Instead he sent a message that was read by Hitchcock.

"Our $3 billion SUNY/CUNY capital plan is now revitalizing college campuses all across our State - producing spectacular new facilities such as this one being constructed at UAlbany. This building will play a key role in re-energizing the UAlbany campus, providing students and researchers with access to state-of-the-art labs and equipment," said Pataki.
Of the more than $100 million in public and private funds that will be invested to dramatically expand University research capabilities in life sciences, $65 million is being provided by New York State for the construction costs of the Life Sciences Research Building.

"We are extremely grateful to Governor Pataki for his visionary leadership in proposing the $3 billion capital plan," said Hitchcock. "This Initiative's public-private partnership will move our University and region to the next level in the area of life sciences. Our new building will provide the state-of-the-art space and facilities essential to support the collaborative enterprises that characterize so much research today, and these facilities will enable us to recruit and retain world-class life sciences researchers and research teams," said Hitchcock.

"This building and the research it supports will build on and complement the outstanding research in genomics and biomedical sciences that is under way at our East Campus. The University's expertise in nanotechnology, micro-electronics and advanced materials is already being applied to biological and medical problems, and this new initiative will strengthen such cross-disciplinary research efforts.

All these collaborative efforts will help build the region's biotechnology industry and drive economic growth," Hitchcock said.

Deliberately designed with flexible laboratory space, the Life Sciences Research Building will ultimately house 39 research groups from a variety of life science disciplines. Researchers from departments including psychology, biology, and chemistry, who are working in areas related to the life sciences, will share the facilities and space, configured to encourage formal and informal interaction between research groups to foster synergy among the disciplines.

Equipment and technologies critical to advance discovery across the spectrum of disciplines will include those necessary to promote research in genomics, bioinformatics, proteomics, microarray, mouse transgenesis, cell culture, and imaging, as well as mass spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

The University's Center for Comparative Functional Genomics, established on the East Campus in 1999 to advance understanding of human genetic processes, also boasts such sophisticated facilities. The expertise of CCFG researchers and the core facilities have, in turn, helped attract companies to the East Campus and major research funding. CCFG Co-directors Paulette McCormick and Albert Millis both say the Life Sciences Research Initiative will build on that progress and have an even larger impact.

"Already we see a positive impact on our efforts to attract new faculty and when this state-of-the-art facility is completed we will be equipped to support a critical mass of researchers doing cutting-edge molecular biology," says McCormick.

"The physical infrastructure is absolutely essential to attract the best scientists. To paraphrase the film Field of Dreams: 'If you build it, they will come,' " says Millis.

Research teams to be recruited through the new Initiative are expected to fall into such areas as transgenesis and genetic manipulation, structural analysis of proteins and DNA, function of biomolecules at cellular and organismal levels, and population genetics, molecular evolution, and behavior.

UAlbany President Karen R. Hitchcock, left with Albany Molecular CEO Thomas D'Ambra and his wife Constance.

Also in the building will be a 3,000-square-foot fermentation facility that will enable researchers to grow the large amounts of yeast and bacterial cells that are needed to purify individual enzymes and protein complexes on a large scale. A National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant totaling $619,855 is helping support construction of that center.

New York State is providing $65 million of the building's construction costs. Approximately $5 million more for the building will come from research grants like the NIH grant awarded for the fermentation facility. The University is launching a fund-raising drive for $20 million in private gifts for the Life Sciences Research Initiative - $8 million in support for the building and $12 million to recruit and retain nationally prominent research teams. This campaign, coupled with additional federal and University support, comprises a total investment of over $100 million to build world-class life sciences research at the University.

The new Life Sciences Research Building, located adjacent to the University's existing Biology Building on the east side of the uptown campus, is scheduled for completion in 2004-05. Northland Associates of Syracuse is the contractor for the building. Hillier/New York, one of the largest architectural firms in the U.S. and the recipient of more than 250 awards for design excellence, is the architect.

"This Initiative is at the heart of our vision for the State University of New York. Cutting-edge research conducted by world-class faculty in close partnership with the public and private sectors will reap enormous benefits for New Yorkers and people everywhere," said SUNY Chancellor Robert King.