State-of-the-art facility to provide more research space for cancer program

UofL president James Ramsey, Ph.D., unveiled plans April 1 for the construction of the university's third major health sciences research facility in just nine years.

The $65.2 million structure, tentatively named Biomedical Research III, will join the Donald E. Baxter, M.D. and Delia B. Baxter Biomedical Research Buildings, which were dedicated in 1999 and 2003, respectively.

The new facility will include 150,000 square feet of state-of-the-art laboratory space and will house about 50 research investigators, most of whom will be conducting cancer research.

Ramsey said the structure will boost efforts to establish UofL as a major metropolitan research university and help position the school's James Graham Brown Cancer Center as one of the finest research and treatment programs in the country.

After years of tremendous growth, the university's research programs are now grappling with a critical space crunch.

"Leading-edge lab space is the key factor affecting our ability to recruit internationally known researchers," Ramsey said. "We have asked the architects and engineering consultants to fast-track the design and construction of this strategically important facility."

Although the new structure won't completely alleviate UofL's space shortage, it will incorporate an innovative open-lab design that will provide long-term flexibility in the use of space, said Larry Cook, M.D., executive vice president for health affairs.

"The new research facility is a critical factor in our ability to continue the innovative research that is currently underway," he said. "Not only will it allow us to retain the best and the brightest scientists we already have, but it also will help us recruit many, many more and to expand our capacities for future discoveries that will benefit the citizens of Kentucky and the nation."

Donald Miller, M.D., director of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center, noted that Kentucky leads the nation in the incidence of many kinds of cancer.

"I think all of us view our research program as a way to counteract that burden," he said. "All of the programs that we will be putting into this new building will be designed to help the citizens of Kentucky avoid the development of cancer and to provide better treatment options if they do contract cancer.

"As we begin to build stronger cancer-prevention programs, as we begin to have a national presence in tobacco-harm reduction, as we develop new drugs coming out of our laboratories, clearly this space will play an important role in making us one of the pre-eminent cancer centers in the country, which is where we intend to be five years from now."

Ramsey expressed his deep appreciation to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, who helped make the project a reality by securing a $10.25 million federal appropriation during the 2005 Congressional session.

"This project would not have happened had it not been for the drive and leadership of Sen. McConnell," Ramsey said. "The senator worked very, very hard to make this federal appropriation possible."

McConnell said he was pleased to help address an issue of such significance to residents of the commonwealth.

"Nothing could be more important than what is going on in the area of health here at the University of Louisville, not only to this university but to the future of this state and helping us have a healthier population," he said.

The remainder of the building's funding will come from state and university sources, Cook said. The Kentucky General Assembly authorized $39.15 million in bond issues, and UofL is contributing $15.8 million.

Construction is expected to begin in 2006, and the project is slated for completion by the summer of 2008.