Biomedical Research and Medical Building News in San Diego at UCSD
Posted by BCI Staff on Fri, Apr 22, 2011
- UCSD Health Sciences Biomedical Building due August 2013
- UCSD Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center opening in May
- UCSD Translational Research Building to break ground soon
- UCSD Jacobs Medical Center due to open in 2016
[Photo courtesy of UCSD]
In 2004 UCSD opened the Leichtag Biomedical Research Building at its School of Medicine in La Jolla, but now the construction firm that erected it is being charged with building yet another biomedical research facility on the ever-expanding campus. (They also completed a new student union for the university in 2007.) The $105 million Biomedical Research Building II project has just broken ground and is scheduled for completion in August 2013.
The new Health Sciences Biomedical Research Facility will be five stories tall, have 196,000 square feet of (mostly lab) space, and sit on a 3.3 acre plot on the School of Medicine campus. It will be sleek and modern in design and have the distinction of being the greenest building around, according to UCSD architect Boone Hellmann:
"We're expecting this to be the highest performing and most sustainably designed research lab on the UCSD campus and quite possibly in the country."
Construction giant McCarthy is building the research facility (above photo from their website); San Diego company RFD (Research Facilities Design) is the consultant for laboratory planning (their lab photo).
The long-awaited opening of the $228 Million Sulpizio Family Cardiovascular Center building on the UCSD Thornton Hospital campus is now set for May (2011), after a month long delay for facilities tinkering. [Photo courtesy of the San Diego Union-Trubune]
The 128,000 square-foot building "will provide the finest cardiovascular care but in an academic environment that includes teaching and research," according to director Kirk Peterson. The Center will take heart patients that are now in Thornton Hospital, which is actually attached to the new building. Opportunities for collaboration among specialists will be promoted through the building's multi-use design, and medical students will have a rich new learning environment at the nexus of research and clinical care.
Future expansion at the Thornton Complex includes the Translational Research Institute for development of therapeutics from medical products from research, slated to break ground next year behind the Sulpizio Center.
Lastly (for now), the $664 Million Jacobs Medical Center is in the pipeline for a 2016 opening. The 10-story, 490,000-square-foot facility will take patients from the current Hillcrest campus, allowing it to focus on trauma and emergency services. Jacobs will house three new hospital units: the Cancer Hospital; the Hospital for Women and Infants; and the Hospital for Advanced Surgery. The new building was made possible by a $75 Million gift from Joan and Irwin Jacobs last year. The mission of the Jacobs Center is not only quality patient care but basic science and joint research, according to the university press release:
"The Jacobs Medical Center will join a collaborative network at UC San Diego dedicated to interdisciplinary research and education...[This] unique environment will integrate basic science, technology, and clinical research with health care delivery to improve the lives of patients."
If you are a biomedical research lab supply vendor, a San Diego area life science researcher, or UCSD purchasing agent, you should plan to attend the Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. San Diego Biotechnology Vendor Showcase™ Event. This life science laboratory product show and research networking event is held twice-annually on the UCSD campus. The event, now in its 18th year, is an excellent opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with life science and medical science researchers and to learn about up-to-date laboratory products, science supplies and analytical equipment. This San Diego Research community event will next be held on August 25, 2011.
