Construction of an exciting new research facility was recently announced for the University of Illinois at Chicago. According to a UIC news article, Illinois Governor Quinn declared the commencement of the Advanced Chemical Technology Building (ACTB), which will house researchers from chemistry, biology, and physics. The driving idea behind the building is to foster connections between the three broad fields to focus on specific fields like immunology, orthopedics, tumor growth, and nanoscience.
(concept art for the ACTB, courtesy of www.fsp.uic.edu)
The Advanced Chemical Technology Building represents a $104 million construction project, $64 million of which will come from state capital funds. In addition to the 200+ construction jobs the development will create, the completed facility is expected to provide 81 positions for researchers and staff.
“The best investment a state can make is in education,” Governor Quinn said in his press release. “Today’s announcement means more jobs, more innovation and a stronger University of Illinois-Chicago that will support our students as they prepare to enter the 21st century workforce."
With state-of-the-art laboratories and an environmentally friendly design (the ACTB is expected to achieve a Silver LEED certification), the ACTB promises to be an instrumental addition to the UIC research community. The research slated for the building includes drug discovery, patent filings, and commercialized technology in bioscience and materials science.
Such research is already underway at the University of Chicago, Illinois today. For instance, UIC researchers have recently begun using genetic testing in order to help properly dose the drug warfarin. Warfarin is prescribed to prevent the formation and expansion of blood clots, and does so by directly decreasing the clotting ability of the blood. For this reason, it and other drugs like it are called anticoagulants, or blood thinners. However, warfarin is known to cause serious adverse effects if the dosage given to a patient is incorrect. That's where UIC researchers come in: their genetic tests identify levels of both the enzyme that breaks down warfarin (CYP2C9) and the clotting enzyme that warfarin targets (VKORC1). With this information, the proper dosage can be determined more accurately than before.
Construction on the Advanced Chemical Technology Building will begin in spring of 2013 and should take around 30 months to complete. The project is part of Governor Quinn's larger "Illinois Jobs Now!" program, which includes $788 million for Illinois public universities. For more detailed information about the University of Illinois at Chicago funding and development, click the button below:
Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. will be at the expanding UIC campus for its annual Chicago BioResearch Product Faire™, which will be taking place once again on May 2nd, 2013. Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. is a full service event company that has produced on-campus, life science research trade shows nationwide for the past 20 years. We plan and promote each event to bring the best products and services to the finest research campuses across the country. If you are a university researcher or a laboratory product vendor, consider attending one of our on-campus trade shows: here is our 2013 schedule.