New $81M Washington University Building on Track for 2015 Opening

In June 2015, the Medical School at Washington University in St. Louis will substantially grow thanks to a new medical building that is currently under construction. The new $81 million building, which began construction in 2013, will be composed of 138,000 square-feet of lab space in six-stories for researchers in different life science disciplines. (Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Research departments that will be located in this new building include: 

• Cellular Imaging 
• Developmental Biology
• Genetics
• Genomics                                                                     
• Internal Medicine                                                                                                
  
• Radiology

Jeffrey Milbrandt, MD, PhD from the Department of Genetics explained that “this building will help us bridge traditional disciplinary boundaries from computer science to genomics to clinical activities, and together help form a scientific community engaged in using cutting-edge technologies to make discoveries that provide the foundation for the development of new medical treatments.”

While making room for labs to conduct cutting-edge interdisciplinary research, the building will also be designed to be energy efficient. The building will be LEED certified, meaning it will be designed to reduce waste and conserve water and energy. 

Washington University, Brookings Hall (Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Washington University in St. Louis, MO is a highly funded research marketplace. In 2012, WUSTL ranked 11th in the country for its amount of Life Science R & D Expenditures, with $625.4 million, and in the 2014 fiscal year, WUSTL received $372.7 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This funding is used for a variety of purposes, including building construction and funding research projects and clinical trials. Some currently funded research projects include: 

• Washington University, St. Louis received $50 million in funding to speed up medical research from discovery to actual application.
• Washington University received a $20 million gift to establish the Taylor Family Institute for Innovative Psychiatric Research, which will advance the science underlying the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric illnesses. The Institute was officially launched in October 2013.
• WUSTL School of Medicine received a five-year $7.8 million NIH grant to study the effect of red blood cell storage time on organ failure in children who receive RBC transfusions. 

Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. produces an annual BioResearch Product Faire™ Event at Washington University that gives lab supply companies the chance to demonstrate their supplies to life science researchers at this well-funded institution. The 16th Annual BioResearch Product Faire™ Event at Washington University is coming up on March 20, 2015, just a few months before this new building is scheduled to open. Companies that participate in this event will be able to showcase their products, get exposure, and increase their brand awareness to more than 350 researchers, lab managers, purchasing agents, professors, post-doc and graduate students. 

To learn more about participating in this event, and to get more funding statistics for WUSTL, visit the link below: 

Researchers in St. Louis interesting in learning about the new products and technologies that are available to use in labs are encouraged to visit the link below to pre-register for the event. 

Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. wrote about this project in the 2013 article, Washington University Plans New Medical Research Building, that was written when the construction project was just beginning.