New Center for Biotechnology & Molecular BiosciencesThe major component of the URI biotechnology initiative is the construction of an 87,500-square-foot Center for Biotechnology and Molecular Biosciences on the north side of URI’s Kingston Campus. The center is projected to cost approximately $50 million, which will be funded by a state bond referendum in 2004. Part of the URI College of the Environment and Life Sciences (CELS) and the most technologically sophisticated academic building on campus, it will support biotechnology research and development on a wide range of human health, plant, animal, and environmental topics. The project will also involve the renovation of the existing Biological Sciences Building. The planned center received strong support from Gov. Donald Carcieri in his first "State of the State Address" on February 4, 2003. The governor has included $300,000 in the next state budget for a conceptual design of the facility, in addition to $200,000 appropriated by last year’s legislature. Carcieri has outlined an ambitious agenda of economic development and job creation programs, much of which will focus around URI’s biotechnology initiative. With a significant number of biotechnology firms already established in Rhode Island, the Center for Biotechnology and Molecular Biosciences will provide vital support to existing research, development, and manufacturing operations and attract additional biotechnology companies to our state. A national search to select an architectural firm to design the center is under way. The facility will feature environmentally sensitive design and construction methods and will contain 21st century research laboratories, including core facilities for DNA sequencing and genomics. The completed center will serve as an integrating focus for the life sciences at URI, bringing together molecular biologists and biotechnologists from around the campus, including those from CELS and the URI College of Arts and Sciences, in a way that is not possible in existing campus facilities. By housing all these researchers together without the real and artificial walls that have separated faculty and departments, the new building will create an exciting intellectual environment in Kingston for cutting-edge research that can help drive the new economy of Rhode Island and the region. Another benefit of the new building will be the tremendous economies of scale that will result from sharing state-of-the-art equipment and facilities. Both graduate and undergraduate students will have substantial, hands-on opportunities to perform research in the new center, further elevating the level and quality of education provided to URI students and providing the specific training and skills required for high-paying careers in biotechnology. By training a steady flow of qualified graduates, the Center for Biotechnology and Molecular Biosciences will further enhance Rhode Island’s reputation as a desirable place for biotechnology companies to locate. New technology requires new physical structures to flourish, and the Center for Biotechnology and Molecular Biosciences is an exciting leap forward for Rhode Island. Just as Silicon Valley has become synonymous with computers, the new center holds the promise of making Rhode Island and southern New England the nexus for biotechnology in the years ahead. —Arliss Ryan |