The second of IBO’s biannual new laboratory roundup focuses on new academic and environmental labs, along with companies expanding their lab presence in Europe. In addition, the table on page 3 highlights plans for new CRO, pharmaceutical and semiconductor labs.

Three major chemical firms have recently announced labs in Europe. Dutch chemical company Royal DSM will make a €100 million ($139 million = €0.72 = $1) investment in two R&D labs in the Netherlands. A new Delft biotechnical research lab will support the R&D activities of the DSM Biotechnology Center and will accommodate 285 employees. R&D for DSM Engineering Plastics will be conducted at a new materials science research building in Sittard-Geleen. The facility will focus on new polymers for automotive and electronics and will house 420 employees. Both labs are expected to be operational in 2014. In June, Dow Corning opened its €9 million ($12.5 million) Solar Energy Exploration and Development (SEED) research facility in Seneffe, Belgium. Researchers at the facility will pursue discovery and development of renewable-energy materials and technologies. The SEED facility houses Dow Corning’s first solar cell lab, as well as the Silicon Technology Center, which focuses on next-generation silicon-based technologies. Earlier this month, BASF and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research opened the Carbon Materials Innovation Center at BASF’s Ludwigshafen, Germany, site. Twelve scientists will work at the €10 million ($13.8 million), 200-sq.-m. (2,153-sq.-ft.) lab. In addition to graphene, the facility will be used to research the potential applications of other carbon-based materials. The terms of the partnership are for at least three years.

European governments are investing in new labs for disease research. In July, plans were announced for the Center for Preclinical Research and Technology in Warsaw, Poland, for which the EU will foot 85% of the €91.4 million ($127.0 million) bill, and the Polish government will fund the remainder. Combined, the R&D labs will have the biggest R&D footprint in Central and Eastern Europe, according to the Center. The Medical University of Warsaw is the coordinator of the Center, and the Warsaw University of Technology and seven Polish Academy of Sciences institutes are collaborating on the project. The Center will include 50 labs, most of which will be located at the Medical University of Warsaw. The two biggest investments will be the PLN 65 million ($20.2 million = PLN 3.17 = $1) Preclinical Research Center at the Medical University of Warsaw and the PLN 25 million ($7.8 million) Neuroscience Center at the Institute of Experimental Biology. The labs will focus on new diagnostic tests and treatments for nervous-system diseases, cardiovascular disease and cancer, among other conditions. Scotland is another European country emphasizing disease research. In May, the country opened the $85 million, 97,000-sq.-ft. Scottish Center for Regenerative Medicine (SCRM), which is located in the Edinburgh BioQuarter. The 250 scientists at SCRM research conditions such as multiple sclerosis, heart and liver disease, Parkinson’s disease and motor neurone disease, with an emphasis on stem cell research.

US medical schools have also announced new research labs. Construction is underway on the second of three towers at the University of Wisconsin that are part of the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research. The $135 million, nine-story tower, which is set to open in 2013, will house the Eye Research Institute and the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research. Other floors of the tower will focus on research in neuroscience, cardiovascular science, regenerative medicine and molecular medicine. The new tower will share resources with the first tower, which is dedicated to cancer research and opened in 2008. Tufts University School of Medicine has announced plans for a biosafety level 3 lab. The 1,700-sq.-ft. Arnold 8 Biosafety Laboratory will be used for research for the treatment and prevention of tuberculosis. Construction of the $3.5 million lab will begin this fall, and it is expected to open in 2013.

Translational research centers are a focus of investment at US universities. Earlier this month, the University of Buffalo opened the Clinical and Translational Research Center (CTRC), which is housed in the largest building on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. The 170,000-sq.-ft. facility aims to facilitate the faster development of medical treatments. The fifth through eighth floors are dedicated to the CTRC, and the first through fourth floors house the Gates Vascular Institute, allowing researchers to interact with patients and clinicians. Dartmouth University announced in June that it will be building a translational research center as well. The Williamson Translational Research Building, to be built on the campus in Lebanon, New Hampshire, will house multidisciplinary research, with a focus on neuroscience, cancer, and immunology and infectious disease.

After construction was halted by financial concerns, two Ivy League lab buildings have resumed construction. Princeton University will continue building its neuroscience and psychology buildings, which the school announced in 2006 and included in its Campus Plan in 2008 but did not begin until March 2010. The projects are expected to be completed in the spring of 2013. The 172,000-sq.-ft. neuroscience building will house the Princeton Neuroscience Institute. Harvard University announced in June that it will resume construction in 2014 on its Allston science complex. The building, on which construction stopped in 2009, will be between 500,000 and 600,000 square feet and house a life science lab, classrooms and research space, focusing on stem cell research. Five hundred employees will work at the facility.

Canadian universities have announced new labs as well. The University of British Columbia opened the $133 million Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences Building earlier this month. The 246,000-sq.-ft. facility houses the Center for Drug Research and Development for early-stage drug research and the Center for High-Throughput Phenogenomics, which performs molecular- to macroscopic-level research in dentistry, medicine and biology. Also in Canada, Brock University recently opened its Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research Complex. The $112 million, 170,000-sq.-ft. facility includes a greenhouse to study plant use in pharmaceuticals, a containment level 3 lab that focuses on research on the West Nile Virus, and the Center for Bone and Muscle Health.

Environmental labs utilizing new technologies are cropping up. The Great Lakes WATER Institute in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will begin building the 100,000-sq.-ft. Great Lakes Genomic Center later this year. The Center will house 10 to 20 scientists, who will use next-generation gene sequencing to research aquaculture, water quality, pathogens and contaminants, and public health. The Center will have an initial $2 million budget for instruments. Earlier this month, California-based agricultural technology measurement firm Solum opened a 12,500-sq.-ft. facility in Ames, Iowa. The facility, which will employ 25 people, includes a soil preparation and analysis lab. The facility will focus on field-moist testing, an alternative to dry soil testing designed to provide quicker results.

New Laboratories

CRO

Organization:Laboratory Facility Eurofins

Location:Lancaster County, PA

Details:Biopharmaceutical, pharmaceutical and food testing will be performed at the $17 million, 78,000-sq.-ft., four-story facility. The expansion will create 200 jobs.

Timeline:Construction began in August. The building will open in October 2013.

Organization:Regional Headquarters Quintiles

Location:Shanghai, China

Details:The $14 million, 43,000-sq.-ft. facility is the result of a partnership between Quintiles and the Shanghai Clinical Research Center to provide biopharmaceutical testing. The facility will employ 450 people.

Timeline:The facility will open next year.

Pharmaceutical

Organization:San Diego Campus Shire Regenerative Medicine

Location:Sorrento Mesa, CA

Details:The 150,000-sq.-ft. building will expand Shire’s Advanced BioHealing subsidiary. The company will manufacture its main product, Dermagraft, at the facility, as well as new regenerative medicines. The building will also house labs, offices and warehouses.

Timeline:Construction will begin in early 2013. The building will open in 2014.

Organization:Sterile Drugs Facility Hospira

Location:Vizag, India

Details:The $325 million, 1,100,000-sq.-ft. facility will assist with Hospira’s drug production, 90% of which currently takes place at the company’s Rocky Mount, NC, facility. Injectables produced at the facility will be introduced in 2014.

Timeline:Construction began this month. The facility will open in 2013.

Semiconductor

Organization:i2M Center for Advanced Materials Science Entegris

Location:Bedford, MA

Details:The $50 million, 80,000-sq.-ft. R&D center will manufacture filtration media, clamps and coatings for semiconductors. The facility will include 6,000 square feet of cleanroom space.

Timeline:Construction began in April. The center will open by the end of 2013.

Organization:R&D Facility Intel

Location:Chandler, AZ

Details:The $300 million, 285,000-sq.-ft. facility will develop the housing around a microchip that connects the chip to a computer board. The facility will employ several hundred people.

Timeline:Construction began in August.Completion is set for the second half of 2013.