In the second installment of IBO’s twice yearly look at new laboratories, we examine nonprofit projects in the US, new pharmaceutical and contract research organization (CRO) labs, as well as new food testing and food R&D labs. Nonprofits and Medical Schools The three nonprofit institutions listed in the table on page 3 are among the latest beneficiaries of funding for new laboratory projects and highlight funding trends for cancer research and translational medicine. Other projects include the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s (CSHL) new hillside campus research complex, which will consist of six buildings in a 100,000-square-foot space, increasing CSHL’s laboratory space by 40%. Based in Cold Spring Harbor, New York, CSHL is nonprofit institute for molecular biology and genetics research. The buildings will house 15 faculty members and 200 others focused on research on cancer, neuroscience and human genetics. Three buildings will open in December and three will open in June 2009. New facilities devoted to translational medicine are also opening at medical schools. This June, Yeshiva University’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine opened the Michael F. Price Center for Genetic and Translational Medicine/Harold and Muriel Block Research Pavilion. The five-story, 223,000-square-foot building houses 40 laboratories for research into genetics, epigenetics, stem cell science, cellular imaging, systems biology, computational biology, vaccines and drug design. Likewise, Temple University School of Medicine is scheduled to complete construction in 2009 of an 11-story, 480,000-square-foot, $160 million building, which will house 249,000 square feet of research laboratories for interdisciplinary and translational research. In 2010, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine will open the Ann and Jerome Fisher Translational Research Center, an eight-story, 400,000-square-foot building for 100 principal research and 900 staff. Pharmaceutical/Biotech Despite financial woes, major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have announced several new lab openings this year. Abbott Laboratories opened its two-story, 64,000-square-foot, $53 million Formulation Development Center in Abbott Park, Illinois, in June. The Center is focused on the formulation of potent and nonpotent oral compounds for clinical studies. Seventeen dedicated employees and 40 staff work at the site. Eli Lilly officially opened its Bioproduct Research and Development Laboratory in Indianapolis, Indiana, in May. The four-story, 475,000-square-foot lab houses around 500 employees and is the third and final building comprising Lilly’s Indianapolis Biotechnology Complex. Another biotech center to open this year was Genzyme’s new Science Center. Located in Framingham, Massachusetts, the 180,000-square-foot, $125 million facility is the company’s main site for early-stage research and will eventually be occupied by around 350 employees. Also in Massachusetts, Novartis AG opened the Novartis Research Center of Excellence in Virology in Cambridge this month. The 80,000-square-foot Center, housed in a building previously occupied by Millennium Pharmaceuticals, is the new headquarters for the company’s diagnostics and vaccines businesses that were previously based in Emeryville, California. One hundred and fifty employees are expected to occupy the building by the end of the year. Also eyeing the Boston area is EMD Sereno, which announced earlier this year that it plans a $50 million, 125,000-square-foot expansion of its Billerica operation, including the creation of a center of excellence in discovery focused on cancer. The facility will add 200 scientists, including about 90 employees from the company’s Rockland site, according to The Patriot Ledger. On the other side of the country, in August, Pfizer announced plans to move its Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation Center from South San Francisco, California, to the Mission Bay area of the city in 2010. Pfizer has leased the west wing of a planned five-story, 105,000-square-foot building in the Alexandria Center for Science and Technology, which is currently under construction. The facility will initially house 100 employees. CROs As shown in the table below, contract research organizations (CROs) continue to build new labs in the US and abroad. In addition to Bridge Pharmaceuticals’ investment in China, Eurofins Medinet earlier this year opened a new central laboratory in Shanghai, China. This month, Quintiles Transnational, which claims to be the largest CRO in Asia, announced it will double the size of its Asian headquarters in Singapore. In the third quarter of next year, the company’s Central Laboratory and its offices for Clinical Development Services will relocate to a 80,000-square-foot space in the Cintech IV facility in Singapore’s Science Park One. Also announcing new Asian labs, but in Korea, was nonprofit R&D organization Battelle. Battelle and Korean drug firm Yuyu Pharma have formed International Scientific Standard, a joint company located in Chuncheon City, Korea. The company’s 1,090-square-foot laboratory will conduct safety and efficacy tests of generic drugs. Another Eurofins business, Eurofins Science, announced the doubling of the size of its 250-employee lab in Nantes, France, in May to 96,876 square meters, including the addition of new labs for sensory evaluation and forensics. The company anticipates that the lab will conduct 200,000 tests this year. Also in Europe, Interek Pharmaceutical Services this summer reopened the bioanalytical and analytical R&D lab in Athlone, Ireland, that it acquired earlier this year from BioClin. At 6,000 square feet, the lab’s space was expanded by 40% and now houses 20 employees. Food Safety Also prompting laboratory expansion overseas are food safety concerns. Intertek, an independent laboratory company providing testing services for a number of industries, opened a new food testing laboratory in Beijing, China, this summer. Also this summer, the state of Oregon, the China Certification and Inspection Group, South China Agricultural University and Zhuhai Peace company opened a food safety testing center, the China-US Peace Food Safety Detection Service Center (CUPSC), in the Chinese sourthern port city of Zhuhai. The CUPSC tests food prior to shipment to the US. Correspondingly, in the US, Oregon’s Department of Agriculture tests US food and agriculture submitted by exporters, excluding microbiological tests, prior to shipment to China. The CUPSC is part of the Zhuhai Peace Logistics Complex, a market, storage, office and hospitality facility. Also announcing new food testing labs in Asia this summer were supermarket chain Carrefour, which will build a lab in Tianjin, China. China Retail News reports that the laboratory will test vegetables, fruit, meat, seafood, grains and oil for pesticide residue, bleach, clenbuterol, water in pork, formaldehyde, sodium formaldehyde sulfoxylate and nitrate. Agricultural firm Betagro has announced plans to set up a lab in Lopburi, Thailand, to test animal feed, materials and raw and cooked products for chemical and microbiological contaminants. In Europe, food testing giant Silliker is building a 2,500-square-meter lab that will employ 100 people and will open 2010. Europe is also attracting new investments from food and beverage companies for R&D. This summer, Pepsi opened a 92,000-square-foot, 175-employee facility in Leicester, England, for snack food R&D. The facility houses sensory and product development laboratories, as well as a pilot plant and offices. Unilever opened six labs across Europe this year focused on product development. In March, the company opened its Center for Excellence in Structured Emulsions in Vlaardingen, the Netherlands. In May, Unilever’s R&D Center for Excellence for Drinks opened in Colworth, England. The Centers for Excellence in Ice Foods, employing 130 R&D people, opened in Colworth and Caivano, Italy. Also, in Italy, the company opened the 50-person Center for Excellence Assembled Foods. Finally, Poznan, Poland became home to the company’s new Liquid Foods Center of Excellence. Elsewhere in Europe, Tate & Lyle, a maker of food and industrial ingredients, opened a $5.8 million Health and Wellness Innovation Centre in Lille, France, this month for the development of ingredients for healthier foods and for fibers and sweeteners.