Construction begins on new KU biomedical research center

Ground was broken in September for a state-of-the-art biomedical research building at the University of Kansas where researchers will tackle infertility, AIDS, diabetes and genetic links to disease. The KU Biomedical Research Center will help KU and the Kansas City area become a national research center in the life sciences.

The building will be constructed at the northeast corner of 39th Street and Rainbow Boulevard at the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan. The 205,000-square-foot center will cost about $56 million.

The Hall Family Foundation of Kansas City provided $27 million toward the project as part of the $42 million commitment the foundation made to the Kansas University Endowment Association in 2001. Additional funding was provided through state-supported bonds.

Chancellor Robert Hemenway said the five-story building was designed to foster collaboration among researchers exploring the nature of disease.

"The life sciences require an interdisciplinary approach for successful, multidimensional studies," Hemenway said. "To unravel the mysteries of disease and debilitating illnesses, we need to create an environment that will attract top researchers and foster collaboration. The impact of their research efforts will reach far beyond the greater Kansas City area. People the world over who suffer from brain disorders, ovarian cancer and other illnesses will be touched by what happens here. In addition, the center will dramatically boost the economic development of this region's life sciences initiatives."

The building will feature state-of-the art equipment, administrative areas, support space and laboratories that can be configured into flexible suites that can accommodate current and future research requirements. It will house scientists in KU research programs such as neuroscience, reproductive biology and proteomics, a field that examines the structure of proteins and how they can be used to treat diseases.

Each research group in the facility will have between 15,000 and 20,000 square feet of office, research-support and laboratory space. The building will include laboratories for researchers in biochemistry, molecular biology, toxicology and pharmacology. It also will have patient interview space for the schools of allied health and nursing. Researchers will integrate information from the study of proteomics; genes and chromosomes, or genomics; and biological systems. The research also will focus on female reproduction and applied neuroscience to answer questions about diseases such as infertility, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, stroke, epilepsy, deafness and communication disorders.

Joan Hunt, University distinguished professor and senior associate dean for research in the School of Medicine, is among the faculty who will bring their research programs to the Biomedical Research Center. Hunt, an internationally recognized researcher on communication networks between mothers and babies during pregnancy, has been continuously supported by the National Institutes of Health for her studies, which have helped physicians develop new treatments for infection associated pre-term labor and infertility in women. Hunt recently became the first KU faculty member to be named to the National Advisory Research Resources Council of the National Center for Research Resources of the NIH.

"The position will provide me with the opportunity to speak for Kansas as research resources are considered," Hunt said. "I am among many researchers who are looking forward to developing the KU Medical Center as a regional and national center of excellence in biomedical research."

Construction of the center is expected to be completed by 2006.