Biodesign Institute boosts state bioscience research capacity with facility expansion

Joe Caspermeyer, Media Relations Manager & Science Editor
(480) 727-0369 | joseph.caspermeyer@asu.edu

Amidst a packed house of political dignitaries, researchers and bioindustry representatives, the second phase of the Biodesign Institute was officially dedicated March 21. The event paid tribute to the foresight of the 2003 Arizona Legislature, which passed an appropriations bill that funded this phase of the institute’s development.

At the event, ASU President Michael Crow referenced the importance of the contribution made by the Arizona Legislature, which faced a significant budget deficit in 2003.

"We are here today because the people of Arizona, through their representatives, at a moment of fiscal stress and uncertainty relative to the future, said, we want to invest in the capacity to invent the future through science and discovery," said Crow.

The dedication of Building B just a year on the heels of Building A demonstrates the rapid pace with which ASU is acting on its goal of developing a world-class research program. ASU is taking an approach that capitalizes on existing ASU strengths while using strategic recruitments to build distinct capabilities that will enhance global competitiveness.

Building B is a 175,000 square-foot facility that will house between 400 – 500 employees, bringing the institute’s total to nearly 1,000 researchers, students and staff. The new facility connects to the Biodesign Institute’s first building, a 172,000 square-foot facility that was dedicated in December 2004.

The program included remarks from many of the principle supporters of the state research infrastructure bill, including Bob Robson, speaker pro tempore of the Arizona State House of Representatives and Ken Bennett, president of the Arizona State Senate. The program also included remarks from Arizona Congressman J.D. Hayworth, United States House of Representatives and Martin Shultz, chair of Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap Steering Committee and vice-president of government affairs, Pinnacle West Capital Corporation.

"This act of foresight and leadership on the part of the legislature demonstrates how far public dollars can go to stimulate innovation and economic gain," said Shultz. "From an economic standpoint, many of the people who follow this field are abuzz about the biosciences potential to bring jobs and companies to Arizona. We are leapfrogging Arizona at a rate few thought possible."

The Biodesign Institute, in honor of its one-of-a-kind architecture and lab design, was recently named R&D Magazine’s 2006 Laboratory of the Year in an international competition. The annual competition included industrial, government and academic laboratories across the U.S. and abroad.

"Architecture is often said to be the least appreciated art form, but it’s also the art form you can’t avoid because we spend so much of our lives in buildings," said George Poste, director of the Biodesign Institute. "But at its best, it excites by its aesthetic quality. It energizes purpose —and our purpose is to invent the future. This superb facility is a visual metaphor for excellence in design, in science and education."

Two more modular buildings will be added to bring a total of 800,000 square-feet of research space to the master-planned complex.

Poste also highlighted the scope and pace of recent activities gathering around Arizona’s nascent bioscience cluster, including: $160 million in donations to ASU from Ira and Mary Lou Fulton; a $50 million dollar gift from the Virginia Piper Trust to recruit top research scientists to the Valley; $150 million donation from developer Don Budinger to jumpstart the Arizona Science Foundation and a potential matching bill in the state legislature; the recent Phoenix bond election and downtown ASU, which includes the expanded U of A medical school and Arizona Biomedical Collaborative building; and the business leadership demonstrated by partners including the Greater Phoenix Economic Council and Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.

"This dynamic is not happening anywhere else in the country. This is a special place at a special time," said Poste. "Gubernatorial, legislative and civic leadership are vital. ASU’s vision is inspiring, but success depends on the community. In Arizona, place matters."