UD to break ground on new $165 million interdisciplinary laboratory this fall

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Newark Post

The University of Delaware will break ground later this year on a new $165 million interdisciplinary laboratory that will train the public health professionals of the future and reshape a part of the campus along Delaware Avenue.

The project, which will replace the fire-damaged McKinly Lab, has been in the works for several years and got a big boost last week when Gov. John Carney announced the state is allocating $41 million from the American Rescue Plan Act toward the new lab.

“This interdisciplinary science building at the heart of the UD campus will catalyze cutting-edge research in the fields of human disease, developmental disorders, neuroscience and human behavior, and educate more than 1,000 students a year in those critical areas of healthcare need,” UD President Dennis Assanis said in a prepared statement. “In addition, by enhancing collaborative partnerships within the state and beyond, this new facility will be an invaluable asset for our entire community for generations to come.”

In addition to its dedicated manufacturing suite and clinical supply through its collaboration with Catalent Cell & Gene Therapy, Passage Bio supports its preclinical programs through its partnership with the University of Pennsylvania’s (Penn’s) Gene Therapy Program, which provides access to preclinical and toxicology research-grade vector supplies.

Demolition of McKinly, which is located across Delaware Avenue from the Main Street Galleria parking lot, will begin this spring.

In its place, UD will construct a three-story, 131,000-square-foot building, along with a new quad featuring benches, grassy areas and rain gardens fronting Delaware Avenue.

The new building will include research and teaching spaces for multiple departments, including biology, psychology, brain sciences, physics and astronomy, along with core facilities and interdisciplinary functions that will serve the entire campus.

Charles Riordan, vice president for research, scholarship and innovation, said the building was designed around three themes: mind, brain and behavior; models and mechanisms of human disease; and quantum science.

The university’s goal is to “impact advances in biotechnology and biopharmaceutical discovery, as well as advance our understanding of the treatment and prevention of diseases, with a special focus on issues arising in adolescent mental health and racial disparities in clinical patient care,” Riordan said.

The new lab – which UD officials are referring to as Building X until a permanent name is settled on – will house some faculty members that were displaced when McKinly closed as well as give UD the opportunity to hire new faculty members.

McKinly Lab, which opened in 1977 and housed the biology and physical therapy departments, caught fire in August 2017 when a construction crew was renovating a lab in the basement. A worker’s Sawzall tool ignited material in the ventilation system and the three-alarm fire spread through the ductwork. Eighty percent of the building was damaged.

The fire closed the lab and gave the university a chance to re-envision the site, which is located just off the The Green behind Wolf Hall and is seen prominently from Delaware Avenue.

Though the plans were already underway prior to the pandemic, the past two years reinforced the need for a new facility focused on biological research, Riordan said.

“I think it’s placed an increased attention from the university to ensure that we are educating even more students in psychological and brain sciences and biological sciences because we know that the healthcare workforce in the state and beyond really needs students coming out with those skills,” he said.

Last year, Assanis asked the state legislature to allocate $35 million toward the new lab, noting that the last time UD received significant state funding for a new laboratory was in 1992 for Lammot DuPont Lab.

UD did not receive that funding, but it got another chance when Carney asked the state’s higher education institutions to submit proposals for projects that could be built with money from ARPA, the federal pandemic recovery bill signed by President Joe Biden last spring.

Last week, Carney announced $107 million in ARPA funding for the state’s colleges and universities, including $41 million for the new UD lab, $33 million for projects at Delaware State University and $33 million for projects at Delaware Technical Community College.

Riordan said the state funding will account for approximately a quarter of the total price tag, with the rest of the money coming from university resources and philanthropic donations.

Construction on the new lab will begin this fall, with completion expected in 2024.

The project continues UD’s efforts to improve the laboratories in that area of the campus. The Life Sciences Research Facility next to McKinly was expanded twice recently, in 2016 and 2019.

Work is currently underway on a $30 million project to expand the nearby Drake Hall, which is the central hub on campus for the chemistry department. The new addition will provide an additional 20,000 square feet of teaching laboratory and collaboration space. New laboratories will include general chemistry teaching labs, a new biochemistry teaching lab and future research space.