NEWS RELEASE
Contact :
Tim O’Brien, O’Brien Communications, (voice) 412-854-8845
Charlotte Rapkin, Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, (voice) 412-201-7483
Teresa Sokol Thomas, Carnegie Mellon University, (voice) 412-268-2900
John Fedele, University of Pittsburgh, (voice) 412-624-4148
Life Sciences $6.6 Million Spurs Development on Campuses:
PLSG Facilities Program Addresses Need for Increased Lab and Research
Capacity at Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh,
Brings Investment in Facilities and People to Over $12.1 Million
Pittsburgh, February 16, 2004 – The Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse (PLSG), the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University today announced that to date the PLSG Facilities program, which provides capital to help the region’s major universities add much-needed laboratory and research capacity to accommodate the expansion of world class faculty and researchers in the life sciences, has provided $6.6 million to the universities for the development of several research facilities and operations. The PLSG announced last week it had provided approximately $5.6 million in funding to support the recruitment and retention of several accomplished scientists and their teams, and to support programs that leverage university research strengths.
At the University of Pittsburgh, $3.25 million have been provided toward construction of the Biomedical Science Tower III (BST3). The BST3 is a $188 million project in Pittsburgh’s Oakland section, where five of the building’s ten floors will house core facilities that will be available to life sciences researchers from the region. Another $1.25 million were provided for construction of the Magee-Women’s Research Institute. And $2.1 million in PLSG Facilities funds have been provided to Carnegie Mellon for development and expansion of computational biology, neuroscience and bio-engineering lab space.
“These facilities will house scientific teams who study neuroscience, drug discovery and regenerative medicine including research teams from all PLSG pillar areas,” said Doros Platika, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of the PLSG. “The core facilities will be available to both University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University scientists working in these fields, as well as to regional biotechnology enterprises.”
BST3: A Life Sciences Regional Asset
Among the investigators working in the BST3 facility will be some members of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which serves as a base of operation for the University’s scientists and clinical faculty whose research focuses on developing tissue engineering, cellular therapies, biosurgery and artificial and biohybrid organs.
The state-of-the-art facility will be equipped to move forward on many levels scientifically. The disciplines of molecular biology, structural biology, cell biology, developmental biology as well as computational biology will be supported to move discoveries more quickly to clinical application. In addition to BST3, planning work was supported for a new 60,000 sq/ft research facility to be built at Magee-Women’s Research Institute with ground-breaking scheduled for mid-year.
“The University of Pittsburgh is deeply appreciative of the significant support provided by the PLSG Facilities program to the University of Pittsburgh,” said Mark A. Nordenberg, Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh. “The construction of the Biomedical Science Tower III is just one more example of the kind of powerful partnerships that are fostered and strengthened within the Oakland community. Our ongoing collaborations with Carnegie Mellon University and with the region’s expanding biotechnology enterprises are forging, on a daily basis, the further development of the city that President Bush, in his visit to Pitt’s campus in 2002, renamed ‘Knowledge Town.’”
Upgrading Regional Bio-Engineering Research Capabilities
The PLSG Facilities program has also supported at Carnegie Mellon University a Computational Bioimaging Lab renovation project, which involves linkages with research equipment at the Pittsburgh NMR Center and the Department of Radiology of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The program has supported initial design work for the renovation of a 54,000 square-foot Bio-Engineering facility that will house biomedical engineering laboratories used in drug discovery and bio-sensor development.
“Part of the investment has been used to build a Neurosciences Lab that meets the needs of a new team of neuroscientists at the university,” said Platika. “Insights from this lab will build on the expertise already established through the University of Pittsburgh-Carnegie Mellon Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition and will further enable scientists and physicians to devise novel treatment strategies for psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders.”
"PLSG-supported facilities at Carnegie Mellon house sophisticated instrumentation for research that will advance the fields of medicine and biotechnology. Our partnerships with the University of Pittsburgh in the field of neuroscience have yielded astonishing insights into the activities of the human brain. The PLSG's support of this partnership and others in bioimaging, NMR and bio-engineering enhance interdisciplinary science at our own university and our work with others in the region," said Jared L. Cohon, president of Carnegie Mellon.
The PLSG Facilities program supports investment in facilities that will: enable building further scientific depth; encourage multidisciplinary and multi-institutional teams; leverage additional federal support for the region; assist in the recruitment and retention of the academic stars who contribute to start-ups and economic success; provide for the co-location of startup space with academic space; and provide access to specialized equipment for companies in the region.
About Carnegie Mellon
Carnegie Mellon is a private research university with a distinctive mix of programs in computer science, robotics, engineering, the sciences, business, public policy, fine arts and the humanities. More than 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students receive an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions to solve real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. A small faculty-to-student ratio provides an opportunity for close interaction between students and professors.
While technology is pervasive on its 110-acre campus, Carnegie Mellon is also distinctive among leading research universities because of conservatory-like programs in its College of Fine Arts. For more information, visit http://plsg.com/content.aspx?id=www.cmu.edu.
About the University of Pittsburgh
As one of the world’s leading public research universities, the University of Pittsburgh is a unique educational and economic development resource for Pittsburgh and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pitt is renowned for pioneering biomedical research triumphs, surgical techniques, drug therapies, and other medical and bioengineering advances. The University attracted $513 million in sponsored research support last year, and Pitt has the distinction of having received more bioengineering research grants from the National Institutes of Health than any other university, public or private, since 2001. Pitt ranked eighth over all in total NIH funding last spring. With more than 25,000 students enrolled in its 16 schools, Pitt contributes more than $1.3 billion in University-related spending to the local economy.
About the PLSG
The Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse is a public/private partnership, founded by the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, UPMC Health System, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and its regional foundation community. Together with private industry and advanced research and healthcare capabilities of our institutional partners, PLSG invests in and supports the growth of regional life sciences companies. The PLSG is focused on developing a portfolio of companies in the following industry sectors: drug discovery tools and targets, biomedical devices, tissues engineering and neurological/psychiatric strategy companies.
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