photo by Mike Sands/IRIS Officials from CWRU and Richard Fleischman Architects help to break ground October 2 for a new research wing which will connect to the Harland Wood Building at the School of Medicine. Pictured are (from left) Michael Weiss, chair of the Department of Biochemistry; Todd Griffith, an architect from Richard Fleischman Architects; Lloyd Culp, interim chair of the Department of Molecular and Microbiology; Robert Storey, a CWRU trustee; Theodore Castele, a member of CWRU's Board of Trustees and chair of the Dean's Technology Council at the medical school; Nathan Berger (at the podium), dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs; Ken Kutina, vice president institutional planning; Ed Bruss, director of finance and planning at the medical school; Robert Shakno, vice dean and associate vice president for medical affairs; and Ernest McLendon, director of facilities at the medical school.

CLEVELAND -- Case Western Reserve University's School of Medicine broke ground October 2 for a new science wing that will add more than 50,000 square feet of space to the medical school, primarily for research laboratories. The medical school also will renovate another 30,000 square feet of lab space.

The wing will be added to the medical school's Harland G. Wood Building, which was built in 1924. The new eight-story glass and steel addition is part of a $20 million project that also will renovate more than 30,000 square feet of laboratories and offices on the fourth and fifth floors of the Wood Building. The addition will take 12 months to complete, with Wood Building renovations to follow.

The wing will be occupied by faculty members, staff and students in biochemistry and structural biology, molecular biology and molecular virology, pharmacology and pharmacogenomics, and combinatorial chemistry. The new building also will house the medical school's new RNA Center, which will study RNA (ribonucleic acid), which is essential in genetic-protein interaction.

The building will have two underground floors that will house high-field, state-of-the-art magnetic resonance instruments, highly powerful pieces of equipment that can be used to discern the shapes of proteins and support the school's programs in structural biology.

"We are in great need of additional research space, especially to conduct research in the post-genomics era, where we will take information gleaned from the human genome and learn how it translates into proteins that constitute our bodies," said Nathan Berger, dean of the medical school and vice president for medical affairs.

"This new building will help us expand key research departments that will play major roles in researching diseases such as breast and prostate cancers, HIV, hepatitis C, tuberculosis, and diabetes. We are also creating labs that are on the cutting edge of research, such as pharmacogenomics, which combines pharmacology and genetics to develop designer therapeutics for individuals based on their genes," Berger added.

The new wing will create contiguous, world-class laboratory space for expansion of basic science research programs. The new addition and renovated space have been designed to provide an integrated, interdisciplinary, state-of-the-art work environment that fosters collaboration and efficiency.

Each floor in the new building is designed with two to three single and three to five double, open laboratory research benches; two to four offices; expansive computer workstations; and common space. The benches will have desks at either end, all of which will be wired for Internet services, as well as the customary water, gas, and vacuum lines. Also on each floor will be shared support facilities, including tissue culture rooms, cold and warm rooms, laboratory equipment rooms, dark rooms, storage facilities, and autoclaves (sterilizers). Each floor will average 6,800 square feet of space.

The renovation of the fourth and fifth floors of the Wood Building will include the replacement of laboratory benches, hoods, sinks, and utility services. As with the new wing, the labs on the renovated floors will be reconfigured to feature open research benches and shared support spaces. The fiber optic system for Internet connection will be enlarged and upgraded to accommodate increased use of computers and demand for network access. New digital controls will be installed on all components of the existing air management system.

"For the School of Medicine and Northeast Ohio to retain their position of eminence in biomedical research and education, it is essential that we develop new space for laboratories. Other regions of the nation are making major commitments to building research space, and I hope that this is just the beginning of more projects like this one to continue moving our research and education programs forward," Berger said.