Colorado State University Invests $53 Million to Bring Business and Science Together in New Research Innovation Center

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Colorado State University has closed the books and opened the doors to its latest life-science capital investment in Fort Collins. Located on the Foothills campus, the 72,000-square-foot LEED-certified Research Innovation Center (RIC) will offer bioscience laboratories to researchers from both the university and the private sector. The project was planned and executed under the CSU Biomedicine Supercluster initiative as a life science accelerator, with the goal of promoting sustainable growth at the center. Scientists will be working closely with business-development experts.

Designed by the FWA Group (Denver, Colorado), the new facility will allow CSU researchers to perform collaborative translational-stage research. Translational research is at the top of every major university's planning agenda, as it speeds up the process of getting drugs or treatments to the patient--in effect, shortening the "bench to bedside" timeline. The center's Biosafety Level 2 (BSL-2) labs will allow toxicology and pathogen research, while BSL-2 cGMP production space will allow for the pre-clinical testing, production, and eventual marketing of new therapeutics.

The entire 17,000-square-foot second floor is designated as commercial rental space, featuring 21 fully equipped modular biology and chemistry labs with shared access to research instruments. A portion of this will be set aside as a business incubator for lease by CSU startups and existing businesses.

Construction manager Gerald H. Phipps Incorporated (Englewood, Colorado) began construction of the RIC in 2008. The new building has some impressive neighbors, as it was constructed as an addition to the existing Infectious Disease Research Center, which is also home to the 38,000-square-foot Rocky Mountain Regional Biocontainment Laboratory. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention laboratory is in close proximity, as well.

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