Nothing Nanoscale About the Scope of Lawrence Lab's $85 Million Molecular Foundry Lab Construction Project in Berkeley

---

Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Nanomaterials are approximately 75,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair and as a result, have vastly different chemical and physical properties than the same materials in bulk form. Hoping to harness their seemingly vast potential to form the basis for new technologies, the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, California) (Berkeley Lab) has just broken ground on the $85 million Molecular Foundry building. (PEC 06004173)

Featuring world-class laboratories that will support nanoscale research in biology, and molecular biology materials science, physics, and chemistry, the 89,000 square foot building will offer access to researchers from around the world. Anticipation is high over the potential of nanotechnology, with researchers targeting achievements including the detection of disease on the cellular level and the targeting of treatment only to tissues where it is needed in a patient's body, potentially alleviating many unpleasant and sometimes harmful side effects and "nanomanufacturing" of parts and materials- assembling them on an atom-by-atom basis-reducing waste and pollution. Something already being developed is nanosensors, offering efficient real-time monitoring for everything from chemical attacks to environmental leaks.

The SmithGroup (San Francisco, California) was the architect of the six-story building and construction is being coordinated by Rudolph and Sletten, Incorporated (Foster City, California). The new building is expected to house over 200 scientists and support staff when completed in 2006.

The Berkeley Lab was the first of the National Laboratories, established at its hillside location above the University of California Berkeley campus in 1939. Berkeley Lab's 200-acre main site encompasses 1.77 million gross square feet covering 107 buildings of conventional construction and 53 trailers. Additional space consists of 75,000 square feet spread across the UC Berkeley campus and 337,000 square feet located in leased buildings in the cities of Berkeley, Oakland, and Walnut Creek. The total replacement plant value (RPV) of active buildings and infrastructure is $890 million, as reported in the DOE (Department of Energy) Facilities Information Management Systems (FIMS). The value of the equipment in the buildings is $465 million.

Click the following link to view Industrialinfo.com's 2004 North American Pharmaceutical-Biotech Forecast. Find out about this and other projects in our Pharmaceutical-Biotech database.