A new biotechnology endeavor between all three Arizona universities and the city of Phoenix was approved by the Arizona Board of Regents on Friday.
The move will develop the Arizona Biomedical Collaborative, a partnership between ASU, NAU and UA to expand their healthcare education and biomedical research programs.
In the agreement, Phoenix will lease three historical buildings to the universities for renovation and three undeveloped sites for construction. All six buildings in the area, located at Fifth and Van Buren streets, will be known as the Phoenix Bioscience Center.
The universities will launch the six-building project with the construction of the first building, a $27 million clinical research facility, said David Harris, capital projects officer at NAU.
Harris, who helped coordinate the construction efforts among the universities, said the new center could provide needed answers to asthma, cancer and other diseases.
So far, ASU has contributed $10 million to the construction from funds recently released by the Arizona Legislature.
The first facility will house research labs and offices for ASU and UA. UA will be given a larger portion of the facility because of its $17 million contribution to the construction, said Scott Cole, ASU executive vice president of University Services.
Construction for the 100,000-square-foot building will begin in six months, with a final completion date set for December 2005, Cole said.
"All universities, and the city, saw the benefit in identifying and locating research that's compatible with TGen and IGC research," Cole said
The Translational Genomics Research Institution and the International Genomics Consortium are two large biomedical research institutes now under construction at the bioscience center.
Reach the reporter at jacqueline.shoyeb@asu.edu.
