NEWS

Bioinformatics Building dedicated today

CHAPEL HILL -- The Bioinformatics Building at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine will be officially dedicated today (Dec. 9).

The six-story, 150,000-square-foot building was completed on time and approximately $2 million under budget, university officials said. It contains offices for more than 600 faculty and staff and will house core bioinformatics research programs, as well as computer-based clinical research programs.

The latest addition to the medical school campus, this new high-tech facility moves the school’s dream of ample research space with the latest equipment one step closer to reality.

"Faculty members decide where to pursue their careers based primarily on the intellectual capital at an institution," said Dr. Jeffrey L. Houpt, dean of the School of Medicine. "But the resources available to them are also important, including where they are going to do their work. They must have the space and the latest in technology to be productive and competitive."

Houpt said the medical school has a remarkable record of attracting people in a number of fields. In his first five years at UNC, the dean filled 22 top-level positions. But he added that aging buildings and lack of space to accommodate growth have made recruitment more difficult in recent years.

"Any research building more than 20 years old is probably out of date, and some of ours were two generations off in terms of what was needed," he said. "It was critical to correct that situation in order to keep recruiting the kind of people we wanted."

The Bioinformatics Building is one of four new facilities that are part of a campuswide commitment to invest at least $245 million over the next decade to genome sciences. The campuswide initiative represents both public and private investments, including an anonymous $25 million gift for a proteomics research center.

Speakers at the Bioinformatics Building dedication will include N.C. Reps. Joe Hackney and Verla Insko; UNC Chancellor James Moeser; Dr. Terry R. Magnuson, chairman of UNC’s department of genetics; Dr. William Garrett, Jr., chairman of orthopedics; and Dr. Bernadette Gray-Little, UNC executive associate provost.

In the school’s quest for creating more and better space, July 2001 saw the opening of the Neuroscience Research Building. In March 2003, the 225,000-square-foot Medical Biomolecular Research Building is slated for opening, followed by much-needed renovations to several other medical school buildings. In November 2003, construction is scheduled to begin on the Genetic Medicine Building.

Total cost of construction and renovation projects, including the Bioinformatics Building, is estimated at $245.8 million. Nearly $115 million of that will be self-funded, the money coming from the portion of federal research grants that cover overhead costs.

"Our scientists are essentially earning the money to pay for the university’s share of the buildings’ costs," said Robert Marriott, the medical school’s assistant dean of resource analysis, planning and management.

Another $80.9 million will come from the $3.1 billion higher education bond referendum that the state’s voters approved in 2000. These funds are earmarked primarily for renovation. The remaining $50 million comes from a combination of state funds, departmental funds and private gifts.

- 30 -

School of Medicine contact: Leslie H. Lang, (919) 843-9687 or llang@med.unc.edu