October 25, 2005 - The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced today it will award nearly $30 million for 10 Research Facilities Improvement Program (RFIP) projects across the country. The grants will allow institutions to construct new laboratory space, improve research imaging capabilities, renovate existing infrastructure systems, and create facilities for research animals.

"These investments in research facilities are vital to our nation's ability to conduct state-of-the-art biomedical and behavioral research," said Barbara M. Alving, M.D., Acting Director of NCRR. "These facilities are increasingly critical as our nation makes large investments in cutting-edge biomedical research to address AIDS, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, and many other major illnesses."

The FY 2005 RFIP awards will fund the design, construction, and fixed equipment costs for new research facilities such as The Northern Plains Center for Behavioral Research at the University of North Dakota; the Center for Human Genetics and Complex Traits at the University of Pennsylvania; and the Breast and Women's Cancer Laboratory at the University of California, Irvine. The program will support new resources for research animals at the Tulane University Health Sciences Center and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Grants will allow the Massachusetts General Hospital and Vanderbilt University to increase their research imaging capabilities. Finally, funding will enable major renovations to research laboratories at Meharry Medical College, Montana State University, and the University of Washington.
"It is crucial to our research progress that we bring our facilities into compliance with current building codes so that our investigators can conduct their research in a predictable, controllable physical environment," said Maria Lima, Ph.D., principal investigator of the project at Meharry Medical College.

A recent National Science Foundation study documents the need for infrastructure improvements at biomedical research facilities, reporting that institutions have deferred about $9 billion in repair, renovation, and construction projects due to lack of funds. More than half of the institutions that conduct biological or medical research have inadequate research space to meet their current research requirements, according to the study.

"Our renovation project will not only increase our lab space by 55 percent, its open design will encourage and facilitate innovative multidisciplinary approaches as we expand research collaborations with other departments, programs, and centers on our campus," said Paul Ramsey, M.D., principal investigator of the project at the University of Washington.

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