Groundbreaking held for UT-Baptist's planned expansion

The Commercial Appeal
March 10, 2007
By Daniel Connolly

A groundbreaking ceremony in a grassy field Friday marked the official launch of construction on the UT-Baptist Research Park and a step toward a broader vision: More jobs for Memphis and better facilities to turn scientific research into new drugs and other therapies.

The park is expected to cost $450 million and is meant to foster scientific innovation and economic development through cooperation among the university, businesses and government.

"I think it's a better life for the citizens of Memphis," said Steve Bares, head of the Memphis Bioworks Foundation, the organization overseeing the project.

Construction began last month on the first building on the site, the Regional Biocontainment Laboratory, a secure facility where researchers will study diseases too dangerous for a normal lab. The building should be complete by June 2008 and will be run by UTHSC staff.

The federal government is spending nearly $500 million to build 13 such labs and two additional ultra-secure labs to study the deadliest diseases, said Dr. Michael G. Kurilla, a federal official.

The government is spreading the labs nationwide so that they can respond to regional disease outbreaks and so the labs can keep going if an epidemic or other disaster renders some of them inoperable, he said.

In a speech before an audience of UT staff and government officials, UTHSC chancellor Dr. William F. Owen sketched how doctors tried years ago to fight infectious diseases like malaria and influenza through primitive methods.

Since then, science has made great strides in preventing disease and saving lives, he said, but new threats like drug-resistant tuberculosis have emerged.

"So there is an urgent need for us to better understand these diseases and identify better therapies for them," he said.

Leaders at UTHSC are already working on their next project: a new institute dedicated to turning scientific discoveries into therapies for patients.

The federal government has given UTHSC funding to make detailed plans for the program, and in October, the university plans to apply for a grant worth up to $6 million per year, said Jim Dale, a professor of medicine.

The new entity would be called the Clinical and Translational Science Institute.

Its goal would be to work with the regional biocontainment facility and other university departments to turn discoveries into new therapies for patients.

"We could potentially start with an unknown (biological) agent and bring it to phase one vaccine testing right here in this park," he said.

-- Daniel Connolly: 529-5296