CONSTRUCTION UPDATES

The Tulane National Primate Research Center currently has approximately $45 million dollars in funded construction and renovation projects that will be executed over the next several years. Funding for these projects is derived from competitive construction awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as from matching funds from Tulane University.

DEDICATION COVERAGE

Tulane to Dedicate $27.5 Million Biosafety Lab Today in Covington, Louisiana
The Times-Picayune
Benjamin Alexander-Bloch
Friday, December 05, 2008

Researchers Will Study Vaccines and Therapies for Infectious Diseases Under Extreme Biological Security Measures at a New Facility at Tulane's Primate Center
The Gambit
Sammy Mack
Thursday, December 05, 2008

GROUNDBREAKING COVERAGE

New Buildings Support Biosafety Research, Boost Economy
Madeline Vann
New Wave, January 29, 2007

Tulane University broke ground Friday (January 26) on a $63-million project at the Tulane National Primate Research Center in Covington, La., across Lake Pontchartrain. Tulane scientists and administrators, area legislators and Northshore business leaders gathered to celebrate three new buildings that will be built at the primate center.

The estimated one-time economic impact of the construction will be $192 million. Over the long-term, the facilities will generate at least 83 new jobs and an annual infusion of more than $40 million into the local economy, adding to the center's nearly $70 million in annual economic impact, says Andrew Lackner, director of the primate center.

The National Institutes of Health provided most of the funding, with Tulane making a substantial contribution to the project, Lackner says.

"These new facilities will allow us to further increase our already substantial efforts to develop treatments, vaccines and therapies for a variety of infectious and degenerative diseases," says Lackner.

The primate center is part of a network of federally funded labs across the country focused on biomedical research challenges. The major focus of research at the center is on development of diagnostics, therapeutics and treatments for infectious diseases and Regenerative Medicine. A major component of the 80,000-square-feet expansion, scheduled for completion at the end of 2008, will be construction of a regional biosafety laboratory in support of the NIH biodefense research program.

"The overall goal of research associated with the expansion of the facility is to improve and protect the health and safety of our community and our nation," Lackner says. "Tulane is the only institution in the country with a school of medicine, school of public health, primate center and a regional biosafety laboratory that, collectively, provide unparalleled resources for infectious disease research and prevention."

The new facilities will build on Tulane's long-running success in infectious disease research. At the new biosafety level-three facility, researchers will focus on the development of treatments, vaccines and diagnostics for emerging infectious diseases that occur naturally as well as biological agents that could be misused by terrorists. The center has hosted a level-three biosafety lab for more than 15 years. The new facility will provide more space for researchers as well as state-of-the-art equipment. A biosafety level-three lab is built using a "box within a box within a box" design, says Mike Aertker, associate director for administration and operations at the center.

"Researchers work with pathogens in chambers deep within the facility, which are, in turn, contained within the facility's outer building," Aertker explains. "Air leaving the chambers, labs and the outer building passes through multiple high-efficiency air filters and is in fact cleaner than air coming into the building."

The infectious diseases program at the Tulane National Primate Research Center currently focuses on HIV/AIDS, malaria, Lyme disease, tuberculosis and other diseases. These are multidisciplinary studies involving investigators in multiple divisions at the primate center and collaborators from elsewhere at Tulane and other institutions.

The primate center currently has 260 employees, more than 30 of whom are faculty. In the last year the primate center supported research by more than 280 scientists from 32 states and 13 countries.