Construction activities for the Lorry I. Lokey Stem Cell Research Building are essentially complete, according to Stephen Pond, the building’s project manager on behalf of the University’s Land Buildings and Real Estate organization. The new laboratory, dedicated to facilitating stem cell research, is set to open its doors at the heart of the School of Medicine in late September.
The 200,000-square-foot building will house the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, and will bring together researchers of various fields, including cardiovascular medicine, cancer and immunology, to search for applications of innovations in stem cell research to medical treatments.
Over the next few months, equipment and furniture will be installed and building systems will be tested. The final inspection and signoff of the building are projected to take place in mid-September, and the first staff members plan to move in at the end of that month.
One of the building’s major features is a basement level dedicated to housing approximately 26,000 mice that will be used for research, resting below the three floors of labs and support spaces for their human researchers.
“We believe this facility will be the largest single structure in the world dedicated solely to stem cell research, as well as having one of the largest mice vivariums in the United States,” Pond said, explaining that the vivarium is a “barrier” facility in which the health of the mice is carefully protected against disease.
The mice are tested for infections before they join the vivarium, and staff members who take care of them handle them in special ways to ensure that the population will not be contaminated by outside infections.
Pond believed that the new research facility would represent opportunities for developments in stem cell research that will have long-term positive impacts.
“The hope and aspiration of the research programs that will be contained in the building are to translate the research into cures for many significant diseases and genetic disorders that affect the human population throughout the world,” he said.
Sarah Heilshorn, a professor in Materials Science and Engineering, believed that having a building facility dedicated entirely to stem cell research would facilitate collaboration between researchers.
“Previously, much of the work was being performed at satellite locations away from campus, which made it difficult to meet with collaborators and share reagents, cells and data between the laboratories on campus and those off campus,” Heilshorn said. “The new stem cell building will serve as a great initiation point to seed future interdisciplinary research projects in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine.”
“It is very exciting to have a physical and intellectual home for the stem cell research community on the Stanford campus,” she added.
The building, which cost approximately $200 million, received private donations and University contributions, including a $75 million donation from its namesake, as well as a grant of $43 million from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). It includes nearly 500,000 pounds of sheet metal ductwork for air conditioners, 9,000 electrical circuits and 70,000 linear feet of copper water piping.