ANN ARBOR — The University of Michigan will invest $17.5 million to further expand research space at its North Campus Research Complex (NCRC), even as a new analysis shows that nearly 300 new jobs have already been created at the site in the three and a half years since it opened.
U-M Board of Regents approved a project to renovate and open 68,000-square feet of biomedical research space on the site, including space for shared research tools that can be used by many scientists.
Nearly 1,700 people already work in the array of laboratories and offices at NCRC, and hundreds more are preparing to move there to take part in carefully planned research clusters. U-M bought the sprawling former pharmaceutical research complex, including 27 buildings, in June 2009 and moved the first employees there in March 2010.
“This new project will continue U-M’s commitment to make NCRC a hub for research that translates new discoveries from the laboratory to the marketplace and clinic,” says NCRC executive director David Canter. “We have made good progress in creating a place where U-M scientists and partners from the private and public sectors can work together, and fuel growth that aids the Michigan economy.”
The mix of people now working at NCRC includes faculty, staff and students from 10 colleges and schools within U-M, as well as researchers from the Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System, and the staff of two established private scientific companies and 19 U-M startup companies.
A crucial part of realizing NCRC’s potential is the availability of advanced research equipment that would be too expensive for any one laboratory or small company to buy or maintain on its own.
The newly approved renovation project, in a building called 20E, will create a new home for sophisticated cell analysis machines and microscopes, and other such ‘core’ facilities. The rest of the building will be used for biomedical research labs.
A new report at ar.umncrc.org details key developments at NCRC. An animation showing the progress in filling the 27 existing buildings at NCRC over the last three and a half years is available at youtube/WBDM_KQAO_M. For more information, visit umncrc.org .
