| Due to unprecedented growth in biology programs at both Berkeley
Lab and UC Berkeley, the two institutions initiated a search for an
off-site location to house interdependent, multidisciplinary teams
of scientists. What they found was 717 Potter Street, a 72,000 square-foot
building of specialized research and development laboratory space
that is perfectly suited to the technical demands of today’s
biosciences. Previously leased to pharmaceutical giant Bayer Corporation,
the building — one of 15 on Wareham’s West Berkeley life
sciences “campus” — was fully renovated for biotech
research in 1997. The space is in excellent condition, with large
general laboratories, adjacent cold and warm rooms, viral suites,
tissue culture rooms, lab benches and hoods, and other equipment and
furniture. |
|
The move will position the Synthetic Biology Department for future program
and funding development in environmental remediation, renewable energy
and human health. The new building will also enable programs in biological
and environmental research such as Genomics:GTL
science, low-dose radiation, DNA repair, and functional genomics.
The first scientists from the Synthetic Biology Design Team to occupy
the new space include Jay Keasling, Carlos Bustamante, Adam Arkin and
Daniel Fletcher, plus administrative and management staff from the Physical
Biosciences Division. Together, they will comprise the Berkeley Center
for Synthetic Biology, a joint program of the California
Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Reasearch (QB3) and Berkeley
Lab. They will share the space with Berkeley Lab Life Sciences Director
Joe Gray and former director Mina Bissell, Mary Helen Barcellos-Hoff,
and Paul Yaswen. The Lab will also provide a bioinstrumentation group.
In all, about 200 scientists and staff are expected to move to the Biocenter
beginning in April.
Another big selling point of the Berkeley West Biocenter is its location
in the heart of the Bay Area bioscience hub, with proximity to other institutions
that might engage in collaborative research, such as Bayer, Xoma, Dynavax,
UC San Francisco and its Mission Bay campus, Chiron, and other biotech
firms.
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about the Biocenter in the Berkeley Lab View -->
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