A Home of Its Own

The McGuire Translational Research Facility opens.

By Rich Broderick

Translational research – the “bench to bedside” search for practical applications for discoveries made in the lab – has long been a hallmark of the Academic Health Center. Now translational research has a home of its own in the new McGuire Translational Research Facility.

The four-story, 96,000 square foot building, funded in part by a $10 million pledge from the William W. and Nadine M. McGuire Family Foundation, has lab space to accommodate 33 researchers and staff members from the Medical School and the College of Pharmacy and is connected to the Lions Research Building. It also features ample conference space, “smart” classrooms, and a spacious atrium designed to inspire collegiality and collaboration.

“Biomedical research is almost entirely a multidisciplinary effort these days…,” says James Cloyd, associate dean of research for the College of Pharmacy, which contributed $2 million toward completion of the facility. “It’s even possible that this new facility might lead the way to developments that would otherwise never occur if a mix of scientists were not located in one spot.” Pharmacy researchers housed in the McGuire building will seek more effective use of antibiotics, collaborate with the infectious disease group from the Medical School, and identify and accelerate the development of medications to treat rare medical conditions in the Center for Orphan Drug Development.

The Medical School is moving two programs into the building: the Stem Cell Institute and the new Center for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Translational Research. The latter includes experts in infectious diseases, microbiology, immunology, neuroscience, genomics, and gastroenterology. They will focus on the discovery of mechanisms of diseases such as HIV, cytomegalovirus, West Nile virus, malaria, and tuberculosis, and translating that knowledge into new treatments and prevention.

“The new facility will enhance our efforts to do cutting-edge research in both these areas and help us attract new faculty and researchers to the University,” explains Charles Moldow, the Medical School’s senior associate dean for research.

The interdisciplinary approach of the infectious disease center is especially critical at a time when disease outbreaks in remote parts of the world can spread across the globe in a matter of weeks. “We expect that our move into the Translational Research Facility will give us a greatly enriched intellectual environment that will help foster our mission,” says Phil Peterson, the director of the Division of Infectious Diseases and International Medicine. He believes collaborations among the new center’s interdisciplinary researchers “will grow remarkably” now that they are all housed in one location.

“The facility is especially important for someone like me who is trying to develop new therapies and move them into the clinic,” says Meri Firpo, a new member of the Stem Cell Institute recently recruited from the University of California, San Francisco. She was one of the scientists who derived the embryonic stem cell lines approved for federally funded research. By facilitating work with so many researchers from other disciplines, the new building will, she says, “keep us from developing tunnel vision and keep us open to learning new ways to approach a question.”

Says Cloyd: “The TRF is going to advance the University’s ability to do important science that benefits people here in Minnesota and around the world.”