RENOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADE OF LABORATORY RESEARCH WING AT JOHNS HOPKIN -
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal is for an infrastructure upgrade and modernization of the laboratory facilities housed in the North Wing of the principal building of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH). The JHSPH, founded in 1916, is the oldest and largest school of its kind. The School's legacy has and continues to be one of translating basic research into strategies to improve the public's health throughout the United States and the world. The eight floor North Wing was built in 1962 and houses a quarter of the School's laboratories dedicated to biomedical research. The scientific endeavor in the North Wing will be thematically organized around genetic, environmental, and host susceptibility risk factors in human disease. Research topics will include influenza and other infectious diseases, environmental hazards carried by air and water, malaria and other vector borne illnesses, reproductive disorders, and basic research on how the human genome responds to its environment. The mechanical, electrical, and plumbing infrastructure is approaching 50 years of age and has out-lived its useful life. Primary aims include: 1. Replace and upgrade the outmoded and deteriorated utility infrastructure of the facility to provide safe and reliable biomedical laboratory environments; 2. Renovate and modernize aged or obsolete laboratories to meet current and future needs while promoting collaboration among investigators using open and flexible laboratory design and layout; 3. Provide an incubator environment for promising young investigators by using spatial contiguity with laboratories of peers and more senior investigators; and, 4. Construct the School's first LEED-certified laboratory facilities. The North Wing's aging infrastructure and related decline in usability of the laboratories has been the School's number one capital project priority for the past five years but funding constraints have delayed it indefinitely. As a result of prior investment in consulting services and the preparation of construction documents, JHSPH is positioned to expeditiously undertake and complete this project well within the allocated time frame, and maintain and create professional and construction related jobs in the process. Partial cost-sharing is included to demonstrate institutional commitment. The enhanced infrastructure upgrades will improve the capacity, reliability and redundancy requirements of the utility systems while the renovations will improve the layout, finishes, and equipment needs associated with a modern laboratory research facility engaged in leading edge science. This project is key to enabling existing JHSPH investigators to remain competitive for funding and to the School's ability to recruit new high caliber scientific talent. This project will help ensure that JHSPH continues to pioneer discovery that promotes the public's health, both now and in the future.
