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Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research opens first tower

Todd Finkelmeyer  —  9/04/2008 7:06 pm

Although it was mostly gray and rainy around the Madison area on Thursday, nothing was going to dampen the enthusiasm of those who attended the grand opening ceremony for the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research.

"It's pretty obvious I'm not a weatherman, but as far as I'm concerned, today is actually a wonderfully bright, beautiful, sunny day," said Robert Golden, dean of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. "And I say that because we are basking in the sunlight of a remarkable, glowing new gift which will help us melt away the cold, dark shadows of cancer and other horrible diseases."

The main entrance hall to the seven-story, $185 million East Tower was packed with a couple hundred people who turned out for the official unveiling of the new medical research building, which is adjacent to UW Hospital on the far west end of campus.

Some 500 researchers from a range of fields -- including medicine, physics, biology, chemistry and engineering -- will work in the East Tower, with many of the scientists focusing on cancer.

But the East Tower is only the first of three such interdisciplinary research buildings which will eventually comprise the planned Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research. A second tower is expected to be completed by 2012, with the final complex to be built around 2015.

All together, the projects are expected to cost more than $600 million and encompass more than 1 million square feet.

The second tower will feature research on cardiovascular disease, neuroscience, molecular medicine and regenerative medicine. In the third tower, scientists from the schools of pharmacy, engineering and veterinary science and the College of Agricultural & Life Sciences will work together.

When completed, officials believe it will be regarded as one of the best health and research facilities in he nation.

"These are truly amazing projects -- the size and scope are breathtaking," said the UW Foundation's Mark Lefebvre, who helped spearhead the fundraising efforts for the WIMR. "As we travel around the country and talk to other people, there are people referring to us as the finest emerging health sciences campus in America. And I think that's true because the School of Medicine and Public Health is embedded within the university as a whole, but then we have all of these extraordinary partners around us out here -- the Waisman Center, the School of Pharmacy, UW Hospital and Clinics, the new American Family Children's Hospital. It's really incredible."

By working near doctors and patients at UW Hospital, the hope is that scientists will more quickly develop and test new ways to prevent and treat diseases.

"Rising behind us is the key to the transformation of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health into perhaps the most advanced and integrated basic science, health science and population science program in the country," said Golden. "This is the first of three towers, and when they are finished the work done at the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research will touch on every aspect of human disease.

"What's very special is, it's being constructed literally where the patients and the doctors and the nurses and the families are. And that's so important for scientists on a daily basis to see what it's all about, which is taking care of the patients."

When finished, the three Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research structures are to house some 1,500 lab workers.

"States that are going to succeed are states that have committed themselves to understanding that the world is moving forward and our economies are going to be based on science and technology and education," Gov. Jim Doyle said while addressing the crowd at the grand opening. "And Wisconsin is making that commitment. 

"There are going to be discoveries made here that are going to have incredibly far-reaching, positive consequences for not only the people of Wisconsin and not only the United States, but for people throughout the world."

The Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research are designed with the hope that scientists will embrace a new way of doing their work. For example, the East Tower eliminates most laboratory walls and places office areas close to labs, which should allow for the sharing of resources and ideas between interdisciplinary groups. In addition, there is interaction space on every floor, while alternate floors are joined by two-story atriums to further enhance communication and collaboration.

The hope is that by combining efforts, researchers can better tackle complicated problems.

"The world is increasingly presenting us with problems that have to be approached from a range of directions, where integrated thinking and collaboration are really the only way forward," said new UW-Madison Chancellor Carolyn "Biddy" Martin, who spoke during the ceremony. "This is the kind of building that not only enables that kind of collaboration and interaction, but it makes it hard to avoid it."

In the East Tower, prostate cancer research will be the focus on the seventh floor, with breast cancer research taking place on the sixth floor.

The third and fourth floors will be filled with scientists studying childhood cancers and cancers of the blood, lungs, head and neck.

The fifth floor is to house researchers specializing in orthopedics surgery and pharmacology.

Lab resources will be on the second floor, while radiation and advance imaging machines will be housed on the first floor and a basement level.

"I think this will jump Wisconsin light-years ahead as a state in its reputation as a place for new discovery," said UW System President Kevin Reilly, who also spoke at the grand opening.

Most of the East Tower was funded through private gifts -- including $15 million each from GE and the Oscar Rennebohm Foundation Inc. In June, the UW School of Medicine and Public Health launched a $500 million campaign to raise the funds needed to build the two remaining towers and to pay for other programs.

To date, just more than $10 million in state money has been spent on the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research -- although another $72 million is currently being requested, with a plan to seek $150 million more.

"The trend and the direction of more public-private partnerships is a great trend and one that will serve the university, the state and even the nation," said Martin.

Todd Finkelmeyer  —  9/04/2008 7:06 pm