Life sciences complex ready for design phase

At its meeting this month, the Oregon State Board of Higher Education voted to proceed with planning for the Life Sciences Collaborative Complex. moving the project forward into its design phase.

The 263,000 square-foot building—which will be located near the south waterfront on the Oregon Health and Science’s Schnitzer Campus—will house educational and research facilities for several universities, including the Portland State biology and chemistry departments, OHSU medicine, dentistry, nursing and physician assistant schools, Oregon State University’s pharmacy school and retail spaces for private companies.

“The motivation was to capitalize on the three universities involved: PSU, OHSU and OSU and to better support the bio- and life-sciences needs of the region,” said Jay Kenton, the OUS vice chancellor for finance and administration.

The life sciences complex will also feature a lecture auditorium, classrooms, class simulation rooms, instructional wet labs, research labs, a vivarium and faculty offices, according to the project’s docket.

“This is a significant project for both OHSU and OUS,” Kenton said. “PSU plans to locate its biology and chemistry programs at this location and that’s significant in that PSU is the largest supplier of medical students to OHSU [and is] thus building that relationship.”

In utilizing the space at the facility, PSU expects to increase its student credit-hour capacity in the life sciences by 18 percent over the next seven years, according to material provided by OUS. In addition, PSU estimates that having access to the life sciences complex will help it double its research expenditures by 2015.

“We view the collaboration as an important step for us in expanding our ability to serve additional students in the sciences,” said Marvin Kaiser, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “It will also provide the opportunity for close interaction with OHSU and OSU health-related programs.”

The OUS material also states that it is costly for each institution to facilitate its own research projects. However, the new facilities will provide shared instrumentation laboratories that can be used by several institutions, thus “avoiding duplication and saving millions of dollars.”

According to Anna-Louise Reysenbach, chair of PSU’s biology department, teaching labs and research space will be located at the facility. Currently, the biology and chemistry departments’ labs are being upgraded, but the continuing growth of the programs will pose problems in the future.

“We keep running out of space…so we need to plan for the future,” she said. “[The life sciences complex] will not only double our capacity, it will provide valuable links and opportunities at OSHU for students.”

PSU will use about 64,000 square feet of the facility.

The life sciences complex also has the potential to act as a business incubator; PSU estimates that one to three start-up companies will grow out of its labs each year.

“[The collaboration] represents our commitment to bringing together the intellectual resources of OHSU and OUS to create critical masses of scientists and to enhance research in the biosciences in the Portland metropolitan region,” Kaiser said.

The project was initially approved by the OUS Board as part of the 2009–11 Capital Outlay Budget and then by the governor and legislature in the state’s biennial budget process.

According to Kenton, the project is being funded by a combination of OHSU gift funds, OUS bonds, state bonds and other private funds, including those from Tri-Met, which will provide a transit station at the site. Overall, the projected costs are $160 million.

The project’s design phase is estimated to take anywhere from eight to 12 months. The facility is scheduled to open in the fall of 2013.

Project Funding

According to Kenton, the breakdown of the project’s funding is:

-Article XI-G bonds (state): $50 million.

-Article XI-F bonds (OUS): $60 million.

-OHSU gifts: $40 million.

-TriMet: $10 million.

Total: $160 million.