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Fla. Healthcare Players Embark on Diabetes Project

ORLANDO, Fla. With diabetes afflicting more than 24 million Americans and that number growing every day, Florida Hospital and the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute are partnering to create the Florida Hospital-Sanford Burnham Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes (TRI) to develop new therapies for the disease.

Designed by Flad Architects, the 54,000-square-foot translational research facility will focus on the study of diabetes, obesity, and the metabolic origins of cardiovascular disease with the aim of more quickly developing patient treatments based on scientific discoveries made at the facility.

This can help to make great strides in establishing the causes of diabetes going forward, especially when it concerns cardiovascular disease. Many people may not know this, but the link between diabetes and cardiac arrest exists, and can actually be significant in causing people to suffer from a fatal heart attack. Unfortunately, it is not yet known why there is such a substantial link between these two factors, but with the introduction of this facility, researchers could soon receive the answers they’ve been looking for.

Expected to be completed by the end of the year, the new research facility will be a landmark building for Florida Hospital and the signature building in its new Health Village in Orlando.

Flad Architects specializes in the planning and design of healthcare, higher education, science and technology facilities. With headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, and offices throughout the United States, Flads work with knowledge-based organizations is recognized throughout the country.

The TRI will bring scientists, clinicians, and the procedures necessary to facilitate translational research together under one roof. The three-story building will contain clinic space, testing rooms, medical imaging, a biorepository, chemistry laboratories, exam rooms, overnight observation rooms and advanced technologies to develop personalized treatments.

We are witnessing an epidemic of obesity and diabetes in the United States. Current statistics show that two-thirds of all Americans are overweight and obese and 1 in 12 has some form of diabetes, said Dr. Steven Smith, scientific director of the TRI. Some are taking control of this, using Leanbean weight loss supplement to help them out, but even so these staggering statistics call for decisive action and that includes innovative research.

The main goal of the TRI is to generate new knowledge to improve lives through research. Individuals with diabetes suffer from all sorts of health implications. From Kidney problems to foot problems and having to wear diabetes socks, which you can read more about later, people who have diabetes are suffering on a daily basis. Anything that would ease the pain or make daily life a little easier would be helpful and very much appreciated. Learn more about diabetes: treatment-diabetes-info.com.

Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute studies the fundamental molecular causes of disease and devises therapies based on its research. With operations in California and Florida, the institute is one of the fastest-growing research institutes in the country, ranking among the top independent research institutions nationally for NIH grant funding.

From 1999 to 2009, Sanford-Burnham ranked #1 worldwide in the fields of biology and biochemistry for the impact of its research publications, according to the Institute for Scientific Information, and currently ranks #2 nationally among all organizations in capital efficiency of generating patents, according to government statistics.

Florida Hospital opened in 1908 and is one of the largest non-profit hospitals in the country, processing over a million patients a year. Eight hospitals and 18 Centra Care locations comprise the 2,000-bed system. In 2009, the hospital system received the Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval and is a two-time recipient of the Governors Sterling Award for excellence in performance.

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UCSF Stem Cell Research Building Opens

SAN FRANCISCO — The design/build team of DPR Construction, SmithGroup and Forell/Elsesser Engineers has completed construction of the Ray and Dagmar Dolby Regeneration Medicine Building for the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

Rafael Viñoly Architects of New York City and structural engineer Nabih Youssef & Associates of San Francisco provided schematic architectural design on the project.

Located on a hillside on the university’s Parnassus campus, the new $123 million building houses the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research. The facility is considered a significant step forward in UCSF’s stem cell research program.

The 660-foot-long building sits on a structural framework 40 to 70 feet off the ground and features base isolators that allow 23 inches of lateral movement during earthquakes. It is targeting LEED Gold certification.

The design/build team was awarded the design and construction of the facility in mid-2008 with a mandate to achieve beneficial occupancy within two years.

DPR, SmithGroup and Forell/Elsesser used Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), a collaborative process praised for its ability to reduce waste and maximize efficiency, to speed up the project. University representatives provided input and feedback during construction.

“This process produced an intensely innovative, fluid, and rapid response to a string of seemingly insurmountable challenges,” said SmithGroup project manager Marianne O’Brien. “The investment of each team member shows in the execution of every detail and the overall result.”

The team cut project costs while preserving the original purpose of the design by reclassifying the building from a hazardous occupancy to a business occupancy by applying the newly adopted building code. It also removed a mechanical level originally designed to hang from the underside of the building and embedded it into the office level, eliminating fire and smoke dampers and increasing the net to gross square foot ratio.

In addition, the team redesigned the superstructure of the building to include additional vertical columns to reduce shoring and keep the project on schedule. The original design required expensive “falsework” that would have interfered with the scheduling of other construction work.

“The Regeneration Medicine building is a current, real-world example of how value is being increased and design enhanced through a collaborative team effort,” said Gavin Keith, DPR’s project executive for the building. “The entire team had a single-minded focus on delivering the best possible result to the university, given the complexities of the site, budget and schedule.”

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Phoenix Research Center

PHOENIX — The University of Arizona College of Medicine broke ground on a $187 million academic and research building at the downtown Phoenix Biomedical Campus.

When it reaches its scheduled completion in 2012, the new Health Sciences Education Building will house classrooms, labs, pre-clinical training suites, a learning resource center, study areas and faculty offices for health sciences students, staff and educators.

The 268,000-square-foot building will allow the College of Medicine–Phoenix to expand its class size from 48 students per year to 120. The UA College of Pharmacy, the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and the Northern Arizona College of Health and Human Services will all have programs in the new building.

The project has been financed largely by state lottery revenues, with approximately 20 percent university funding.

“From an economic standpoint, the building will help transform Arizona’s economy,” says Robert Shelton, president of the University of Arizona. “It solidifies the Phoenix Biomedical Campus as the center of biomedical innovation, research and engineering. The Health Sciences Education Building will help the UA increase our research portfolio and enhance and establish important biotechnology partnerships in greater Phoenix.”

A joint venture of DPR Construction of San Jose, Calif., and Sundt Construction Inc. of Tucson is building the health sciences center, which was designed by architects Ayres/Saint/Gross, with an office in Tempe, and CO Architects of Los Angeles.

The new building is part of an overarching plan to create a major academic and research health hub in downtown Phoenix known as the Phoenix Biomedical Campus — a 28-acre urban park and the proposed site of 6 million square feet of biomedical-related academic, research, and laboratory space. Officials estimate the campus will generate $2.1 billion annually.

The Phoenix Biomedical Campus is currently home to the headquarters of the Translational Genomics Research Institute and the International Genomics Consortium, laboratories of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders, and the Arizona Biomedical Collaborative I, headquarters of the ASU Department of Bioinformatics.

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