The plan is to renovate the second and third floors of the HRT Building to provide a modern, consolidated facility that will form the focal point for the activities of the Department of Therapeutic Radiology (DTR) and related faculty at the YUSM. The DTR, founded more than fifty years ago, has been housed in clinical facilities and laboratories constructed in 1958 as the HRT Center with a total size of approximately 40,000 sq. ft. The creation of this center was founded on a commitment by the YUSM to a long-range program in support of clinical radiation therapy, laboratory and clinical research in radiation therapy, radiobiology, radiation physics, and in educational and training programs in these areas. However, aging infrastructure and facility deterioration, coupled with new programmatic goals and with the expansion of the faculty, have rendered the existing space inadequate. The following objectives are planned for the proposed renovation: 1) first, the renovation will create five large open design laboratories to be shared among the nine investigators on the two floors, facilitating communication and allowing for future flexibility as individual research programs change size and focus; 2) the planned renovation will provide common facilities for department faculty, staff, fellows, and students as well as associated faculty from other departments. These will include expanded rooms for cell culture work including specialized work for hypoxic cell culture and cell micro-injection, shared equipment rooms, shared computer facilities, and improved glass wash and media preparation facilities; and 3) new space will be devoted to common administrative and conference room activities. These facets of the renovation will be essential to maintain the DTR at YUSM as a driving force in biomedical research at the University.
