Funds are requested to renovate approximately 23,400 (gross) square feet of research space in the Lederle Graduate Research Center (LGRC), Towers A and C, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The space to be renovated is presently shared between the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) and Chemistry. The LGRC, a 350,000 square foot complex of research labs, classrooms and offices designed in the late 1960s, is inefficient in terms of space utilization and does not promote interactions between research groups or sharing of equipment. The proposed renovation will remove non-load-bearing walls to increase the total amount of available space and to promote intergroup interactions by placing multiple research groups in shared space. Interactions will also be enhanced by creation and improvement of shared instrumentation space and a centrally located seminar room. The scientific goal of this project is to enhance and expand research efforts at the interface between the biological and physical sciences, which is a high priority for BMB and Chemistry as well as the Department of Physics. The University also views this research collaboration as a high priority (see letter from Chancellor John Lombardi). An existing NIH predoctoral training grant, the Chemistry/Biology Interface (CBI) Program, supports Ph.D. students in three of the laboratories that will be affected by the renovation. The renovated space will provide space for five existing faculty laboratories, which encompass both sides of the CBI Program, as well as space for two new faculty laboratories. Additionally, nearby space vacated by two of the faculty laboratories slated to move into renovated space will accommodate two additional faculty members. Each of these new faculty laboratories will add research strength to the life science/physical science interface group.
