- Alteration and Renovation A key concept underlying our TGIR COBRE proposal is that Translational Global Infectious Diseases Research can be stimulated at UVM by ?bridging the culture gap? that exists between the University's existing strengths in global infectious diseases research and computational modeling and complex systems. The presence on the same campus of significant expertise in both of these arenas affords UVM an unusual opportunity to develop a truly collaborative center with experts from these disparate disciplines working towards common goals; our belief is that the outcome will vastly exceed the sum of each part. As growing experience from industry indicates, however, such collaboration and innovation is best stimulated by facilitating the face-to-face interactions that drive it to occur organically. The goal of the alteration and renovation plan proposed here is precisely to provide an ?Innovation and Collaboration? laboratory within which these critical, direct interactions will occur, bringing together in close physical proximity the investigators who will utilize the Mathematical and Computational Predictive Modeling (MCP) Core and the Human and Population Research Core. Towards this end, 1,575 square feet of space was identified adjacent to existing laboratory and office space occupied by the Vaccine Testing Center within the Given Research Building in the College of Medicine. Line drawings and design plans are presented that will create a common, ?Innovation and Collaboration? laboratory, which will serve as both a location for informal daily interactions, and for larger, center-wide activities, ranging from group meetings and journal clubs to teleconferences with collaborators at foreign sites. In addition, it provides a physical home for the MCP Core director, Dr. Bates, a Modeling Core staff scientist, office space for junior faculty, and workspaces for graduate students from existing and complementary programs, including the Cell, Molecular, and Biomedical Sciences (CMB), Biomedical Engineering, and Computer Science graduate programs.
