This project seeks to greatly advance research capabilities for more than 70 federally-funded investigators at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (?Illinois?) by adding modern infrastructure for a ?Tissue Engineering and Phenotyping Core? (TEPC) to its flagship Institute for transdisciplinary studies, the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. The Beckman Institute was established as one of the first and most prominent institutes for transdisciplinary studies more than 30 years ago. In recent times, the Beckman Institute has acted as the incubator of the Cancer Center at Illinois (CCIL), which seeks to bridge engineering and biology to engender new technology that impacts cancer research and care. It is also closely aligned with the engineering-based Carle Illinois College of Medicine, the first new college in 60 years on campus and an innovative approach to medical education. In light of this technology-focused health focus of the University, there is an urgent need for the development of a long-term anchor facility that enables and enhances the conduct of cutting-edge biomedical research. The TEPC facility is needed to serve the broad research community across the institution for a long time period (greater than 25 years), provide a regional hub and serve as a facility to provide unique, validated resources to the national biomedical research effort. The space will house specialized equipment and enable novel experimental protocols, with the assistance of professional staff supported by the University. Activities in this space will be highly complementary with current Illinois infrastructure and practices for wide accessibility on a shared basis. The strategic plans for the University, CCIL and Beckman will influence its long-term research evolution, call for a high level of utilization and assure a high level of support. This project will have a significant institution-wide impact, providing a research capacity and capability that makes health- related research highly efficient and stably supported. Modernizing this shared laboratory space, in accordance with the NIH design requirements manual (DRM), meets the growing needs of the University in a manner consistent with our campus? strategic plan (2018-2023) for biomedical research. To focus our efforts in serving needs of a large number of researchers and teams, a modern engineering design is proposed. There are clear plans to support and maintain the high standards of the facility over years, supported by external review. The physical space of this core will meet the required engineering standards during the construction and operations afterwards to ensure rigorous scientific support for the conduct of research afterwards. This project will involve design and construction, including architectural and engineering design, contingencies, construction and installation of fixed equipment. Throughout, we will follow sustainable design principles and use green technologies. The project is led by the Director of the Beckman Institute, Prof. Jeff Moore, who is assisted by dedicated building engineering staff and contractors, and scientists located at the Beckman.
