Albany Medical College (AMC) is a private medical and graduate education institution unaffiliated with the State University of New York (SUNY) or any other university system. Basic and translational biomedical research is currently confined to two adjoining buildings originally constructed in 1961 and 1970. Research space and infrastructure (80,703 NSF) is highly compartmentalized, nearly 100% committed, and only 20% of it has been renovated within the past 10 years. The aged, inflexible research infrastructure, combined with lack of vacant laboratory space, places immediate limitations on our ability to accommodate growing needs of 57 current and/or pending NIH-funded investigators, and severely limits our ability to recruit future faculty members with research programs. In 2008, Albany Medical Center committed $5 M to build a shell structure contiguous with the current College research buildings. This structure (College Research Facility) is under construction and was designed to include capacity for up to three additional floors of future vertical expansion. However, due to institutional financial constraints exacerbated by the recent economic downturn, there are no current plans in place or committed funds for adding new research laboratory space. The Recovery Act Limited Competition: Extramural Research Facilities Improvement Program (C06) provides a unique opportunity for Albany Medical College to expand its capacity for NIH-funded research by addition of two finished laboratory floors to the College Research Facility structure resulting in a total of 20,072 NSF of new modern, flexibly designed laboratory and support space. Each floor will be designed with open laboratories consisting of a combination of fixed benches and fully modular space;supporting rooms for cell culture, microscopy, large equipment, glass wash/dry and autoclave;cold/environmental rooms;and supporting space for personnel including faculty/fellow offices, faculty/staff informal meeting area, and a formal conference room. The space is designed to provide efficiency and flexibility for space assignments based on changing programmatic needs, internal and external collaborative opportunities, and investigator funding. The proposed laboratory space and fixed equipment will allow AMC to significantly expand its NIH-funded research capacity by supporting: 1.) growth of existing NIH-funded programs;2.) development of multi- investigator collaborative projects;and 3.) recruitment of 8-10 new faculty members with complementary translational research programs. The project meets general goals of the Recovery Act by: providing immediate employment opportunities for construction workers and engineers;providing new training and employment opportunities for students, fellows and laboratory staff in growing NIH-funded laboratories;and by building new efficient laboratory space meeting LEED standards for certification.
