This application is submitted by the Division of Biological Sciences (DBS), University of California Davis, for federal assistance with the renovation of facilities to support extramurally funded research programs. The application proposes the extensive facilities renovation necessary to establish an enhanced and aggressive research program focusing on molecular and cellular aspects of genetics and development, areas fundamental to modern biology and medical science. UC Davis is committed to the advancement of biomedical research, building upon established strengths in the basic biological sciences, medicine, veterinary medicine, and agriculture. The renovators describes in this application will greatly enhance research currently supported by the NIH by moving faculty to upgraded laboratory space, creating adjancencies among faculty with common research interests, and encouraging collaborative use of newly-available, state-of-the-art equipment and instrumentation. The renovations and resulting relocations will allow for the simultaneous establishment of the Center for Genetics and Development, which will provide the focus to ensure that all areas of biology benefit from the significant and incessant advances in the central discipline of genetics. The specific goals of the project are: 1. Renovation of 15,213 assignable square feet of laboratory and research support space in Briggs Hall to create eight faculty research laboratories. 2. Relocation of eight molecular genetics and development faculty in the Section of Microbiology to the new space, which is adjacent to the space occupied by molecular genetics and development research faculty in the Section of Molecular and Cellular Biology; and, 3. Creation of the new Division and Biological Sciences Center for Genetics and Development under the leadership of Dr. Stephen Kowalczykowski, who currently serves as Chair for the Section of Microbiology.
