This application requests $1,000,000 to partially defray costs to renovate the Med Surge II building at the UC Irvine College of Medicine. The NIH-funded portion of this renovation project will create specialized laboratory and program space for a core of 15 researchers conducting fundamental research on the neuroscience of substance abuse. The project also will contribute to the overall improvement of the building, benefitting other biomedical researchers. The Medical Surge building is one of the original buildings of the College of Medicine campus and has a distinguished 30-year history of laboratory investigations in the biomedical sciences, particularly in Neuroscience and Pharmacology. Although Med Surge II has served the campus well, the building's infrastructure-including HVAC, cold rooms, deionized water supply, emergency power capacity, and basic laboratory cabinetry is aged, in some cases outmoded, and in severe need of upgrade or replacement. The requested funds will contribute to both improvement of the entire building (e.g., HVAC and upgrades of emergency electrical power) and specific renovations (e.g., laboratory benches, casework and fume hoods) to the laboratories of the core group of 15 investigators. In addition, approved State funding, in excess of matching funds for the current proposal, will accomplish seismic upgrades and improvements to meet ADA standards. Together these renovations are intended to restore the Med Surge building to modern laboratory standards and preserve vital laboratory space for the neurosciences at UCI, an area of significant strength and campus investment. The requested funds will be leveraged by university investment to recreate a modern facility, capable of returning to full productivity neuroscientists whose research has been steadily compromised by inadequate infrastructure. The modernization of the Med Surge II facility will not only ensure the ongoing productivity of the existing facility, but also organize the building to serve the particular needs of a research unit focused on substance abuse.
