School of Medicine breaks ground on research institution

IU's School of Medicine broke ground in Indianapolis on a new medical Research Institute last Thursday. The $27 million dollar building is the second part of a long range plan to construct three research centers. Projections set the building to be open at the end of 2002 or the beginning of 2003.\n"One of our goals is to increase research substantially and in order to do that we have to have space to put people" Dr. Craig Brater, dean of the school of medicine said. "The first thing that needs to happen to expand our research envelope is to have the square footage."\nThe Medicine Research Institute will house three major research initiatives. The Indiana Center of Excellence in Biomedical Imaging is funded through grants from the Indiana Twenty-First Century Technology Research Fund and the National Cancer Institute. The center will allow faculty from IU, Purdue and Notre Dame to develop technology in imaging methods and analyzing biological data.\nA private, non-profit research organization, the Walther Oncology Center, will focus on scientific laboratory research of the cellular, biochemical and molecular biology of cancer.\nThe Stark Neurosciences Research Institute will occupy two floors of the research center when it opens. After the construction of the third research building it is set to occupy the entire building. Benefactors Carole and Paul Stark funded the Stark Chair in Pharmacology in 1993 and will donate money to support the programs of the new Neuroscience institute. Dr. Paul Stark has led a team that conducted clinical trials on central nervous system compounds and played an essential role in the development of Prozac with Eli Lilly.\nA committee of faculty is currently formulating a plan to recruit a director for the neuroscience institute, said Michael Vasko, Paul Stark professor of Pharmacology. He said the new research space will enhance the work already being done in the neurosciences.\n"The purpose of the research institute is to provide an area where various neuroscientists can interact," Vasko said. "Rather than having pockets of research, we'll have a critical mass of scientists."\nA $10 million federal grant and $15 million of philanthropy money funded the first phase of the project, the IU Cancer Research Institute. No state or federal money was used at all for the construction of the new facility. A number of anonymous benefactors, Clarian Health Partners Inc. and the faculty of the School of Medicine contributed all the funds. The third building is set to include eight floors of lab and research space, much larger than the first two and will connect the three together, said J. David Smith, associate dean for development in the School of Medicine.\n"To provide for projects like this we kind of hoard every penny until we get enough money and then we start digging a hole," Brater said.\nIn the area of research buildings, Brater said the University is unable to seek funding from the state.\n"The state has basically taken the position that they don't support research buildings," Brater said. "The state certainly appreciates the research we and others do and they know it's a good thing, but basically they take the position that they don't build it themselves."\nSmith said 14 percent of the School of Medicine's annual operating budget of $600 million comes from the state. On average, Smith 70 percent of new buildings for the School of Medicine are funded by faculty, private sector and philanthropic donations. \nAll faculty contributions come from the patient fees of faculty members who maintain physicians practices, Smith said.\n"It's not a pay cut," Smith said. "It's what makes an academic physician an academic physician. That is a commitment to research and the educational missions of the School of Medicine."\nSmith said all of the new research buildings will help bring nationally known scientists and research projects to IU.\n"If you're going to have a strong research program, which is essential to the quality of the School of Medicine, you have to have state-of-the-art lab space," he said. "Quality faculty researchers can go to any institutions they want to and in order to get them to come here, you have to have quality space"