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	Chancellor John Silber speaks at a Boston City Hall press conference on September 30 announcing that Boston University was awarded $127 million from the National Institutes of Health to build a National Biocontainment Laboratory to study emerging infectious diseases and agents of bioterrorism. Flanking Silber are (from left) President-elect Daniel Goldin, Governor Mitt Romney, Mayor Thomas Menino, and MED Provost Aram Chobanian and Associate Provost Mark Klempner, the grant’s principal investigator. Photo by Fred Sway

Boston University, in partnership with Boston Medical Center, was selected on September 30 to receive $127 million to build a National Biocontainment Laboratory and to manage and direct research into emerging infectious diseases and agents of bioterrorism, such as anthrax, Ebola virus, plague, and smallpox. The center is expected to generate $1.7 billion in research and related spending in the Boston area over the next 20 years.

The federal grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, was one of two grants awarded nationally for biosafety level 4 labs. The facilities are specially designed to prevent extremely dangerous microorganisms from escaping into the environment or infecting lab workers. The second grant went to the University of Texas at Galveston.

At a press conference in Boston City Hall Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Thomas M. Menino praised the collaboration of city, state, federal, and University officials in winning the highly competitive bid for the national center. He was joined by Governor Mitt Romney, Boston University President-elect Daniel Goldin, Chancellor John Silber, and Medical Center Provost Aram Chobanian and Associate Provost Mark Klempner — with U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy patched into the conference by telephone.

“ This new facility will create more than 1,300 construction jobs and over 600 permanent jobs for workers of every skill level,” Menino said. “The economic ripple effect will be tremendous. The lab will act as a magnet drawing top-notch scientists and pharmaceutical companies to our city and reinforce Boston’s role as the nation’s center for biomedical research and as a world-class city. Boston will continue to lead the way in biomedical research well into the future.”

Kennedy called the award “important for our country and important for our economy. We’ll all be part of the team to reach out to the community” to allay community concerns about the safety and security of the facility.

Before receiving an initial briefing on the proposal, Romney said, he had been concerned about the safety of the facility. But after learning from the mayor and University officials that the facility would have the “same exactness which is exhibited at the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] in Atlanta, I came away feeling that I and my family and my children and my grandchildren are even safer in Boston following the construction of this facility than perhaps we are today.”

Goldin lauded the cooperation that led to the award, saying, “It’s a real thrill to be part of team Boston. Sometimes in our modern society there is only a focus on the stars — individuals — but what I’ve learned in the few months I’ve been associated with Boston University and Boston is that it’s an unbelievable team effort.”

The center will become a major attraction to many other grants, Chobanian said, and for the recruitment of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies interested in infectious diseases. A new building to house the center will be built at the BioSquare Research Park off Albany Street. Construction is expected to start next year on the facility, which will be called the National Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases and Biodefense.

Chobanian introduced Klempner as the principal investigator for the grant and “the individual most responsible for its success.” Klempner said the 225,000-square-foot facility containing 13 core laboratories will be built to unprecedented standards of safety and “will make it possible for scientists across the nation to safely work to protect the public’s health.” He commended the NIH for moving swiftly to address the nation’s need for more biosafety level 3 and level 4 laboratory spaces, the highest safety and security levels, in the short 18 months since an outside panel of experts identified the shortage of such facilities as a barrier to progress in the area of biodefense research.

Silber said that his concern had been that if the University hadn’t won the grant, there would “be a shift in the center of gravity” in biomedical research away from Boston to another part of the country, but because of the grant, biomedical research in Boston “will be further enhanced . . . and that every citizen will be a beneficiary from the stimulus that [the center] entails.”

3 October 2003
Boston University
Office of University Relations