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The University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ has received a $15 million grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to be used toward the ongoing construction of a revolutionary biotechnology and biomedical research facility where faculty and students will tackle a variety of human health challenges.

Construction of the new facility, which when completed is expected to host more than 60 faculty members and more than 500 graduate students, researchers and support staff, began in September 2009. Faculty and students will use the facility for fundamental research that is expected to make an impact on a wide variety of human health issues ranging from cancer, aging and cardiovascular disease to inherited diseases, vaccine development and regenerative medicine.

The ARRA money was awarded to CU-Â鶹ӰԺ's Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology, or CIMB, through the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. CU-Â鶹ӰԺ Distinguished Professor and CIMB Director Tom Cech said the new facility will serve as a springboard to further research, teaching and technology at the intersection of the life sciences with the physical sciences, math, computational sciences and engineering.

The new biotechnology facility will bolster Colorado's position in the nation's biotechnology economy, said Cech. The first phase of the building comprising 266,400 square feet is slated for completion in fall 2011, with plans for a 70,400-square-foot addition at a later date. It also will house CIMB faculty from the department of chemical and biological engineering, and biochemistry division faculty from the department of chemistry and biochemistry.

"This is such an appropriate use of ARRA funds, because the Biotechnology Building will create jobs at three stages – construction jobs in the near term, laboratory research positions once the building is occupied, and biotechnology jobs in Colorado over the following years as we work to enhance that industry in the state," said Cech.

Cech said prior to the ARRA award, much of the interior space of the facility now under construction had been destined to remain as shell space pending more funding. "We thank the NIH for approving our request for $15 million, which will build out space for the biochemistry faculty of CU-Â鶹ӰԺ," said Cech, who shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in chemistry and served as the Howard Hughes Medical Institute president from 2000 to 2009 while retaining his CU faculty appointment.

NIH's National Center for Research Resources, or NCRR, received nearly 1,200 applications for such construction projects totaling more than $10.6 billion. NCRR received $1 billion in ARRA funds for the program, so the success rate for the winners was less than 10 percent.

Before the ARRA grant to CU-Â鶹ӰԺ, more than half of the building's $145 million Phase One cost had already been committed, including more than $60 million from the university and more than $30 million in gifts from generous donors. Fundraising efforts for the new facility are ongoing to cover the remaining costs of the full building plan.