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One of three two-story collaboration spaces in the Kansas Life Sciences Innovation Center. Photo: Michael Spillers Photography
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How does a leading regional medical school attract international research talent and major grant funding? The Univ. of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC) aimed to do this by creating the Kansas Life Sciences Innovation Center as a key part of a well-considered, integrated strategy to become a leading force in creation and advancement of therapeutic products and procedures.
Opened in 2007, the five-story, 205,000-ft2 Kansas Life Sciences Innovation Center is designed to bring interdisciplinary teams together to conduct medical and pharmaceutical research, as contributors to the “virtual biotechnology company within a university setting” overseen by the university’s Office of Therapeutics, Discovery and Development.
“The life sciences require an interdisciplinary approach, the kind that's fostered by the laboratories and conference rooms in this facility,” says KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway. “People the world over who suffer from cancer, brain disorders and other debilitating illnesses will be touched by what happens here. The caliber of research in this center will dramatically boost the economic development of this region's life sciences initiatives.”
The $57.2 million building was designed to bring together, for the first time in an interdisciplinary setting for the client, teams that are pursuing related medical research activities. The university is a recognized leader in novel drug discovery and new chemical entity advances. This facility was designed to accelerate that overall initiative across numerous therapeutic areas, enhancing the Medical Center as a magnet for significant biomedical research. The design team included architects Treanor Architects PA of Lawrence, Kan., and Cannon Design of St. Louis, with interiors and engineering by Cannon, lab consulting by St. Louis-based Health, Education + Research Associates, and construction by Turner Construction.
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The curved north facade of the building corresponds to the site topography and allows a panoramic view from the labs. Photo: Robert Pettus Photography
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According to the dean of the KU School of Medicine, Barbara Atkinson, the building creates an environment that will help attract top researchers—and foster collaboration among them. Leading physician-scientists from as far away as Vanderbilt, Duke and Emory universities have been recruited to KU, thanks in large part to this new facility. In all, 28 new faculty members have joined the medical center since the facility opened—testimony to the attraction that a state of the art research building can create.
Incoming faculty members bring nearly $60 million in extramural funding with them, with approximately one-third of that grant revenue helping to cover overhead costs. Even more telling is the $241 million in grant funding that has been awarded to the Medical Center since the facility opened—funding that could have gone elsewhere. The new funding validates the wisdom of KUMC administrators' calculated risk; they projected that increased grant revenues would offset facility construction costs.
So far, that looks like a pretty good bet.
The building has also been recognized by the architectural community, receiving a 2009 Merit Award in the Design Excellence program of the Kansas AIA; a 2009 Citation Award in the Specialized Facility category in a competition administered by American School and University magazine; and a 2008 Education Design Showcase Grand Prize.
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Typical open lab module in the KLSIC. Photo: Michael Spillers Photography
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Designed for adaptability
As an architectural expression, the Kansas Life Sciences Innovation Center breaks new conceptual ground for the Medical Center. Central to the stated objective of maximizing interdisciplinary cooperation, the facility’s design provides features that make laboratory operations considerably more flexible.
By its location on a natural bluff at the northeast corner of the campus, the center’s landmark status was clear from the beginning. It is highly visible from distant points in Kansas City and anchors this corner of the Medical Center campus; architecturally speaking, it is as important a structure as the vital research occurring inside would suggest.
Internally, the building is organized with double-loaded corridors, a fairly common efficient arrangement.
Research teams are grouped within the facility according to their work focus; teams that will logically interact are in proximity to one another. As these groupings or their research projects change, the laboratories' organization can change as well.
The lab module is designed to be reconfigured with minimum cost and disruption. Generic lab modules are arrayed along the exterior window walls facing north, while more specialized and core functions are positioned along the corridor walls.
The building also includes a vivarium with a transgenic mouse facility and an ABSL-3 lab.
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Much of the ground floor for the KUMC Life Sciences Innovation Center is occupied by a vivarium. Labs and office space take up most of the upper floors. The curved floorplate responds to the building's site on a natural bluff. Plan: Cannon Design
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Collaboration and interaction between research disciplines are critical to effective scientific study. The center facilitates that interaction. Formal cooperation occurs within facilities that are spread throughout the building, including a 300-person conference room with galley kitchen. Informal, chance meetings may occur in any of the three two-story, stacked lounge spaces.
Sustainability features include energyefficient HVAC systems, sustainable materials selection, extensive daylighting and building systems commissioning. Landscaping includes native grasses and plants that create a parklike setting; paving is porous to provide excellent load-carrying capacity will allowing water to penetrate the soil.
Research focuses
The center's five primary research areas are generally grouped by floor. They include liver research; reproductive sciences; neurological sciences; proteomics; and diabetes.
Leading scientific-medical research is fostered by top-flight talent and adequate funding. Universities have long led this research and, as a result, recognize that innovative facilities are critical for retaining and attracting researchers and grant funding. The Life Sciences Innovation Center will be the anchor for the Univ. of Kansas' future research success.
KSLIC research is diverse
The researchers at the Kansas Life Sciences Innovation Center are focused on five major areas of investigation.
- Liver research examines the liver’s role in screening and controlling uptake of nutrients, drugs and toxicants from outside the body while overseeing the amounts of fats, sugars, proteins and hormones within the body. Ten investigators in the liver program study the genetic and environmental factors that control this broad range of liver functions, and how these functions are altered in disease states. These investigations will lead to dramatic improvements in the prediction, detection and treatment of diseases such as alcoholic hepatitis, fatty liver disease, gall stones, liver cancer, metabolic syndrome, atherosclerosis and diabetes.
- Reproductive science is another focus. KUMC has led the way in establishing and maintaining the reproductive health of women, men and children through its singular mission of research conducted in nearly 20 research labo ratories across its campus. This includes the Center for Reproductive Sciences (CRS) in the KLSIC. Areas of strength within the CRS include the physiology of male and female reproductive tracts; the relationship among the embryo, the placenta and maternal health during pregnancy; causes and treatments for diseases such as infertility and ovarian cancer; and the regulation of male fertility through development of novel drugs.
- The neurological sciences program, with 19 principal investigators, is devoted to the study of the nervous system in health and disease. Specific focus areas include nerve degeneration in diseases such as diabetes; disorders affecting hearing and balance; neuroplasticity associated with post-injury adaptation; reproduction-related disorders including female pain syndromes, such as migraine and fibromyalgia, associated with estrogen; and nutritional disturbances during pregnancy, including how they relate to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and postpartum depression.
- Proteomics is the study of the proteins that make up the human body. Proteins control human health by interacting with target molecules; when those interactions are altered, it can lead to a multitude of diseases, including Alzheimer's and cancer. The 10 investigators in the center's proteomics laboratories study how individual biological processes work so that they can identify potential protein targets for therapeutic treatment, and design drugs for those target proteins.
- Diabetes is the fifth major area of investigation. Along with the related disease of obesity, diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate throughout the country. KUMC now leads a partnership with a variety of area private and public healthcare organizations to bring new resources to researchers, encourage innovation to cure or prevent diabetes and obesity, and reduce diabetes' complications and risk factors—all with the ultimate goal to provide better healthcare.
Tom Harvath, AIA, is principal and director, Science & Technology Practice, for Cannon Design (www.cannondesign.com). Cannon is an award-winning, full-service architecture, engineering and interior design firm specializing in healthcare, education and corporate commercial facilites. Harvath is based in the firm’s St. Louis office.
