There's a fundamental problem with the Center for Human Genetics, the brand new 120,000-square-foot research facility on LaSalle Street.
The front doors won't open.
True, its 160 professors, researchers, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, statisticians, programmers, lab technicians and other employees moved in during November, and the first component of the Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy is now running at full steam.
But since its opening, the center's main entrance appears to be locked, accessible only by pressing the handicap door button. "The biggest [issue] so far has been the doors," said Margaret Pericak-Vance, professor of medicine and director of the Center for Human Genetics. "We've been having trouble getting in."
Other than the doors, however, Vance couldn't be happier with her new home. The $40 million building features offices, open laboratories, conference rooms, interview rooms, employee lounges and a library, not to mention the newest technologies in the field. And perhaps most noteworthy, they're all under one roof.
Previously, the center and its staff was divided among five different buildings: the University Towers, Research Park Buildings 1 and 2, the Carl Building and the Bryan Building. All divisions are now housed in the LaSalle Street facility. "It used to be a 20-minute drive from the University Towers to campus and then you had to park. Now, if you have a question or want to meet with someone, you can walk down the hall or up the stairs and see them," Vance said.
She added that the building is one of her greatest allies in the recruitment of new researchers to the center. "Wouldn't you like to work in a brand new facility and have the opportunity to easily bounce ideas off of your peers who are working on the same diseases?"
In addition, the center's shared resources and shared equipment is very cost effective, especially with the option to order things in bulk, Vance said.
"We now have all our resources combined in one building, which will greatly facilitate our output in years to come," said second-year genetics graduate student Sean Garvey.
The laboratories, where Garvey was researching limb girdle muscular dystrophy type 1A Monday afternoon, are one of the most innovative aspects of the center. All of the lab benches are movable and larger than before, with much room for expansion. Each bench currently hosts two people, but can accommodate a third, which will still be less than the four per bench in the previous buildings.
The new facility also features automated DNA sequence analyzers, freezers for over 70,000 DNA samples, individualized offices for clinical researchers who need to have confidential conversations with patients, "shared offices" for other Duke researchers who wish to spend a few days a week working in the center and a space for an afternoon daily tea open to everyone.
"We're going to invite everyone in IGSP for tea once a week, to come down and talk about research papers and our work... because part of our mission as part of IGSP is to collaborate with people throughout the University," Vance said.
The Center for Human Genetics is just one component of the multi-million-dollar IGSP, which brings together five centers that study the genome and all its medical, scientific and humanistic challenges.
This component houses both an informatics core, dedicated to the collection of epidemiologic genetic information from families, and the Genomic Research Laboratory Core, centered around biomedical research on the nature of genetic disease. One floor of the building is designated as expansion space for the School of Medicine.
A second IGSP building, the Center for Models of Human Disease, is scheduled to open in the spring, said Executive Vice President Tallman Trask. The 129,000-square-foot building will house up to 20,000 mice to study complex human disorders like heart disease.
Instead of building a third IGSP facility, the Medical Center invested $17.5 million in the University's Center for Interdisciplinary Engineering, Medicine and Applied Sciences building-scheduled for completion in August 2004--in exchange for 45,000 square feet of space.
Mike Miller contributed to this story.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.