URI opens news Biotech Center

KINGSTON, R.I. (WPRI) - Promising to bring economic development and cutting-edge research to the Ocean State, the new Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences is now officially open at the University of Rhode Island.

Governor Donald Carcieri and U.S. Sen. Jack Reed were among those who attended the grand-opening for the building Monday morning on the school's Kingston campus.

The facility is 140,000 square feet and houses modern teaching laboratories, cutting-edge research laboratories, high-tech facilities for DNA sequencing and analysis. It also features faculty offices, a 100-seat classroom and a two-story, 300-seat auditorium.

Jeff Seemann, URI dean of the College of the Environment and Life Sciences, said the building will help spark the state's flagging economy.

"Its opening is a critically important step forward in Rhode Island's economic recovery," Seemann said. "The research and education that occurs in this building will fuel economic growth and workforce development in biotechnology, health and life sciences, and it will play a key role in driving the state's new innovation-based economy."

Governor Donald Carcieri said he's long been a proponent of the project.

"This $54 million, state-of-the-art facility will not only advance scientific research in a host of important areas, but it will also serve as a hub for training, research and job creation in the life sciences," Carcieri said.

The building was funded with a $50 million state bond approved by voters in 2004 and additional corporate, private and federal funds, including $1 million donated by Amgen. Total project costs were $54 million.

U.S. Senator Jack Reed, who helped to secure $2.8 million in federal funding for the project said, "This building brings together under one roof key elements of what URI does best. "