this whole effort,” which KSU and its allies are spending considerable effort to address. “There seems to be a ratcheting up of articles and political pressure against this decision,” he noted.

Thornton acknowledged the same but attributed the resistance to misinformation. “Can [research] be safely and securely conducted in the state?” he asked rhetorically. “Absolutely, modern bio containment technologies have gotten us there.”

Said Trewyn, “We just need to figure out how to move this forward and land it here.”

Regradless if Kansas succeeds in this effort, Thornton added, “We are learning and doing something here that I guarantee you will benefit this community and this region going forward.”

New Facilities

Kansas State is already home to the Biosecurity Research Institute (BRI), the only biocontainment research and training facility in the U.S. that can accommodate high-consequence pathogen research on food animals, food crops and food processing under one roof. Bill Duncan queried whether there were other new facilities in the region worth notice.

One such facility, observed John Baumann, vice provost for research at UMKC, is the new $50 million UMKC Health Sciences Building on UMKC’s Hospital Hill Campus, which opened in fall 2007 and houses 225,000 square feet o fclassroom, lab, research and offices for the UMKC Schools of Nursing and Pharmacy.“

We also have hopes for a research building across the street,” offered Baumann, a prospect that is looking brighter now that Missouri has provided funds to finish the first building.

“We have six open-funded endowed chair professorship positions,” adds UMKC’s Betty Drees. “Our biggest limitation on recruiting people into the (positions) is facilities. That is our biggest need, facilities.”

Duncan cited the comprehensive renovation of the Wahl Hall research facility on the KU Med campus, which, Adkins noted, “already has a backfill.”

The Kansas legislature has approved moving forward with the pharmacy expansion at the University of Kansas in Lawrence and Wichita, which will allow significant new space for research and workforce development pharmacists.

Meanwhile, the Johnson County Commission is considering the creation of an education research triangle that would allow for the construction of new capacity at the KU’s Edwards campus. Adkins sees the combination of public support and philanthropic efforts as a “significant development.”

MRI is in the midst of a $25 million laboratory renovation that will result in 80,000 to 100,000 square feet of state-of-the-art research capability. Spigarelli didn’t share the details of MRI’s bioterrorism work for the Department of Homeland Security, save to assure his colleagues that it is scrupulously reviewed and inspected.

“We get stringent visits from CDC, USDA and from the Army,” Spigarelli said, “before we’ve been able to turn things on,we get significant inspection and feedback.”

The Kansas State campus in Olathe, as Bill Duncan observed, has been active in enhancing the Animal Health Corridor, particularly getting Fort Dodge Animal Health to build a $40 million research and development facility in the new Kansas Bioscience Authority Park in Olathe.

“We hope that our campus takes on a bit more of a business model than an academic model,” said Dan Richardson,CEO of the K-State Olathe Innovation Campus. “Our goal would be to set the infrastructure to allow collaboration with everyone, to let entrepreneurs move forward or have the infrastructure to literally put together a project team to make it commercialize technology.”

The new Dybedal Research Center at KCUMB has opened up opportunities as well. Larry Segars, chair of KCUMB’s department of pharmacology and microbiology, cited the work of Dr. Patrick Clay, who serves as director of clinical research and has done nationally acclaimed workon HIV therapies and associated issues.“It is very exciting for KCUMB,”said Segars, “to be involved in such cutting-edge early product development.”

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