| The Future of Discovery:
Human Genetics Institute -
Research will focus on the genetic history of humans and their most common diseases. Debilitating and often lethal conditions such as Alzheimer disease, cancer, diabetes, neurologic and cardiovascular disease, and psychiatric disorders are the result of complex interactions between the environment and hereditary factors determining susceptibility. Understanding the genetics of such diseases will lead to preventive strategies, improved treatments and, possibly, cures. Rutgers researchers are unraveling the genetic causes of such illnesses as schizophrenia, autism, cancer, kidney stone disease, alcoholism, and limb development abnormalities. They will interact in the new laboratories equipped with the latest technologies to advance current investigations and explore promising new leads.
New Jersey Center for Biomaterials -
Research will lead to progress in improving health care and the quality of life - the key goals set by the Center when it was founded in 1997. Sophisticated laboratories and equipment will assist scientists to develop materials for repairing and regenerating tissues and for delivering drugs and genetic material in the body. Researchers will be able to synthesize and test novel materials for tissue scaffolds to support regeneration of bone, ligaments, skin, blood vessels and nerves. Emerging from this work will be the ideas for treatments for trauma, burns, tissue loss due to cancer, congenital defects, sports injuries, cardivascular diseases, diabetes, and osteoporosis. Collaborations with the clinical and industrial sectors will propel the concepts of university research forward toward clinical applications that will ultimately reach the vast majority of the population.
Innovations in Bricks and Mortar:
The Building -
The 75,000 square foot Division of Life Sciences building on the Busch campus will house the Human Genetics Institute, the Department of Genetics, and the New Jersey Center for Biomaterials. The building will provide much needed laboratory space for biomedical and biotechnological research, as well as for the graduate and undergraduate training of the next generation of scientists. In addition to state-of-the-art laboratories, the building also will include multiple formal and informal meeting rooms that will facilitate and encourage a wide variety of collaborations across the many disciplines that contribute to today’s research environment.
The Atrium -
The new building will also boast a bright, soaring 8,750-sq. ft, atrium as a centerpiece for formal and informal gatherings and lectures. The opportunity to collaborate and share ideas is an important goal of the Division of Life Sciences, and the atrium will facilitate these important interactions between faculty and students. At one end of the Atrium, a technologically advanced “smart” auditorium will have fixed seating for about 100 persons. The auditorium is designed with retracting rear walls allowing the entire atrium to be used for seating during major conferences and events. The atrium will be the premiere Life Science venue on the Busch campus for both large formal meetings and informal gatherings in a conference setting. The design and unique location of the atrium will promote multidisciplinary interactions as it will physically connect the Department of Genetics, the Human Genetics Institute, and the Biomaterials Center, with the Center for Bioinformatics (the Protein Database), the Center for Alcohol Studies, and the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at one end, and the Departments of Cell Biology and Neuroscience and Molecular Biology and Biochemistry in Nelson Laboratories at the other end. The atrium will create stronger research and training ties between all of these groups, thereby facilitating biomedical and biotechnological discovery, as well as the multidisciplinary training that will be required of the 21st century scientific workforce.
“In this new building, students will be able to sit together, look over journals, exchange ideas and interact. The history of science is replete with examples of how such informal cross talk has planted seeds of collaboration that have resulted in some of the most creative and important scientific discoveries”.
-Dean of Life Sciences Kenneth Breslauer
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