New Biomedical Research Center at Illinois Institute of Technology to complement Mayor Daley’s plan for Chicago’s high-tech future
Illinois Institute of Technology has announced plans to develop a high-tech biomedical research complex on its South Side campus. The initiative complements Mayor Daley’s proposed plan to position the Chicagoland area at the forefront of economic growth in the technology sector.
The biomedical research complex, to be located between 34th and 35th streets along Federal Street on IIT’s Main Campus, will house state-of-the-art biotechnology labs as well as incubator space for commercial enterprises that develop from the complex’s research activities.
IIT has already received $1 million from the State of Illinois through the efforts of Gov. George Ryan and the General Assembly, to fund planning and design costs for laboratories within the complex. IIT and the IIT Research Institute (IITRI) have committed nearly $5 million to the project. The Whittaker Foundation recently awarded IIT a $1 million Special Opportunity Grant to further develop its biomedical engineering program.
“Technological innovation in the biomedical arena promises to be one of the great new frontiers of human investigation,” said Lew Collens, president of IIT. “IIT welcomes the mayor’s new initiative to help improve Chicago’s environment as a high-tech business-friendly town and is proud to be one of the research universities called upon to leverage our strengths to achieve this goal.”
The complex will draw on the intellectual resources and creativity of both IIT and IITRI research programs:
The Pritzker Institute of Medical Engineering, led by Prof. Vincent Turitto, will anchor the complex and expand its research in neuroengineering, cell and tissue engineering, and medical imaging.
“The complex is being designed from the ground up to take advantage of the technology transfer opportunities that will come out of the biomedical research performed there. It is part of a broader plan to enhance the educational, research and industrial efforts in the new and rapidly expanding area of biomedical engineering” commented Vincent Turitto, Director of the Pritzker Institute.
The complex will provide research facilities for the newly formed Particle Technology Crystallization Center. The crystallization center is a joint initiative with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue University and such biomedical firms as Abbott Laboratories and Baxter International.
“The crystallization center will investigate ways to develop and manufacture current drug formulations into new forms for administration to patients. We expect to be working directly with a large number of pharmaceutical firms in the near future,” said Allan Myerson, IIT dean of engineering and center director.
The complex will also be linked to IIT’s research endeavors at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory through its Center for Synchrotron Radiation Research and Instrumentation. This multimillion-dollar research program, led by IIT professor Timothy Morrison, includes a partnership in protein crystallography with eleven pharmaceutical firms, as well as initiatives in medical imaging and bio-structures.
IITRI’s Life Sciences Division is the largest of the research endeavors, performing annually about $15 million of research for government and industry in the areas of cancer prevention, biotechnology, pharmaceutical and immunology research and testing.
President Collens said that community economic development was another benefit of the university’s investment in biomedical research. “We expect our biomedical research complex to create and attract additional high-paying jobs to Chicago’s South Side and to continue revitalization in the area,” he said. IIT is already working with Stateway Gardens’ Local Advisory Council and other neighborhood groups to enhance job opportunities in the community and is developing employment and job-training programs to assist local residents in securing needed skills. IIT is also collaborating with Truman College to place neighborhood residents in its biotechnology laboratory technicians program.
Other revitalization efforts in the area include the recent construction of the Chicago Police Department headquarters at 3516 S. Michigan and the Chicago Housing Authority’s plans to transform Stateway Gardens into a new mixed-income residential development. These two initiatives are adjacent to IIT’s biomedical research complex.
Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting technological university awarding degrees in the sciences, mathematics and engineering, as well as architecture, psychology, design, business and law. IIT’s interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum prepares the university’s 6,200 students for leadership roles in an increasingly complex and culturally diverse global workplace.
