Team Awarded NIH C06 Construction Grant to Renovate Biophysics Space

The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) has been awarded an $8M grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to renovate the second floor of the MACC Fund Research Center (MFRC), home of the Department Biophysics. The project team, led by Principal Investigator Ann Nattinger, MD, MPH, Vice Dean for Research, and Co-Investigator Francesca Marassi, PhD, Chair of Biophysics and Interim Chair of Biochemistry, includes members of the Department of Biophysics, Office of Research, and Office of Planning, Design, and Construction. Brian Cowperthwaite, Vice President of Facilities & Operations, and Jessica Basile, Senior Director of Planning, Design, and Construction, were also key personnel on the final proposal.

The NIH Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP) offers a funding mechanism (coded as C06) that supports large-scale construction projects for the development of modern, shared-use biomedical research facilities. The C06 offers a unique and transformational opportunity to secure funding for projects that are ambitious, high-cost, and of high impact to the future of institutional research programs. MCW has only received one previous C06 grant, which went to fund renovations of the Eye Institute building more than 20 years ago.

While renovation of their 18,000 square foot floor was imminent, Dr. Marassi and the Biophysics team were energized to pursue the C06 grant opportunity as a launching pad for this important project. The MFRC, which was constructed in 1978, was designed for a model of laboratory research that is now outdated. Cutting-edge biophysics instrumentation requires a modern and sophisticated environment to operate properly, and the laboratory space on MFRC-2 has been affected by temperature and humidity control issues, air flow, network connectivity, electrical challenges, and other marks of outdated space. The C06 grant will support a sweeping renovation of the floor, opening up the lab spaces in an efficient and modern layout, and with the technical infrastructure to support specialty equipment and instruments. The redesign will accommodate core technologies including microwave and radiowave engineering, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), chemistry and drug discovery, cell metabolic profiling, protein and RNA engineering, and computational modeling. The high-quality and efficient capabilities will enable the research programs of Dr. Marassi and Biophysics faculty including Mona Al-Gizawiy, PhD, Gang Cheng, PhD, Christopher Chitambar, MD, Jimmy Feix, PhD, Neil Hogg, PhD, Balaraman Kalyanaraman, PhD, Candice Klug, PhD, Vanessa Leone, PhD, Michael Lerch, PhD, Fabrizio Marinelli, PhD, Nikolai Mickevicious, PhD, Linda Olson, PhD, Kathleen Schmainda, PhD, Kyungsoo Shin, PhD, Jason Sidabras, PhD, Gopinath Tata, PhD, Jeanette Vasquez Vivar, PhD, Yaqiang Wang, PhD, and Jacek Zielonka, PhD, DSc. Use of these facilities will expand to local, national, and even international research collaborations, and will also enhance educational experiences through the PhD Program in Biophysics.