Science Projects

Biotechnology, Nanotechnology Make Clean Sweep Across the State

By Jennifer Hiller

Biotechnology is the manipulation of living organisms (as through genetic engineering) or their components to produce (usually) commercial products. Nanotechnology is the art of manipulating materials on an atomic or molecular scale especially to build microscopic devices (as robots). And it doesn't take a microscope to see the role construction is playing in these high-tech, scientific study areas.

Federal grants and a surging interest in cross-disciplinary research are fueling the construction of biotechnology and nanotechnology buildings at universities across Texas.

The demand for the high-tech laboratory space includes a need for clean rooms and biosafety facilities.

At the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Houston-based Vaughn Construction is building a biosafety level-four laboratory that will be the first full-sized maximum containment facility on a U.S. university campus. Work in the $12.8 million structure will focus on tropical and emerging infections as well as on microbes that could potentially be used by bioterrorists.

Securing Space in Galveston The BSL4 laboratory is adjacent to the new, $106 million National Biocontainment Laboratory, a seven-story facility that is also a Vaughn project. That building will provide 180,000 sq. ft. of flexible, high-level biocontainment lab space to support homeland security efforts. Scientists will focus on biodefense measures against diseases such as anthrax, bubonic plague or Ebola virus.

Pablo Ruiz, architect and project manager for the University of Texas system, said that university scientists - as well as the federal government science grant programs - are increasingly interested in biotechnology research. "There's a need to do this kind of research with the way the world is going," Ruiz said. "The researchers just want to explore more possibilities and save more lives."

But Ruiz said the BSL4 lab is unlike any other type of construction he has seen. "I toured it when it was under construction, and I said to myself, 'Oh my God, where am I?' It's like being in outer space," he said. "They're very safe. It's just very strict."

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Scientists will have to wear spacesuits, and the building is not open to the public because of homeland security concerns. Even construction workers on the site had to undergo background checks, said Tom Vaughn, president of Vaughn Construction.

"It's really not similar to anything else," Vaughn said. "We do almost exclusively health care, higher education and laboratories. It's complicated the whole way through. It's been described as a submarine inside of a bank vault."

The BSL4 Laboratory has to be to 100 percent airtight and 100 percent redundant. "For every filter there's a backup filter," Vaughn added. "For every plumbing line there's a backup. Every conduit is sealed. On the concrete walls every pinhole is sealed. It takes longer to build. The commissioning process on this thing is monumental."

Keeping it Clean in Houston St. Louis-based McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. recently completed a design-build renovation and remodeling project for the Rice University Nanofabrication/Clean Room Lab Facility, a 3,000-sq.-ft. project within the existing Abercrombie Hall.

The architect and engineering firm for the project was Lockwood Greene of Spartanburg, S.C.

The Class 100 clean room, Class 1,000 clean room, lab support space and conference areas give nanotechnology researchers the clean-air environment needed to study mechanisms and configurations the size of a few atoms.

In a clean-room environment, air-port particles are controlled through an exchange of highly filtered air using an HEPA filtering system and through the minimization of activities that generate particles. The massive air-handling systems must filter the air and keep the clean rooms under positive pressure to prevent outside contaminants from entering the facility.

To manage the construction process, McCarthy prefabricated many building components offsite, wiped them down and wrapped them in plastic before transporting them to the campus. Piping was cleaned and capped at both ends to keep out dirt and debris.

"You're dealing with clean construction protocols that are pretty elaborate," said Chris Peck, Texas Division vice president for McCarthy. "With the nanotech we're not as worried about bacteria as in biotech buildings. It's dust and any kind of debris that could affect the research environment that can be a problem."

Working in an existing building wasn't easy, Peck said. The roof of Abercrombie Hall couldn't support the weight of the mechanical exhaust and air-supply equipment, so McCarthy added two sets of four columns of structural-steel support from the building slab.

And the existing roof deck and bar joists were steam cleaned to kill any existing bacteria that could cause a contamination hazard.

The National Institutes of Health has launched initiatives that focus on interdisciplinary solutions to biomedical and health problems, and research dollars are being funneled to programs that can demonstrate that scientists from various disciplines can work together on projects. The NIH says the goal is bridging the >> traditional divisions between scientific disciplines to speed the pace of discovery.

Creating Space in San Antonio At the University of Texas at San Antonio, the new Biotechnology, Sciences and Engineering Building will accommodate engineers, chemists and biologists.

"Providing space for interactivity was critical," said Cynthia Walston, lead laboratory planner for FKP Architects of Houston. "The NIH is encouraging this sort of work with grants and is looking to bring science together with engineering."

A four-story atrium, a bistro that's open to the outdoors and a four-story monumental stair ensures that researchers will bump into each other and perhaps share ideas. "You always will have to pass people," Walston said. "It's a trend in buildings to force that kind of interactions and those spontaneous meetings."

Laboratories connect to each other to encourage further communication.

The $83 million, 227,000-sq.-ft. structure will be the largest on the UTSA campus and is built into a hillside to avoid overwhelming the site. The interior allows for office space to convert to laboratory space if needed.

"The building is very modular," Walston said. "They first key is to be flexible and build in excess mechanical capability." The building has 50 percent excess mechanical space, which should accommodate changing needs in the laboratory spaces.

Vaughn Construction is the general contractor on the project, which UTSA officials hope will help the campus enter a new level of science and engineering research. "UTSA's enrollment is increasing tremendously," Vaughn said. "They're trying to transform their campus into a top-level research institution."

Opening Doors in El Paso At the University of Texas at El Paso, the open laboratory concept was taken a step further. In the new Biosciences Facility, interior wall space is being kept at a minimum and scientists literally will be working side-by-side.

The biosciences facility, designed by Watkins Hamilton Ross and built by Vaughn Construction, includes 103,000 sq. ft. dedicated to open-concept research laboratories including a vivarium and aquatic facility, a biosafety level-3 laboratory, offices, an auditorium and seminar space. The building also will house offices for the Border Biomedical Research Center.

Phase one of the building, which includes the exterior of the five-story building, has been completed, and the campus is waiting for final NIH approval of the interior plans before starting construction on that space.

Gregory McNicol, associate vice president for facilities services, said UTEP is receiving about $36 million to $38 million in research dollars each year but would like to be in the $100 million range, which would classify the school as a top-tier research facility.

"With that comes space to do the research in," McNicol said. "This building is strictly research. It's five stories of laboratory. This is not an undergraduate building at all."

Researchers will be assigned bench space in the large laboratories. "It's almost by linear foot," McNicol said. "There's been a lot of work done to make sure people working in similar areas are going to be literally adjacent. That's one of the things the federal government likes."

The building will follow the pattern of Bhutanese architecture established on campus, McNicol said.

Ruiz said the UTEP campus is one of the few in the UT system that has managed to keep a consistent architectural style through the decades. "The eves around the buildings are very deep, which protect from the sun," he added. "It suits the environment. The windows as you go up get narrower. It gives you the impression that they are the same size."

Ruiz said he hopes the UTEP building will be complete in a year to a year and a half.

Coming Together in Houston At the University of Houston, the $81 million, 200,000-sq.-ft. Science and Engineering Research and Classroom Complex, designed by the New Haven, Conn.-based Cesar Pelli & Associates, will bring researchers from engineering, science and math into one complex. Pelli's design consists of three elements - laboratories, classrooms and an auditorium.

A 152,460-sq.-ft., five-story building with 40 research laboratories has an open-concept design. Each lab opens up to the next. A clean room, among the first of its kind in Houston, will include a static- and vibration-free environment.

The building will accommodate interdisciplinary research in nanobiotechnology, DNA chips, protein chips, synthetic medicinal chemistry, drug design, nanolithography, materials and optoelectronics.

The design also will provide general-purpose classroom space with a two-story, 32,360-sq.-ft. wing containing 11 classrooms. The third component is a two-story, circular 550-seat auditorium. The auditorium and classrooms will accommodate more than 1,700 students each teaching hour, which will help the campus meet its need for more classroom space.

The complex is expected to complete in the fall.