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NC Research Campus get boosts as a Biotech Hub

KANNAPOLIS - David H. Murdock, owner of Castle & Cooke, Inc. and Dole Food Company, Inc., along with university, federal, state, and community leaders, broke ground today for the centerpiece of the NC Research Campus, the Core Laboratory building. North Carolina will continue to play a lead role in the world's growing biotechnology field and offer exciting new opportunities to its people because of the innovation and partnerships exemplified by the NC Research Campus, state leaders said as they broke ground on the project's first building.

Mr. Murdock also announced today that Duke University will be locating its Institute for Translational Medicine on the NC Research Campus. This facility will be designed to take the basic scientific discoveries and translate them into practical medical solutions. The Institute contemplates doing community-based research that will work in concert with the nutritional and agricultural studies being conducted by UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State University.

Mr. Murdock was joined by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, UNC President Erskine Bowles, Dr. Victor Dzau, Chancellor for Health Affairs of Duke University Medical Center, North Carolina Community College President H. Martin Lancaster, UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser, N.C. State University Chancellor James Oblinger, UNC-Charlotte Chancellor Phillip Dubois, N.C. Sen. Fletcher Hartsell and other regional, state, and higher education officials.

The Core Lab will be built, equipped and funded with a $150 million donation from Mr. Murdock to a not-for-profit foundation dedicated to the NC Research Campus, which he has established. The construction of just the Core Lab portion of the building and the equipment in it will cost approximately $80 million.

"This Core Lab building will be the catalyst for attracting new biotech jobs to the area and will serve as the home to a great collaboration of scientific study that will combine the intellectual power of North Carolina's incredible universities and scientists from private enterprise, working together to perhaps discover breakthroughs in health, nutrition and wellness that have the potential to change the world," said Mr. Murdock. "We are here to push back the frontiers of science."

Sen. Dole praised the foresight and collaboration involved in planning the campus, saying, "I am proud to see Kannapolis moving forward with this tremendous endeavor. David Murdock and the many folks involved have taken one of our state's largest economic losses and turned that into a center of great economic promise."

Sen. Richard Burr added in a forwarded statement, "The Core Laboratory will bring great economic growth and development to Kannapolis and Cabarrus County. I am proud that North Carolina will be a world leader in human nutrition research."

The Core Lab Building, which will consist of 311,000-square-feet, will contain the Core Lab facility and virarium, which will be approximately 80,000-square-feet. The remainder of the building will contain laboratory and office suites for biotech companies and researchers. When complete, the building will be the centerpiece of the 350-acre NC Research Campus, a new biotech hub, which will house up to 100 private companies as well as research institutes from the state's universities in addition to other commercial and residential development. The campus will strengthen the state's world-renowned biotech corridor, which stretches from the Research Triangle Park and the Triad to Asheville and Charlotte, a short drive from the campus.

Gov. Mike Easley, in a forwarded statement, commended the effort and the results to come, "I congratulate Mr. Murdock and his team for the hard work and vision that has made this groundbreaking possible, and I appreciate his commitment to North Carolina. I look forward to working together to develop creative strategies that will bring more jobs and investments to our state."

N.C. Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight added in a forwarded statement, "The Research Campus is a wonderful partnership between business, science and education that will bring great benefit to our state and its people. North Carolina is very fortunate that David Murdock has such a strong vision for better health and nutrition, and a strong desire to create jobs and opportunities in our state."

The Core Lab will be managed by scientists from Duke University and administered by a board composed of scientists from the key stakeholders, such as NC State University, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Charlotte, Duke University and the Dole Nutrition Institute.

"Fostering economic transformation in our state is a strategic priority for the Board of Governors, and I believe the NC Research Campus at Kannapolis offers a rare opportunity for us to focus and leverage UNC faculty research and innovation for the benefit of the entire state," commented UNC Board of Governors Chairman J. Bradley Wilson.

The Core Lab is unique in that it will contain state-of-the-art resources and equipment in one central location in a scope that is unparalleled in any single facility in the world. For example, the facility will contain North Carolina's only 900 MHz Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer for analyzing and dissecting the structure of molecules into their component atoms In addition, the facility will contain an 800 MHz NMR and a 700 MHz NMR for the analysis of smaller molecules. It will also contain a genomics facility capable of rapidly analyzing the genomes of plants, animals and people, an imaging facility that contains everything from electron microscopes to computers that will produce advanced three dimensional reconstructions, and a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) manufacturing facility that can produce both small molecules and biologics.

The building is designed in such a fashion that it will dynamically evolve in order to incorporate any new equipment that is developed. The facility will be staffed with experts in the various disciplines that are represented in the Core Lab, such as genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, molecular imaging, and biochemistry. Any researcher from a company or university residing on the campus will have access to the facilities.

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue noted the transformative impact of the facility in a forwarded statement, "The Research Campus at Kannapolis is a great example of how North Carolina is transitioning to a knowledge based economy. We are so proud of David Murdock and others for bringing this center for research in nutrition, agriculture, health and biotechnology, to an area hit hard by economic loss. It will forever transform Kannapolis and Cabarrus County."

The new building will be located on the site of the former Cannon Mills pond on North Main Street in Kannapolis, which has since been drained, on approximately three acres. The five-story brick building, which will be constructed in the classical Regency style of architecture, will feature a portico which is anchored by four prominent Corinthian columns, a mansard roof, a four story domed rotunda with marble floors, and chimneys that function as exhaust for the laboratories. Due to our consistent concern for the environment, the building will be certified by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and will adhere to National Green Building standards for high performance sustainable buildings.

"The significance of the development of this Core Lab building lies in the fact that it will facilitate the creation of a scientific community, which will enable us to achieve our goal of a transformation of this economy from a manufacturing-based one to one centered on scientific knowledge and research," Mr. Murdock explained.

"BioNetwork, our system-wide biotechnology initiative, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, and its sister colleges in the area will be critical partners in this exciting initiative. All of us look forward to playing our respective roles in training the technical and support staff, which will be so important to the success of this significant research effort. Producing a quality biotech support staff is our goal," stated Martin Lancaster, president of the North Carolina Community College System.

Biotechnology, which is defined as "the application of the principles of engineering and technology to the life sciences," (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition) is one of the preeminent new fields of science and one of the leading industries for job growth. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, from the period from 1993 through 2003, North Carolina experienced a 66.6 percent loss of jobs in textiles, a 28.5 percent loss of jobs in tobacco and a 25.5 percent loss of jobs in furniture. Over the same period of time, North Carolina had a 26.10 percent increase in jobs in biotechnology. In a further comparison, the 2003 average annual wage for a textile employee was $28,757, as compared to $78,862 for the average biotechnology employee.

"Kannapolis..We have liftoff. The future begins today," stated U.S. Congressman Robin Hayes.

"I am extremely excited about the potential that this project has for the city of Kannapolis. Mr. Murdock could have chosen to put this campus anywhere in the world, and his choice of Kannapolis proves that our city is a wonderful place to work and live," said Kannapolis Mayor Robert Misenheimer. "As a city, we are willing to facilitate this project in whatever way necessary."

The architectural design team for the new building is led by David Creech with Narmour Wright Creech Architecture PA from Charlotte, N.C. Land Design, also of Charlotte, serves as landscape architect and civil engineer. Geotechnical work is being provided by Trigon Engineering Structural engineers are King Gunn Associates, PA, and McCracken & Lopez, PA is handling the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering for the facility. HERA (Health Education Research Associates), based in St. Louis, serves as laboratory consultant for the building.

Turner Construction Company has been selected as the General Contractor for the building.

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