The Life Sciences Complex | A new formula

Syracuse University has never spent like this for a building. And no university has ever attempted this before.

So yes, the construction work at the new Life Sciences Complex is groundbreaking.

With a price tag of $107 million, the complex is the largest and most expensive academic building project SU has ever undertaken.

When the new complex opens next year, SU will be the first institution nationwide to house its teaching and research facilities for the biology and chemistry departments under one roof.

Administrators and faculty hope it will bolster SU's reputation as a science-oriented institution, in terms of both undergraduate instruction and faculty research.

"It's a very important moment for Syracuse to be showing such leadership nationally in the life sciences," said Cathryn Newton, dean of The College of Arts and Sciences.

Planning for the building began about 10 years ago. The principal goal of the building's design was to allow opportunities for students, professors and researchers to interact across majors and disciplines, said Jon Zubieta, chair of the chemistry department.

SU faculty believes that the most exciting research will come at the intersection of the life sciences, which include biology, chemistry and biochemistry, said John Russell, chair of the biology department.

Robert Doyle, a professor in the chemistry department, recently made headlines with a discovery that could have significant implications in diabetes research. Doyle and his team found a way to bond insulin with vitamin B-12, allowing the drug to be administered orally to rats. This could reduce the need for daily insulin injections among diabetics.

Doyle's work is an example of the quality of research that SU hopes to attract with the new building - interdisciplinary work that spans the fields of chemistry and biology, and can be harnessed for real-world application.

Doyle and his research team will now work to move the research to a more clinical setting, where it can eventually be tested in humans.

Newton said young, accomplished scientists like Doyle represent SU's commitment to scholarship in action - Chancellor Nancy Cantor's catchphrase - and the hiring of new, talented faculty is as important as the physical construction of the new Life Sciences Complex.

"We've been working to bring together the building project and the hiring of new faculty to create a climate that was ambitious and interdisciplinary. That has been an intentional strategy of these departments for at least the last eight years," said Newton, who will be stepping down as Arts and Sciences dean before the building opens.

Future research at SU is being focused around cell signaling and biocomplexity, which require the expertise of scientists across disciplines in the life sciences.

The construction of the new building allows for these developments by placing scientists who research different topics related to similar problems near one another. These interactions are critical for the exchange of ideas and information, said Chris Boddy, an assistant professor in the chemistry department.

"You get view points you wouldn't normally get, you find out about experimental techniques you wouldn't normally have known about. Your colleagues can suggest experiments you've never heard of before that can answer questions you never even thought were there," Boddy said.

Research at SU

Boddy also recently completed landmark research that exemplifies the types of developments SU's faculty is hoping the new Life Sciences Complex will bring.

His research centers around sialic acid, which is important to immune response and brain development. Sialic acid is found naturally in breast milk but isn't currently added in infant formula. Boddy's team discovered a way to make sialic acid inexpensively and easily, which could have significant commercial implications to formula sales.

The team has a patent pending on the process and is in negotiations with The Martek Biosciences Corporation to license and manufacture the product for use in infant formula. Martek estimates a $200-300 million a year market for sialic acid. It will take years to develop that market, but within five to 10 years, SU could bring in as much as $12 million annually from the deal, Boddy said.

Boddy said he and his team never imagined that their research in an academic lab could have real applications that could reach millions of people.

"It's mind blowing, in a sense," Boddy said. "It doesn't happen very often in the academic world."

Russell, the biology chair, said the promise of the new Life Sciences Complex has successfully attracted young, established scientists like Boddy, who have in turn established quality research programs.

Faculty members have chosen SU after studying at premier institutions like Johns Hopkins University, the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University. In large part, the promise of the complex is what attracts them, Russell said.

New faculty is critical to the growth of the life sciences departments, Russell said, which has seen a 50 percent turnover of new faculty hired since he arrived at SU in 1999. He added that the current Biology Research Laboratories building looks like an "early modern county jail" and is inadequate for modern studies of life sciences.

"It's very competitive to get top-notch life scientists; they can go lots of places, and when you show them facilities like we're in now, they smile very politely and don't come," Russell said.

The new building will feature modern equipment and state-of-the-art laboratories, designed with the present and future needs of the science departments in mind.

High-caliber faculty is more likely to choose SU now because of its impressive facilities that rival other research institutions nationally, Newton said. Outdated labs in Bowne Hall and elsewhere did little to woo potential candidates.