HARVARD INSTITUTES OF MEDICINE
TO OPEN IN SPRING

"I am delighted by the forthcoming completion of the laboratories at the Harvard Institutes of Medicine," said Dean Daniel Tosteson. "I hope that it will be a place that will foster collaboration and cooperation between scientists in the Quadrangle, from the Harvard affiliated hospitals and from industry."

The 10-story building, which sits on a three-acre site on Avenue Louis Pasteur, has about 300,000 square feet of floor space. Harvard University purchased the building, which was formerly Boston English High School, from the Boston Redevelopment Authority for about $13.3 million, including legal costs. The total cost of the project will be $90 million, according to Norman Neiterman, director of major projects, who gave an update on the construction to HMS faculty and staff on Nov. 1.

"Harvard is acting as a developer," Neiterman said, adding that "this project is being heavily funded by hospitals-Beth Israel, the Brigham and the Deaconess. They are the participants. They are the main tenants."

Norman Neiterman, director of major projects, is overseeing construction of the Harvard Institutes of Medicine.

Beth Israel will occupy three floors. It will house its medical labs on the ninth and tenth floors, and its neurology research laboratories on the eighth floor. Brigham and Women's Hospital will lease floors five through seven for its thyroid, renal, orthopedics, neurology and genetics laboratories. Deaconess will lease part of the first floor and floors two and three for its hematology, oncology, radiology and cardiology labs and a joint center for magnetic resonance.

Once it is fully occupied, the Harvard Institutes of Medicine will be home to 500 to 700 scientists. The Harvard Institute of Human Genetics will occupy the fourth floor. An animal facility will be housed in the basement.

The renovation of the 25-year-old school building was undertaken as a "core-and-shell" strategy, Neiterman said. This enabled architects and engineers to design the infrastructure before knowing who would occupy the floors. All 10 floors have the same basic lighting and ventilating equipment, which saved substantial renovation costs, Neiterman said.

As part of the renovation, an addition to the high school that contained an auditorium, gymnasium and pool was demolished. In its place, a parking lot has been developed that will hold 335 cars. Harvard also upgraded the site's outdoor plaza. The medical school has hired The Codman Co., Inc., to manage the facility.

A Home for the Gene Docs

"Harvard Medical School is very, very powerful in basic and fundamental genetic studies. In the translation of these genetic studies to the bedside, we are maybe less powerful than we ultimately can and will be. Considering this, we felt it was important to begin an effort at coordinating the genetic activities at our hospitals and our basic science laboratories," Leder said.

The creation of the Harvard Institute of Human Genetics is also helping the medical school and its affiliates recruit top scientists to direct this collaborative research effort. Children's Hospital, together with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, has recruited Richard Mulligan, currently at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to head the working group in gene therapy. Mulligan pioneered the use of viral vectors for transporting genes into cells.

Beth Israel has selected Bill Strauss, who studies aging and the genetics of aging, as its resident member of the institute. Richard Junghanf, who is an expert in recombinant DNA techniques and gene therapy, will represent Deaconess Hospital. Massachusetts General Hospital, which for the first time will have laboratory space set aside at HMS, will identify its first resident within the month, as will Brigham and Women's, he said.

The institute will provide facilities for research and training, Leder said. It will supply support services for synthesizing and sequencing DNA, and provide the researchers with opportunities for engineering animal models of human disease.

The researchers also will be able to go on medical rounds related to genetic ailments, and each month there will be presentations of patients with clinical problems involving genetic factors. This exposure to patients is designed to help the scientists transform basic discoveries into bedside treatments.

--Colleen Sauber

Harvard Institutes of Medicine

Floor 9
BIH Medicine Lab

Floor 8
BIH Neuorology Lab

Floor 7
Brigham and Women's Hospital Neurology Lab

Floor 6
BWH Neurology, Genetics and Orthopedics Labs

Floor 5
BWH Thyroid and Renal Labs

Floor 4
Harvard Institute of Human Genetics

Floor 3
Deaconess Hospital Hematology and Oncology Labs

Floor 2
DH - unassigned

Floor 1
DH Radiology, Cardiology and JCMR Labs

Basement
Animal facilities, mechanical and electrical rooms, chemical storage and supports