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INFRASTRUCTURE
The New Research Building: A Towering Investment in ScienceWith a lone red crane tilting in the distance--and providing the only visible reminder of almost three years of traffic-stopping construction--HMS's new research building was officially unveiled on Sept. 24. The speed with which the massive endeavor was carried out, and the elegance of its final product, call to mind another famously efficient project, the mapping of the human genome.
The NRB was dedicated on Sept. 24. (Photo by Stu Rosner) In fact, it was the human genome project that inspired HMS dean Joseph Martin and a quorum of colleagues to propose the new building in the first place. "We wanted to take advantage of a unique moment in the life sciences," said Martin at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. With the human genetic map in hand, researchers around the world have been racing to find genetic causes and cures for a wide variety of human illnesses. To jump-start that quest, Martin and his colleagues had the idea to gather researchers from the clinical and basic science worlds, including the departments of Pathology and Genetics, together under one, albeit vast, roof. It is clear that the designers at Architectural Resources Cambridge took the theme of collaboration to heart. From its revealing glass facade, which draws in even the casual passerby, to its expansive, open-plan labs and wood-paneled hallways, dotted with nooks, plazas, and gardens, the building seems to be one big invitation to come explore. With its $260-million price tag, this half-million-square-foot structure, including a 10-story tower looming above a four-story wing facing Avenue Louis Pasteur, is one of the grandest buildings to join the campus of HMS and the wider Harvard University. High HopesPride, excitement, and a touch of jealousy were just a few of the sentiments expressed by Harvard University President Lawrence Summers at the dedication symposium that followed the ribbon-cutting ceremony. "This is a spectacular and beautiful facility. I envy those who will have the opportunity to work here, and I am proud to be part of the university that hosts them," he said. "I know that as a consequence of what happens in this beautiful building, many, many people at this university, in this city, in this country, and around the world will be far better off."
Not surprisingly, Martin emphasized the family ties the building would forge. "We sought to make the building a part of, not a satellite of, Harvard Medical School and its teaching hospitals," he said. "Many researchers and clinicians will join hands and forces here to work on the mission of alleviating human suffering caused by disease." Citing a study by economists showing that most Americans, if forced to choose, would rather enjoy the benefits of medical progress over improvements in material standard of living, Summers argued that the building made good business sense. "For us as a society, there is a case to be made that there is no higher return on investment than our investment in the life sciences and in biomedical research," he said. The new research building is actually part of a larger University-wide push to grow the life sciences.
Harvard president Lawrence Summers (left) and HMS dean Joseph Martin cut the ribbon on the new research building, dedicating it to collaborative science. (Photo by Jeff Thiebauth) "Because the moment is so special, because it is so pervasive to the University and because the potential fruits of the life sciences are so important, I am convinced that the choices we make in the life sciences are as central as any choices we make in the University in the decade ahead," he said. His comments were greeted with a pinch of scientific skepticism by the next speaker. "We are grateful, but we'll keep in mind that those are words--and we look forward to translation into action," said Philip Leder, the John Emory Andrus professor of genetics, to much laughter. Speaking on behalf of the more than 800 researchers who will be moving into the building, he turned that same rigor on himself and his nascent community. "This is Harvard's largest building dedicated to research and education. It will really be up to us to make sure it is the most productive," he said. Yet he was far from unaffected by the new building's charm. "A building of this sort cannot be viewed simply as a shelter or a monument to science. It is, in fact, a colossal scientific instrument," he said. Its main role would be to act as a "magnet for scientific interaction, a magnet provided by, for example, this auditorium, our conference rooms, our nooks and crannies, our student hangouts, all of which are so important for the cross-fertilization of ideas," he said. Very Basic ScienceThe next speaker wondered whether a few well-placed huts might not serve the same function. Known for his iconoclasm, Sydney Brenner, who is at the Salk Institute, did not disappoint. "In the early days of molecular biology, people did not build big institutes. Instead they needed to build communities," said Brenner, cowinner of the 2002 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. When he first began exploring questions of genetics in the simple creature C. elegans, only a handful of colleagues joined him. "There are now 2,000 people working on C. elegans. If they were in the same building, it would have been a disaster," he said.One of the dangers posed by big science is the tendency to confuse data with understanding. "We urgently need to understand what we mean by knowledge," he said. "The ability to extract genetic information by machine has led people to think other things can be done the same way." Life scientists also face the challenge of educating the general public about the gamut of scientific discovery, "from what humans do in societies to what cells do inside humans," he said. He concluded by urging scientists to confront two ethical challenges--to "tell the truth, nothing but" and "represent humanity, not just people in our local environment. "I hope these plush surroundings will not deter you," he said. --Misia Landau |
