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Print Edition StoriesWednesday, March 25, 2009
Tufts’ animal biosafety lab gets $9.5M from MLSC
By Mass High Tech staff
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Tufts University’s Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in Grafton is getting a $9.5 million grant to complete the building of a biosafety lab following this afternoon’s meeting of the board of directors of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center.
The board voted today to approve the $9.5 million to finish the New England Regional Biosafety Laboratory at the Tufts vet school. The $33.7 million project has also been backed by funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), as well as additional matching funds from Tufts University, according to officials.
The MLSC is the Waltham-based agency that oversees distributing the funds voted by the legislature as part of the 2008 $1 billion Life Sciences Act.
The new biosafety lab building project has created 56 full-time equivalent jobs in design, development and construction of the facility, and approximately 29 long-term positions for scientists, research technicians, officials said, who noted other facility staff are anticipated.
The New England Regional Biosafety Laboratory is one of thirteen Biosafety Level 3 research facilities constructed around the country with substantial funding from the NIAID. The facility will include 41,000 square feet of space, with research laboratories, an insectary for study of diseases transmitted by insects, an aerobiology suite for airborne pathogens research and high-containment animal housing.
So far, the MLSC board of directors has authorized $24 million in capital project funding for various projects, leveraging the more than $275 million in private or matching investment.
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