Birmingham Business Journal, February 4, 2005

UAB today announced plans to extend its research corridor along
19th Street South with construction of the Southeast Biosafety Laboratory
Alabama Birmingham. The university will demolish two buildings at the 9th Avenue
and 19th Street site to make way for the lab. Construction of the nearly 35,000
square-foot, $22.3 million facility is scheduled to begin at the end of this
year, with completion anticipated in late 2007. UAB received almost $16 million
from the National Institutes of Health in September 2003 to construct the
research facility. In addition, the State of Alabama has committed $5 million to
the construction and UAB is providing nearly $1.4 million. The lab will help
develop the next generation of vaccines, drugs and diagnostic tests for emerging
infections such as SARS and West Nile. The facility also will house research
that will defend against organisms such as pox viruses that might be used in
bioterrorists attacks. Scientific experts decided after the Sept. 11, 2001
attacks that the nation needed additional laboratory facilities research these
diseases and biological agents. Subsequent anthrax cases and spread of diseases
such as West Nile virus and SARS also prompted their decision. UAB received one
of the initial 11 grants after the NIH asked for proposals on such labs.
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