NEWS
| Construction Update: On track |
11/12/07
The construction work is on schedule and the building is expected to be delivered in Q1 2008. At this stage, it would be ready to start operating as a standard BSL-2 laboratory. However being a level 3 Biocontainment facility it will undergo a commissionning process that will probably take several month. The commissionning process is an audit, ran by an independent agency, that will review and test thoroughly that all the requirements are met before allowing the research to actually start:
|
| NIAID Biodefense Networking Meeting |
10/23/07 The Annual NIAID Biodefense Network Meeting will be held this year from the evening of October 29th until noon on October 31st at the Hotel Palomar in Washington, D.C., near Dupont Circle. During this event, discussions and oral addresses will cover topics like :
|
| Community Liaison Committee: |
09/25/07 |
| Howard T. Ricketts Regional Biocontainment Laboratory enters operational planning and construction phase |
09/13/06 
Fences have been erected, the site has been cleared and utility installation is underway for the Howard T. Ricketts Regional Biocontainment Laboratory slated for completion in February 2008. Turner Construction won the contract to build the laboratory last June. With construction volume of $7 billion in 2005, Turner ranks first or second in major segments of the construction industry. Turner maintains a nationwide network of offices and a staff of more than 5,000 employees, performing work on over 1,500 projects each year. Turner Logistics will coordinate large equipment purchases. |
| GLRCE and Harris School Seminar |
|
2/1/06 The seminar will be held on Tuesday, February 21, 2006 at the University of Chicago Gleacher Center, 450 North Cityfront Plaza Drive, Room 600. A buffet lunch will be served at 11:30 am, and the discussion will begin at 12:00 pm. Please R.S.V.P. to Jennifer Gage at 773.702.1505 or jcgage@uchicago.edu to attend the meeting. |
| NIAID Biodefense Network meeting |
| 10/19/2005 RBL and GLRCE scientific and administrative leadership met in Washington, D.C. with representatives from all other RBLs and RCEs and with NIAID officials. |
| NIAID funds four additional RBLs |
| 10/3/2005 The new NIAID-funded labs will be built at George Mason University, Tufts University, the University of Louisville, and the University of Hawaii at Manoa. With the addition of these labs, the total number of RBLs funded by NIAID has increased to thirteen. |
| University of Chicago awarded supplemental funding |
8/1/2005 |
| Ricketts Lab community outreach event held |
| 7/26/2005 On July 26 the University of Chicago held a community outreach event at Argonne National Laboratory. The event included presentations, posters, and video. Researchers and safety and security personnel involved with the project were available to answer questions. >News release >Additional meeting materials |
| Two new RCEs announced |
| 6/1/2005 Two new RCEs were established by NIAID, one led by the University of California, Irvine, and one led by Colorado State University. These new RCEs will strengthen NIAID's biodefense network across the country by adding new areas of expertise and new research on poorly understood diseases. |
| Is the Homeland Prepared? Coordinating Scientific and Public Policy Responses to Bioterrorism, Part II |
| 5/9/2005 Dr. George Atkinson, Science and Technology Advisor to the Secretary of State, The third Health and Security Policy Briefing, cosponsored by the Great Lakes Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases and The Harris School of Public Policy Studies Center for Policy Practice. |
| Second National RCE meeting held |
| 3/13/2005 The second national RCE meeting was held in Galveston, Texas, from March 13-15, 2005. |
| Is the Homeland Prepared? Coordinating Scientific and Public Policy Responses to Bioterrorism, Part I |
| 2/23/2005 A panel discussion and luncheon sponsored by the Great Lakes Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Harris School's Center for Policy Practice. Featured in the panel discussion will be Dr. William Bicknell, Professor of International Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Dr. Monica Schoch-Spana, Senior Fellow, Center for Biosecurity, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Dr. Lawrence Kerr, Assistant Director for Homeland Security, Office of Science and Technology Policy. The panel discussion will be followed by an open question and answer session. Please R.S.V.P. by February 14, 2005 to Jason Gorczyca at 773-702-5063 or gorczyca@uchicago.edu to attend this event. |
| Second annual GLRCE meeting |
| 12/3/2004 The second annual GLRCE meeting took place December 3-4, 2004 at the Illinois Beach Resort and Conference Center in Zion, IL. |
| Health & Security Policy Briefing |
| 11/10/2004 The first in a series of panel discussions examining the issue of biodefense, including bioterrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, from a multidisciplinary perspective. Participants in the first panel were Raymond Zilinskas of the Montery Institute of International Studies in California, and Barry Kellman of the DePaul University College of Law. |
| $18 Million NIAID Funded Bioinformatics Center Established |
| 9/20/2004 The Computation Institute, a joint project of the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory, has been awarded an $18 million contract by NIAID to establish a bioinformatics center. The funds will be used to creat a National Microbial Pathogen Data Resource Center (NMPDR). The NMPDR will provide researchers with a database of genomic information on scores of deadly microorganisms and will support the GLRCE's efforts to develop new vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics against bioterror agents and emerging infectious diseases. |
Howard T. Ricketts Lab |
 |