PULLMAN, Wash. – Under a sunny sky, officials from Washington State University and the Gates Foundation broke ground on a 62,000-square-foot, three-story flagship research building for a new School for Global Animal Health. The first of its kind research facility will house a state-of-the-art infectious disease research center for investigating emerging disease. From Avian influenza, to West Nile virus, nearly all new diseases in humans come from animals.
"We must as an institution strive to improve quality of life," said WSU President Elson S. Floyd. "It begins here and will ripple out to the rest of the world."
Construction will begin immediately thanks to a $25 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The balance of the $35 million total cost of the first-phase project will be comprised of bonds issued by the State of Washington and private gifts to the university.
"This project echoes our mission that all lives have equal value," said Amy Carter, with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, adding that most of the world's rural poor rely on animals for their very survival. "WSU and the School for Global Animal Health are uniquely positioned to solve these issues and help these populations."
The Gates Foundation grant constitutes the largest single private financial commitment to WSU in the history of the university The long-term capital plan for the School for Global Animal Health includes additional laboratory space for emerging disease diagnosis, surveillance and test development.
Zoonotic diseases, or infections transmitted from animals to humans, account for more than 70 percent of human infectious diseases, with a disproportionate impact in the developing world. WSU is pursuing innovative solutions for the prevention of zoonotic diseases through vaccination and other strategic interventions in animal populations and the environment that will reduce pathogen levels below thresholds required for transmission.
The new research building will support scientific staff with two floors of research laboratory space and an administrative wing containing conference rooms, administrative offices, and eventual access to a planned second facility providing high-level bio-security laboratory space for surveillance and test development for diseases such as avian flu and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease). All construction plans will utilize state-of-the-art energy management and sustainability strategies.
The building is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2012.