The research enterprise at the Miller School of Medicine has marked a milestone, passing the $200 million mark for sponsored grants and contracts for the first time. “Our researchers brought in $210.8 million in funding during fiscal year 2008—a remarkable testament to our growing research portfolio,” says Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.

That same explosive growth has created a pressing need for more laboratory space. As a result, construction has started on a two-story wet lab research building that’s expected to come online in March.

Located on the medical campus’s southeastern corner, in the east parking lot of the Sieron Building, the facility will open its doors to keep up with the more than 100 new recruits hired by Goldschmidt over the past two years.

Goldschmidt’s efforts have complemented the University of Miami’s stated goal of moving up in the NIH research rankings. The new wet lab space is slated to house between 10 and 15 faculty clinician scientists. It will also serve as swing space for the growing needs of current faculty as existing lab spaces around the medical campus are upgraded.

The 23,000-square-foot facility will be constructed of concrete and steel to withstand a Category 4 hurricane and will be approved for the storage and manipulation of Biosafety Level 2 materials. It will augment the new nine-story, 188,000-square-foot Biomedical Research Building that’s scheduled to open in February.

“By taking advantage of new building technologies, we can construct great modern labs and make them available in the shortest time frame possible,” says Richard J. Bookman, Ph.D., executive dean for research and research training. “That, in turn, allows us to keep moving our research enterprise forward.”