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Michigan State University (MSU) has opened a bioengineering facility at its campus in East Lansing, Michigan.

Opened in October, the facility has been developed on a 130,000ft² area on the south side of the MSU campus. Construction began in September 2013 and was completed by December 2015 at a cost of $69.8m.

The facility is intended to develop bioengineering and engineering health sciences at the university.

Design of the Michigan State University bioengineering facility

The facility spans four floors, with an elegant staircase in the atrium resembling a DNA strand. The facility’s laboratories feature open-floor plans, with a modular design to provide flexibility and promote collaborative biomedical research. The laboratories’ design allows bench experiments and computational analysis to be integrated at a single location.

The laboratories also include space for an on-site imaging facility.

Facilities of the Michigan State University bioengineering building

The bioengineering facility houses the College of Engineering, the College of Human Medicine and the College of Natural Science. It has enough space for new recruits and collaborators to work together at one location.

The facility also houses the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, as well as a research centre for basic and applied research. It is interlinked to the Clinical Centre C-Wing and Life Science B-Wing buildings, as well as the radiology building, which will help in sharing resources in order to create a biomedical research hub on the campus.

Automated research laboratories, offices, collaborative rooms for shared equipment, and a safe parking facility for two-wheeled vehicles are also part of the facility.

Research activities of the MSU bioengineering facility

The bioengineering facility will focus on cardiac computational modelling, which will help in understanding the causes of heart diseases to develop sophisticated treatments.

The development of electrodes implanted in the brain will be another area of focus. Electrodes will be used to understand brain function and develop treatments for specific neurological disorders.

The facility will also carry out research related to lower-leg prosthetics, hand function and the human body’s seating mechanics. It will allow collaboration among many on-campus units such as nursing, osteopathic medicines, veterinary medicines, and communication arts and science.

Contractors involved with the Michigan State University facility

US-based civil construction firm Clarks Construction was awarded the contract to provide construction services for the project. Local architecture firm Integrated Design Solutions provided architectural, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, interior designing and technological designing services for the project.

Sustainability profile of the bioengineering facility

The facility is designed to achieve 20% savings in energy consumption by 2020 through the use of energy recovery systems and MSU’s co-generation plant. It is equipped with a water-based and air-based recovery system, which helps to recover energy from both air and water.

Financing for the project

The State of Michigan contributed $30m to the facility’s development, while the university contributed the rest of the funding.