ATLANTA, GA — Emory University recently broke ground on a research facility that will focus on innovation, synergy and impact for biomedical research. Biomedical research studies the prevention and treatment of disease and the genetic and environmental factors related to disease in order to find new ways of improving health. The new facility, Health Sciences Research Building II (HSRB II), will be built on Haygood Drive beside its sister facility, Health Sciences Research Building I, which opened in 2013.

Plans for HSRB II include six stories above ground and two stories below ground, offering more than 346,000 square feet of research space for imaging sciences, biomedical engineering, cardiovascular medicine, child health including cancer, adult cancer, inflammation, immunity and immunotherapeutics, emerging infections and other interdisciplinary research programs.

Construction is scheduled to begin in January 2020, with a targeted completion date of April 2022. HOK is designing the new HSRB II, with JE Dunn Construction building the facility.

“This new building will help enhance Emory’s mission of advancing collaborative and translational research across many areas throughout the Woodruff Health Sciences Center,” said Jonathan S. Lewin, MD, Executive Vice President for Health Affairs at Emory University and President and CEO of Emory Healthcare. “HSRB II will provide a unique setting for researchers to focus on targeted discoveries and developments. We thank the Woodruff Foundation for its gift, helping to make this facility possible.”

Core research functions in the building will include advanced imaging, flow cytometry, a biorepository for storing biological material, genomics and other technologies. The building will include both laboratory and collaborative space for researchers. An innovation zone, including an accelerator space for start-ups and entrepreneurial research, is planned to promote translation of scientific discoveries.

“HSRB II will facilitate our vision of reimagining medicine ⁠— providing an innovative and collaborative environment that encourages us to tackle the most challenging problems in biomedical research and human health and providing the best chance of success,” said Vikas P. Sukhatme, MD, ScD, Dean of Emory University School of Medicine.

“HSRB II is in the vanguard of new biomedical research buildings, such as the Francis Crick Institute in London, creating a remarkable work environment, connectivity and synergy⁠ — open labs and workspaces with soft barriers⁠ — to facilitate discovery of the biology underlying human health,” said David Stephens, MD, Vice President of Research for the Woodruff Health Sciences Center.

The team is targeting LEED Gold certification for the building. HOK’s design supports Emory’s sustainability efforts and goals for aggressive energy use reduction with features including occupancy sensors for interior lighting control; automated shades for limiting heat gain and controlling glare; a solar panel array; a green roof plaza along the side of the building facing Emory’s Lullwater Preserve; a geothermal well field below the surface parking; permeable paving at the surface parking; a rainwater capture system; and indoor bicycle storage.

The new facility will be funded in part from a $400-million gift from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, with $200 million of that gift directed for biomedical research. The additional $200 million will help build Emory’s newest cancer facility, Winship at Midtown, which broke ground in November at Emory University Hospital Midtown.