University of Louisville Awarded $22 Million For Biosafety Lab

The University of Louisville has received its largest-ever grant from the National Institutes of Health to establish a regional biosafety laboratory that will be used to study and respond to outbreaks of infectious diseases. The grant, which totals nearly $22 million, will be used to build and furnish a $34.6 million laboratory on U of L's Shelby Campus, near the intersection of Shelbyville Road and Hurstbourne Parkway. It will be called the Center for Predictive Medicine. The funding, provided through the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is from $125 million set aside in the 2005 budget to fund new Level 3 labs. U of L will provide the remaining funds needed to build the 45,000-square-foot facility by 2009, U of L President James Ramsey said during a news conference Wednesday.