Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS)

Introduction[edit]

The Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS), located on fifteenth street next to Academy Hall, was built in 2004 with the purpose to create a space for different disciplines to collaborate to advance science and technology. Instead of smaller separated laboratories, CBIS offers a way for multiple life science disciplines to have a common space to collaborate. Deepak Vashishth, Ph.D. has been the director of the center since 2013.

Construction[edit]

Ground first broke on May 17, 2002, costing $80 million to construct, as a part of the Rensselaer Plan. This plan was created under the term of former RPI president Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. The plan was made possible by a $130 million donation from an anonymous donor in December of 2000. Construction lasted until September of 2004. In 2001, architecture firms, Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann of Butler, Pennsylvania and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania were selected to design and build CBIS. Chairman of Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann, Richard Rittelmann, was a RPI architecture alum who graduated in 1960 and had much experience in building research and biotechnology laboratory centers. CBIS is the third largest building on RPI's campus, coming in at 218,000 square feet. The building was designed with energy efficiency at mind. The large windows were installed at an angle so the atrium will not need to be heated in the winter or cooled in the summer. There is also a network of natural ventilation throughout the center. The facade of the building on the side facing 15th street utilized red brick so it will blend in with Academy Hall and the south side highlights the large windows and more contemporary architecture as there are less buildings surrounding to clash with.

Current Status[edit]

CBIS is home to 11 core facilities(5). The core facilities occupy 27,350 square feet, with each facility led by a director holding a PhD in their respective research field. The 11 core facilities include research in analytical biochemistry, bioimaging, bioresearch, call and molecular biology, flow cytometry, genomics, microbiology and fermentation, microscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), proteomics, and stem cell research. CBIS is also home to 4 research centers, which are multidisciplinary teams of scientists and engineers working on global challenges(6). These groups include the center for sustainable biomanufacturing, biomedical imaging center, center for stem cell research, and the Heparin center.

CBIS has over 400 offices and 71,500 square feet of laboratory space. It holds two nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometers, one 600 Hz and one 800 Hz, Biocore 3000 Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) Spectrometer, a zebrafish facility holding over 10,000 fish.