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October 1, 2005
Bindley Bioscience Center dedicated at Purdue's Discovery Park
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The doors of the Bindley Bioscience Center in Purdue University's Discovery Park are now officially open.
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As of its dedication on Saturday (Oct. 1), the $15 million facility now makes available to faculty a state-of-the-art, flexible research facility designed to encourage collaboration. Nowhere to be found are thick walls and isolated labs. Instead, the walls are literally movable, and the research atmosphere is all about one scientist running into someone from another field and finding projects they can work on together.
"The Bindley Bioscience Center, like the rest of Discovery Park, is meant to be a place where collaboration among specialists will be the hallmark of great achievement," said Purdue President Martin C. Jischke. "The age of interdisciplinary science is upon us, and this generation of researchers needs a place where they can step outside their fields and attain goals they could not reach on their own. Thanks to the vision of William Bindley and everyone who has worked to create the center, our scientists and engineers now have a space to come together, meet and create."
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The center is named for 1962 alumnus William E. Bindley, who in 2002 contributed $52.5 million to Purdue. Bindley designated $7.5 million of his gift to cover half the cost of the building, with the remainder being funded by earnings from unrestricted endowments.
"This is an exciting time to be involved in the life sciences because we have advanced to the point where we can now address many medical challenges with engineering and nanotechnology," said Bindley, who was present at the dedication. "Development of pharmaceuticals and new therapies that were unimaginable a decade ago are now a possibility with modern science, but succeeding at these endeavors will require scientists to work with people outside individual disciplines so that all of what we know can be applied. But before people can work together, they must have a place to collaborate."
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The Bindley Bioscience Center will be that place for Purdue's faculty, providing 18,000 square feet that can be configured for individual projects as needed. The six large lab spaces are designed to provide exactly what a project needs, and then be custom-reconfigured for the next project.
"The inside of this building was designed with the same organizing principle as a theater," said Charles R. Buck, the center's director of operations. "It has a stripped-down interior that can provide small or large space for a project – the equipment and benches can be moved in accordance with what a researcher needs. Even the utilities drop down from the ceiling."
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The building also boasts an infrastructure that will help scientists make the most of their collaborations. The staff, for example, includes a small group of scientists whose main task is to assist project leaders with incorporating new or highly specialized technologies to broad research questions. These scientists also provide technical expertise once a project is under way.
"You might call us the bioscience consultants of campus," said Jiri Adamec, one of the lead scientists hired specifically for such work. "Traditionally, research service work has involved a clear task and expected result, similar to outsourcing. Today's research problems are complex to the point that one person cannot possibly cover all aspects of a project. So we are there to help scientists understand how to make use of all the marvelous analytical equipment the center can provide. The goal is to help scientists utilize technologies in their research plans and to help interpret results."
Many scientists feel that the increased efficiency the center provides will allow researchers to finish their projects in a fraction of the time.
"To take one example, we have spent four years developing a technology for cancer research called a multispectral cytometer," said J. Paul Robinson, a professor of basic medical sciences and biomedical engineering. "It would have taken us far less time if we had been working in a facility like this one because the opportunity for communication and collaboration is dramatically better. I'm looking forward to working over here."
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In addition to Robinson, scientists and engineers from several Purdue schools and colleges involved in the new center will pursue work related to areas that include:
• Developing miniaturized technologies that can be used in the pharmaceutical industry to discover new drugs.
• Creating sensor implants that might be used to diagnose medical conditions and monitor bodily processes such as irregularities in blood chemistry and heartbeat.
• Making new types of laboratory instrumentation for scientific research and education.
• Harnessing genes and proteins from plant and animal sources to create new medicines and materials.
• Engineering special grafts and synthetic "scaffolds" that will be used to repair and replace human tissue damaged by disease or accidents.
• Using research data to develop computer models of living systems, such as the bacterium Escherichia coli, or E. coli. Findings from an international effort, called the E. coli Model Cell Consortium, will have numerous applications in a wide range of medical and scientific research, including proteomics and virology. Research based at the center will be critical for the consortium's work.
Education of the next generation of scientists also will be a key part of the center's mission.
"In addition to the many graduate students who will be working with their professors, the center will also be a hub for undergraduate research, which is a necessary step in the development of future scientists," said Wilella D. Burgess, managing director of Purdue's Discovery Learning Center. "The first semester, we will have 25 undergraduates pursuing research projects in Discovery Park, and we will expand that number to 50 in the spring of 2006. Many of these students will be involved in projects associated with the Bindley Center.
"Research experience as an undergraduate tends to attract students to graduate school. We would like to contribute to the increase in the number of scientists that our country needs to develop."
The Lilly Endowment has provided $2 million for the development of the undergraduate research program as part of its more than $50 million contribution to Discovery Park. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., said companies across Indiana also should reap the benefits of the center and park's investment in the state's future.
"The Bindley Bioscience Center will provide Indiana's companies, including its small manufacturers, with an important edge through access to new technologies that will allow them to compete and succeed against foreign companies," Bayh said. "The facility will play a crucial role in helping Hoosier manufacturers use cutting-edge technology to compete and succeed in today's fast-paced, global marketplace."
William E. Bindley was born in Terre Haute, Ind., and received his bachelor's degree from Purdue in 1962. In 1968 he founded Bindley Western Industries, a pharmaceutical distributor that became a Fortune 200 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange. In February of 2001 Bindley Western merged with Cardinal Health to create the largest health-care distributor and services provider in the world. Following the merger, Bindley retired as Bindley Western's chairman and CEO and served as a member of the board of directors of Cardinal Health until 2003.
In 2001 Bindley organized Bindley Capital Partners LLC, a private equity and investment firm headquartered in Indianapolis. He also served as chairman of Priority Healthcare Corporation, a provider of biopharmaceuticals and chronic disease therapies with revenues of more than $2 billion, which he founded in 1992. In July it was announced that Priority will be acquired by Express Scripts Inc.
Bindley, who also serves on the board of directors for the Purdue Research Foundation, is a member of the National Steering Committee for the Campaign for Purdue as well as the Dean's Advisory Board of the Krannert School of Management, which recognized him with the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1996 and Krannert Business Leadership Award in 2002.
He is a trustee and past president of the U.S. Ski Team Foundation and is currently vice chairman and a member of the executive committee of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, the national governing body for the U.S. Ski Team. He is a former owner of the Indiana Pacers professional basketball team and also served on the board of governors of the American Basketball Association.
He resides in Naples, Fla., with his wife, Mary Ann.
The dedication is part of a two-week celebration leading up to Purdue's Oct. 15 Homecoming. Events focus on ways Purdue is improving education and helping the state of Indiana as part of the university's strategic plan and $1.5 billion fund-raising campaign.
Writer: Chad Boutin, (765) 494-2081, cboutin@purdue.edu
Sources: William E. Bindley, wbindley@bindley.com
Charles Buck, (765) 494-2208, cbuck@purdue.edu
Wilella Burgess, (765) 494-0668, wburgess@purdue.edu
Jiri Adamec, (765) 496-6148, jadamec@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
Note to Journalists: Broadcast-quality video b-roll is available by contacting Jesica Webb, Purdue News Service, (765) 494-2079, jwebb@purdue.edu.
PHOTO CAPTION:
William E. Bindley embraces his wife, Mary Ann, atop the new Bindley Bioscience Center as Purdue President Martin C. Jischke looks on. Balloons fly to celebrate the dedication of the $15 million center in Purdue's Discovery Park, which will enhance the university's interdisciplinary research. (Purdue photo/Vince Walter)
A publication-quality photo is available at https://www.purdue.edu/uns/uns/images/+2005/bindley-banner.jpg
PHOTO CAPTION:
William E. Bindley and his wife, Mary Ann, stand in the walkway connecting the Bindley Bioscience Center with the Birck Nanotechnology Center in PurdueÕs Discovery Park. Bindley contributed half of the funds toward the $15 million Bindley Bioscience Center, which will provide space for scientists to conduct interdisciplinary research more effectively. (Purdue News Service photo/David Umberger)
A publication-quality photo is available at https://www.purdue.edu/uns/uns/images/+2005/bindley-walkway.jpg
PHOTO CAPTION:
Purdue chemist R. Graham Cooks, at left, works with student Nathan Sanders on a mass spectrometer the Cooks team is developing. Efforts to improve mass spectrometer technology, which could be used in law enforcement and pharmaceutical development, are an example of the interdisciplinary research the Bindley Bioscience Center will accommodate. (Purdue News Service photo/David Umberger)
A publication-quality photo is available at https://www.purdue.edu/uns/uns/images/+2005/cooks-bindley.jpg
PHOTO CAPTION:
The Bindley Bioscience Center is now open for business in Purdue's Discovery Park, where it will provide space for interdisciplinary research on campus. Alumnus William E. Bindley in 2002 contributed $52.5 million to Purdue, $7.5 million of which he designated to cover half the cost of the building. (Purdue News Service photo/David Umberger)
A publication-quality photo is available at https://www.purdue.edu/uns/uns/images/+2005/bindley-dedication.jpg
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