It took nearly a year to review requests and select the investigators who would move into the Durham Research Center.

By Karen Burbach

Unlike the popular television show, "Trading Spaces," where individuals have 48 hours to redecorate one room, a team led by Thomas Rosenquist, Ph.D., spent nearly 365 days "assigning spaces" in 116 new Durham Research Center laboratories.

"Deciding who would relocate into the new research building was difficult because UNMC has many outstanding investigators and research projects," said Rosenquist, vice chancellor for research at UNMC. "We've tried to select the brightest stars in our research galaxy."

For the past year, Rosenquist has led a UNMC team in surveying research space needs and requirements, developing guidelines for who might move into the building, and hearing proposals and requests for the state-of-the-art space.

In the end, assignments to the 289,000-square-foot facility were given to investigators who have a history of success in obtaining extramural support, particularly those who are able to sustain funding from the National Institutes of Health. Space also was given to researchers who showed the greatest capacity to integrate with other faculty in such strategic research areas as cancer, heart disease, neurosciences, transplant biology, genetics and eye disorders.

"The Durham Research Center enables us to arrange UNMC researchers into multi-departmental, multi-disciplinary research groups for the first time ever," Rosenquist said. "This will result in interactive research programs and provide for greater grant funding opportunities."

Space was not assigned only along traditional departmental lines. The team also respected the special interests of the Durham Research Center donors, designating research floors three through eight in accord with their research interests.

In all, the "stars" in the Durham Research Center have nearly $55 million in total extramural research support. About 25 percent of the space has been reserved for expanding existing research or recruiting scientists who may enhance research in UNMC's strategic research areas, said Rosenquist.

"Although the Durham Research Center showcases some of our top scientists, UNMC has many talented and rising stars across campus in buildings such as the Munroe-Meyer Institute, the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center, the Lied Transplant Center and Poynter, Wittson and Swanson halls," Rosenquist said. "As scientists, our goal is to advance medical science, and we will pursue this goal, regardless of the location of our laboratories."