Oregon Health & Science University today broke ground on its new cancer research building, nearly a year after completing the $1 billion Knight Cancer Challenge.
The $160 million Knight Cancer Institute research building will sit just north of the Collaborative Life Sciences Building on Southwest Moody Avenue. The new building, to be completed in July 2018, will encompass 320,000 square feet and allow 600 researchers to come together in a sort of vertical campus.
The design incorporates all sorts of features to foster face-to-face encounters and collaboration, from the stairwells to the lab design.
A who’s who of state dignitaries was on hand today at the groundbreaking.
“Today is not just about building a building,” said Oregon Gov. Kate Brown. “This marks a new era in cancer medicine, discoveries and cures. In Oregon, we blaze trails.”
Last June, OHSU announced it had raised $500 million for cancer research, triggering an identical matching gift from Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife Penny.