By Jackie Brinkman | University Communications
AURORA, Colo. - A new venture next to the Anschutz Medical Campus will take the unusual step of combining research, business and education under one roof.
The University of Colorado’s innovative Bioengineering program will be located on the first floor of the 112,000 square foot Bioscience 2 building (artist rendering pictured above), offering classes in bioengineering. Its mission is to improve human health through the application of engineering principles, ideas, methods, and inventions in order to solve important clinical problems.
Groundbreaking is scheduled April 2.
The first two floors of the four-story building will house classes in bioengineering. From there the students can move up a floor and practice what they have learned and then move on to begin their own commercial bioscience company on the top floors.
The building is adjacent to the Anschutz Medical campus and will be located on property the university purchased from the Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority (FRA). By locating the bioengineering program in the same building as commercial life science companies, the new Bioscience 2 building will encourage collaboration between students and industry.
This is an unusual concept that achieves the mission of the FRA and University of Colorado to imagine the evolution of a historic army medical center into one of the world’s most forward-looking bioscience districts.
“The new Bioscience 2 building will not only be home to the University’s innovative bioengineering program, it will provide a unique opportunity for commercial bioscience companies to interact on a daily basis with highly talented students from the university” says Steve VanNurden, President and CEO of the FRA.
Robin Shandas, professor and chair of the Department of Bioengineering at CU Denver and Anschutz says, “One idea we will be exploring within this building and our bioengineering program is how to train students to create new biomedical companies that can then use the FRA and bioscience park space to launch these efforts, a particularly unique aspect for Colorado and Aurora.”
Facts about Bioscience 2 building: