University wants to streamline funding for biomedical research buildings before state falls farther behind competitors.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Mary Jane Smetanka
March 2, 2006
In an attempt to speed up state funding in the highly competitive medical research field, the University of Minnesota is proposing a new process for funding five buildings that school officials say are critical to both the university and the state's future
In a proposal unveiled today, officials want the state to authorize $330 million in debt to create a bond fund for a new Minnesota Biomedical Sciences Research Facilities Authority. Over a decade, that group would approve state bonds for research facilities, removing approval of individual projects from the Legislature.
University officials say Minnesota is losing ground in biomedical research because the politics of bonding drags out funding and delays completion of critically needed new laboratories. The two newest research buildings on the Twin Cities campus, the Molecular and Cellular Biology Building and the McGuire Translational Research Facility, took four bonding cycles, or eight years, to get full funding.
Read the full story at: http://www.startribune.com/587/story/280901.html
Posted by reas0011 at March 2, 2006 2:57 PM