Boyda considers KU pharmaceuticals proposal
Kansas pushes for $21 million addition to west-campus biology center
Published on Mon., October 29th, 2007
Representative Nancy Boyda, D-Kan., visited the University of Kansas on Friday to view a multi-million dollar addition to the University’s pharmaceutical program. KU professors presented Boyda with information on how the $21 million addition to the Structural Biology Center will help the University become a major pharmaceuticals manufacturing site.
Keith Yehle, director of government relations at the University, said the excellent pharmaceutical research being done made the west campus site an ideal place for the new buildings.
University Architect, Warren Corman, gives Representative Nancy Boyda a tour of the new $20 million addition to the Structural Biology Center. Boyda, recently, helped get $425,000 in federal funding for research at the KU School of Pharmacy.
Photo by Jessie Fetterling
“The addition will have all of the components of a major drug manufacturer,” Yehle said. “The difference is that we work for Kansas, not stockholders.”
Two new buildings that will house pharmaceutical laboratories, SBC III and SBC IV, are under construction. The KU Center for Research contributed funds for construction of SBC III, and the Kansas Bioscience Authority funded SBC IV. Scott Weir, professor of pharmaceutical chemistry, said the labs would work on every stage of drug production.
“The goal is to be able to discover, develop and deliver the drugs all from one site,” Weir said.
Boyda had helped the Structural Biology Center gain $425,000 in federal funding earlier this year. She stressed the importance of further federal funding to continue the research.
“I’ve had the opportunity to travel internationally, and KU’s pharmacy program is known worldwide. It opens doors,” Boyda said. “This is taking that tradition and giving it a good dose of money.”
Boyda said the new labs continued Kansas’ long history of making groundbreaking discoveries.
“KU has been at the forefront of cutting-edge research for a long time,” Boyda said. “The history goes way back. This is our future.”
—Edited by Chris Beattie
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