January 31, 2003

The new research building, center, as seen from the corner of Blossom and Parkman streets. The Holiday Inn is on the right.

New Charles River Plaza building to house MGH research centers

Four new MGH research centers will find a home in a new building to be constructed in Charles River Plaza, adjacent to the main hospital campus. The multidisciplinary centers will incorporate both current MGH research teams and new investigators and have been designed to help meet the medical and scientific challenges of the 21st century.

When the owners of Charles River Plaza announced plans for an additional building two years ago, MGH research leadership looked into whether the facility could help alleviate the hospital's continuing need for research space. A task force formed by the Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) investigated not only how to take advantage of a potential new facility but also how best to set research priorities for the near future.

"The hospital has added several research facilities in recent years, but nothing on this scale since the CNY Building 149 was completed in the 1980s," says Daniel K. Podolsky, MD, incoming chair of ECOR and leader of the planning task force.

The group analyzed the current MGH research program, looked at priorities not addressed by existing activities and developed a plan for four centers that would stretch across traditional departmental lines. "When we asked what kind of science would have the greatest impact on medicine in the future, these key areas emerged," says Podolsky (see list, below).

The new building will be built over and encompass the existing 185 Charles River Plaza, which currently houses MGH Training and some Radiology offices. Most of the 6 1/2 new stories to be built, will be devoted to MGH research. The building is expected to be completed in 2005.

"In addition to allowing the recuitment of new investigators," says Richard Bringhurst, MD, co-chair of the task force, "the four centers will help bring together some programs that have become fragmented and give some collaborating groups the advantage of physical proximity."

MGH research centers planned for Charles River Plaza:

Center for Integrative and Computational Biology
Development and application of systems and equipment to analyze complex genetic, protein and cellular information. Director: Brian Seed, PhD

Center for Regenerative Medicine and Technology
Studies of stem cell biology, tissue engineering, development of sensory and imaging technologies. Director: David Scadden, MD

Center for Human Genetics
Human genetics research, clinical genetics, DNA and tissue banking, genotyping. Director: to be named

Center for Physiologic Genomics
Studies of how a genome relates to physical function, development of model organisms, proteomics. Director: to be named