Facilities

The University of Iowa has been one of collaboration and sharing of resources and expertise. The University and the Carver College of Medicine are highly supportive of multidisciplinary research. This is evidenced by the University's continuing commitment to support state-of-the-art core facilities, upgrade existing research space, and construct new clinical, research and education facilities. The following section describes the facilities, research cores and research centers, with particular emphasis on how they apply to this Center. The achievements, funding levels and sources of support for research faculty, as well as training programs, are also highlighted. For additional information visit the renowned Iowa Virtual Hospital.

University of Iowa Health Science Campus

The UI Hospitals and Clinics

The UI Hospitals and Clinics is the state’s only comprehensive academic medical center. The 874-bed teaching hospital complex employs more than 10,000 people and has an annual budget of ~$1.6 billion. It serves as the tertiary-care center for a region encompassing some four million people in Iowa, Southwest Wisconsin, Northwest Illinois, and Northeast Missouri. Since the early 1970's, there has been an enormous building program involving the construction of new hospital facilities. Among the new hospital buildings is the new Stead Family Children’s Hospital, completed in 2016. Since 1970, the total expenditures for new hospital construction at the UI Hospitals and Clinics have exceeded $1 billion. As a result of this major building program, the UI Hospitals and Clinics is a splendid modern medical facility that provides tertiary care to patients and resources for clinical investigation of the highest quality.

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center

The Department of VA Medical Center, with a bed capacity of 93, is adjacent to the UI Hospitals and Clinics and is linked to the complex by the Hardin Health Sciences Library. The VA Hospital is completely integrated with the Carver College of Medicine. The same students and house staff provide care in both institutions, and all the VA attending physicians have full University faculty appointments. The VA Hospital has a very active research program; since 2000, research funds awarded annually to its investigators (on average, 60) have been ~$50 million.  

Medical Research Center Building

The Medical Research Center Building is located between the Medical Laboratories Building and UI Hospitals and Clinics. It physically connects these buildings and consists of about 100,000 square feet of laboratory space. This space was constructed entirely through private donations, which demonstrates the widespread public support for biomedical research within the State of Iowa and the commitment of the University administration to foster this area of research.

Medical Laboratories Building

This building houses the many research laboratories of the clinical departments and a subset of the animal quarters. The Carver College of Medicine has made a major commitment to programs in molecular medicine, including the renovation of two floors of the Northeast wing (7,500 square feet) during the past three years. Additional renovations were just completed on laboratories in the Southeast wing, including the space dedicated to the Comparative Pathology Core directed by Dr. Katherine Gibson Corley (Core 4 of this P30). The laboratory space for the Clinical Core (Core 6 of this P30), directed by Dr. Katie Larson Ode, also exists in this building. Clinical space utilized by the Clinical Core is in the ICTS. 

Bowen Science Building

The Bowen Science Building provides laboratory facilities for most of the basic science investigators in the Carver College of Medicine. This building is adjacent to the Medical Laboratories Building and Eckstein Medical Research Building, and the three are joined by a skywalk and tunnel. Dr. Engelhardt’s laboratory and the Animal Models Core he directs (Core 3 of this P30) are located in this facility, as is the University’s second largest animal-care facility, which houses the ferrets. 

Eckstein Medical Research Building

The Eckstein Medical Research Building is located adjacent to the Medical Laboratories Building and the Bowen Science Building. This facility provides space for interdisciplinary research programs. A major priority in the assignment of laboratories is to promote and support new interdisciplinary programs. This building also houses several key core facilities including the Electron Spin Resonance Facility, Iowa Institute for Genetics (IIGH) Genomics Division, Central Microscopy Research Facility, and Flow Cytometry Facility. The Vector Core directed by Dr. Patrick Sinn (Core 2 of this P30) is located in this building.

Medical Education and Research Facility

This building represents phase 1 of a biomedical research facility construction project on the UI Health Sciences campus and was completed in 2001. It provides 160,000 net square feet, including 100,000 for research. It is connected to the Eckstein Medical Research Building and serves as a focal point for the education and research programs of the Carver College of Medicine. In addition to research and administrative facilities, this structure houses conference facilities and group rooms. The research laboratories of many members of the P30 Center are located in this building.

Carver Biomedical Research Building

This building represents phase 2 of the above-mentioned Health Sciences campus construction project and was completed in 2005. This 130,000 square-foot structure, a linear extension of the Medical Education Research Facility, was dedicated on March 31, 2006. The building houses 40 research modules, numerous specialized laboratory support services, the largest animal facility, and central administration offices of the Carver College of Medicine. Key participants in the College’s research activities, including investigators studying genetics, diabetes, neuroscience, and aging, are housed in this building. 

Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building (housing the UI Institute for Biomedical Discovery)

This building represents phase 3 of the above-mentioned Health Sciences campus construction project, is depicted at right, and was completed in 2015 at a cost of $150 million. This ~150,000 net square-foot building has the larges

t animal vivarium and houses the majority of research imaging equipment (for both animals and humans) of the Iowa Institute for Biomedical Imaging (IIBI). These facilities are significantly enhancing the characterization of novel animal models of disease, such as the cystic fibrosis (CF) pig and ferret. This building also houses the 20,000 square-foot Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center (FOEDRC), facilitated through $25 million in donations for the recruitment of new faculty performing diabetes research. Dr. Dale Abel is Director of this Center and his research space resides in this building. This partnership with the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Center has significantly expanded research in diabetes at UI. Several prominent members who serve in leadership roles for this P30 are housed on the sixth floor of this building (Welsh, McCray, Sinn, Zabner, Stoltz), as is the Cells and Tissue Core directed by Dr. Joseph Zabner (Core-5 of this P30).

Oakdale Research Park

The UI Oakdale campus is located six miles west of the UI Health Sciences campus and is served by frequent shuttle service as well as a dedicated limousine/courier service. In 1991, UI built a new research building at this site; 15,000 square feet of this space is dedicated to investigators who are working at new biotechnology companies to apply molecular biology approaches to solving biomedical problems. The Oakdale Campus also houses the State Hygienic Laboratory, large- and small-animal facilities, and a research park in which several companies have constructed laboratories and established new or satellite headquarters.

Hardin Health Sciences Library

The Hardin Health Sciences Library is located in the center of the UI Health Sciences campus. It provides books, journals, study facilities and computer literature searching services to all health professionals and other scientists on campus, as well as to practicing physicians and other professionals throughout the state. This building of 60,000 square feet houses 356,034 volumes, and the library subscribes to 2,371 journals (electronic and some hard copy). Staff and infrastructure are available to assist patrons in designing and executing searches based on: Chemical Abstract Condensates, Biosis Previews, Psychological Abstracts, Biological Abstracts, CINAHL, PsychInfo, CancerLit, HealthSTAR, Current Contents, AIDSline, Bioethicsline; International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, and NTIS.