Page 15 - Sphere No.15 (Nov 2005)

S PHERE 13
MORE THAN A DECADE AGO, a group of scientists at the
University of California, Berkeley, had a vision they named the
“health sciences initiative”. This was a new approach to scientific
research, and involved building the kind of state-of-the-art facili-
ties that would not only ensure the university maintained its posi-
tion as one of the world’s premier teaching and research institu-
tions, but also maximise the economic and social benefits that
would flow from their discoveries.
The scientists then set out to raise the funds needed to con-
struct two new cutting-edge research facilities that would encour-
age cross-disciplinary collaboration and group together leading
scientists from a wide range of disciplines to fight some of the
deadliest diseases on the planet.
Now, 10 years and three university chancellors later, their dream
has almost come to fruition, with one building about to be complet-
ed and construction of the second commencing soon, thanks to a
generous USD40 million donation from the Li Ka Shing Foundation.
This is the largest-ever international donation in the university’s
history and is considered to be the “cornerstone” gift to the
USD160 million second-phase initiative. The Li Ka Shing Center
for Biomedical and Health Sciences is expected to make a huge
contribution to the advancement of medical research. The facility
will house computer scientists, biologists, physicists, engineers,
chemists and mathematicians under one roof and enable a collabo-
rative medical approach towards four key medical issues: stem cell
research, infectious diseases including HIV and dengue fever, can-
cer, and neurosciences including Alzheimer’s disease. Several Nobel
prize laureates will also work in the centre.
Scheduled for completion in 2009, preliminary designs show the
210,000 gross square foot building will have five storeys and 30-35
research and teaching laboratories, as well as lecture halls and seminar
facilities. It will also provide highly specialised facilities for instrumen-
tation and containment areas to handle viruses and stem cell cultures.
“The centre is expected to be a magnet for people from all over the
world,” said Robert Tjian, professor of biochemistry and molecular
biology, also faculty director of the health sciences initiative at UC
Berkeley. “We plan to later recruit world-class scientists and feel con-
fident we will attract new talent both nationally and internationally.”
So far, UC Berkeley scientists have already made significant
progress in using their research to bring science to ordinary peo-
ple. It is this philosophy behind the health sciences initiative that
may have most strongly resonated with Hutchison Whampoa
Limited Chairman Li Ka-shing. “The fundamentals of the initia-
tive are almost exactly what Mr Li himself has done in China; by
bringing education, medicine, and the modern world to people in
rural parts,” said Professor Tjian. “Perhaps this is one reason why