Yale To Celebrate Opening of New Building for Stem Cell, Cardiovascular, and Immune System Research

New Haven, Conn. — Yale School of Medicine on October 5 will celebrate the opening of a new four-story building on Amistad Street to house medical researchers working on cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and the biology and uses of stem cells.

“This laboratory building will be the home of three interdisciplinary research programs that seek to harness the latest discoveries in medical science to the advancement of clinical care,” said Yale Medical School Dean Robert Alpern.

The ribbon cutting at 4:30 p.m. will come at the conclusion of an afternoon-long scientific symposium titled “Frontiers in Translational and Regenerative Medicine,” featuring lectures by three international leaders in their fields. The symposium will begin at 1 p.m. in the Mary S. Harkness Memorial Auditorium, Sterling Hall of Medicine, 333 Cedar St.

Salvador Moncada of University College in London will speak on “Nitric Oxide, Mitochondria, and Cell Bioenergetics,” Marc Feldmann of Imperial College in London on “Anticytokine Therapy: An Approach to Unmet Medical Needs” and Douglas Melton of Harvard on “Stem Cells for Pancreatic Development and Diabetes.”

The 120,000-square-foot building at 10 Amistad Street contains many environmentally friendly features, such as high-efficiency and occupancy sensors for lighting, a rainwater collection cistern, bike racks and showers to encourage biking to and from work, recycled construction materials, ultra-low-flow water fixtures, and dual-flush toilets. Yale is applying to have the building certified with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) gold status, which is the second-highest ranking in a nationally accepted benchmark system for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance green buildings.

One of the three new research programs in the building, the Interdepartmental Program in Vascular Biology and Therapeutics, focuses on heart disease and cancer, as well as on engineering artificial tissues to replace diseased blood vessels, heart valves, and other parts of the human body.

The mission of the new Human and Translational Immunology program is to accelerate the application of new developments in immunology to the treatment of human diseases such as diabetes.

The Yale Stem Cell Center focuses on understanding the basic properties of stem cells in order to pave the way for future medical therapies.