Waisman to celebrate completion of expansion

The Waisman Center marks the completion of an ambitious three-year construction and remodeling project with a dedication Tuesday, Sept. 4, and an all-day scientific symposium Wednesday, Sept. 5.

The $25 million project included the addition of a seven-story tower and the expansion and remodeling of the center’s west annex. Seventy-one thousand square feet was added to the complex, which makes room for new state-of-the art research laboratories and programs for children with developmental disabilities.

Research programs housed in the newly completed tower include the Waisman Clinical Biomanufacturing Facility, a highly specialized cleanroom facility that will produce gene and cell-based therapeutics to be used in early human clinical trials.

Another new facility is the W.M. Keck Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, a comprehensive and sophisticated imaging center that incorporates a high-field-strength MRI scanner and a PET scanner for the study of affective and developmental disorders, including autism.

The expansion also includes a gene therapy research program, which will develop technologies for the transfer of genes into human and animal tissues; and a program on stem cell biology and transplantation, which will conduct basic biological research on stem cells.

Expansion and remodeling of first-floor areas of the center have provided much-needed room for the center’s early intervention programs and doubled the area that houses the Waisman Early Childhood Program for children with and without developmental disabilities.

Other features include a new lobby area and Family Resource Room, and a new conference center with advanced audio-visual systems and interactive technology.

The expansion project was funded by gifts from private donors and the UW–Madison Graduate School. The seven-story tower addition, the William F. and Betty Jo Heckrodt Translational Research Tower, is named in honor of the lead donors. The west wing is named in honor of former Waisman Center executive associate director Judith B. Ward. Other donors include Thomas G. Koltes, James Kress, the Oscar Rennebohm Foundation, the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

The Waisman Center is one of nine centers across the country dedicated to the advancement of knowledge about human development, developmental disabilities and neurodegenerative diseases. The center draws together faculty from 26 academic departments of the UW–Madison.

Featured speakers at the dedication Tuesday, Sept. 4, 4 p.m., Waisman Auditorium, include U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin; Chancellor John Wiley; Graduate School Acting Dean Martin Cadwallader; Waisman Center director-on-leave Terrence R. Dolan; and Waisman Center acting director Marsha Mailick Seltzer.

The symposium “Developmental Science: Genes, Brain, and Behavior,” Wednesday, Sept. 5, runs 8:30 a.m.- 3:45 p.m., Waisman Auditorium.

To register for the dedication or the symposium, call 263-5940, or e-mail: meyers@waisman.wisc.edu.