MSU Scientists get new $4 million labs — quickly

Montana State University scientists who are trying to outsmart infectious diseases have just moved into a new $4 million lab building that didn’t cost taxpayers a dime.

By GAIL SCHONTZLER Chronicle Staff Writer

The Molecular Biosciences Building in the Advanced Technology Park is owned by private developer Dick Clotfelter, who built it and is leasing it to MSU.

University officials say it went up far faster and less expensively than if it had been built by the state.

Tom McCoy, MSU vice president for research, called the lease arrangement "a very good deal." Although it’s a first at MSU, other universities have also turned to leasing.

Clotfelter said Friday he was able to avoid a cumbersome state construction process. For example, he said, the state usually pays 10 to 12 percent for architectural fees, but since the market was slow, he was able to negotiate a 1 percent fee.

"It’s just the entrepreneurial way of doing things versus the bureaucratic way of doing things," Clotfelter said. He added he’s working on plans for a second building next door.

MSU’s veterinary molecular biology department — whose researchers investigate diseases like brucellosis and influenza — has moved in. Scientist Allen Harmsen, who heads the department and is a towering 6-foot-7, said the old space in Marsh Labs was "really antiquated."

Without getting decent labs quickly, Harmsen said, MSU couldn’t attract or keep good scientists, win competitive federal grants and establish a beachhead in a research field that’s growing rapidly.

The department’s research grants have grown from a little over $1 million five years ago to almost $6 million last year, he said.

Overhead dollars from those grants will more than cover the annual lease payments, McCoy said.

Last summer the Montana Board of Regents approved the lease. It calls for MSU to pay at least $1.8 million over 15 years to rent most of the two-story building. MSU can rent more space later and extend the lease five years.

Other types of leases, such as car leases, often end up costing more in the long run than outright purchase.

But MSU officials say the university couldn’t have built the new lab building for less, partly because state buildings traditionally are built to last 100 years.

And winning money from the Legislature could take many years — or never happen. In the 2003 Legislature, MSU sought money for Gaines Hall’s renovation. But with a poor economy, MSU got nothing, said Bob Lashaway, MSU facilities director.

The new building has some attractive touches — slate entry tile and a beautiful manmade waterfall outside — but most of it is spare and functional.

It has 10 research labs, plus flexible lab space, a teaching lab, seminar and conference rooms and decontamination equipment. Roughly 80 people work in the labs, plus about 20 graduate students and undergrads.

Harmsen said the building has biolevel-2 safety features and poses less danger of spreading disease than a used Kleenex.

Ten or 15 years ago, before AIDS and bioterrorism, there wasn’t much interest among scientists in infectious diseases, Harmsen said. Antibiotics seemed to have solved everything.

But today, many diseases have developed resistance, and new bugs keep emerging.

The department focuses on diseases that jump between people, livestock and wildlife — like brucellosis, salmonella, tuberculosis and chronic wasting disease.

Sometimes diseases that kill people are less lethal to animals. Studying how other species fight off diseases could help people.

"If I had to wait five years for a building, it would be too late," Harmsen said. "The problems we have with infectious diseases are right now, and the funding opportunities are here now."

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