The University of Nebraska Medical Center celebrated the grand opening today of the UNMC Center for Drug Discovery and Lozier Center for Pharmacy Sciences and Education.
The new $35 million home for UNMC’s College of Pharmacy boasts state-of-the-art laboratories and education space equipped with next-generation technology and simulation and experiential-learning tools designed to help prepare future pharmacists for expanded roles in a changing health care landscape.
Principal benefactors include Ruth and Bill Scott, Dianne and Allan Lozier, and Joseph D. and Millie E. Williams. The UNMC Center for Drug Discovery and Lozier Center for Pharmacy Sciences and Education was built solely through private donations.
“This building opens in the 101st year of the College of Pharmacy. And over those 101 years we’ve been a leader in pharmacy education and pharmacy research. What this building does is really advance our mission to do that,” said College of Pharmacy Dean Courtney Fletcher, Pharm.D.
The 85,000-square-foot facility is made up of three floors, each a football field long. The top floor, the UNMC Center for Drug Discovery, will have laboratories specifically designed to aid researchers in:
- Medicinal chemistry and the design and synthesis of new compounds;
- Drug delivery, particularly with nanotechnology;
- Clinical and translational research.
“Within this new building, we now have the facilities, the infrastructure, and the talent to in some ways function like a small pharmaceutical company,” Dr. Fletcher said.
“Our hope is that the UNMC Center for Drug Discovery will soon emerge as a globally-recognized brand,” said UNMC chair of pharmaceutical sciences Ram Mahato, Ph.D.
On floors 1 and 2, the Lozier Center for Pharmacy Sciences and Education, students can take part in active learning, with auditoriums and classrooms equipped with advanced technology, or quiet study.
The first floor features tools for hands-on, experiential learning, including:
- Simulation suites;
- Compounding lab;
- Gowning and aseptic lab;
- Model pharmacy.
The former College of Pharmacy building, now the Joseph D. and Millie E. Williams Science Hall, will continue to serve as home to several College of Pharmacy researchers and their labs. College of Pharmacy scientists also have research labs located throughout UNMC’s Omaha campus, including in the Durham Research Center towers.
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