|
Münster (upm/mfm-ukm)
From left to right: University's Rector Prof. Johannes Wessels , Dr. Christoph Hoppenheit (UKM), Dean Prof. Frank-Ulrich Müller, Minister Isabel Pfeiffer-Poensgen, Prof. Hugo Van Aken (UKM), Mayor Markus Lewe, District President Dorothee Feller and Dr. Theodor Windhorst (Medical Association).© MFM - Erk Wibberg
Fotos

Ground-breaking ceremony for "Research Campus East"

Building work begins for Medical Research Centre and Body & Brain Institute / Investment totals 200 million euros

At a traditional ground-breaking ceremony today (January 16), building work began officially on a large-scale project worth millions at Coesfelder Kreuz – the so-called Research Campus East, where a large number of researchers from a variety of disciplines from Münster’s Medical Faculty will be working in future.

“A long-cherished dream comes true today,” said Prof. Frank Ulrich Müller, Dean of the Medical Faculty of the University of Münster. “New, ultramodern research facilities are to be built here, where interdisciplinary teams and top-level researchers from the Faculty will find outstanding conditions for their work.”

The planners have been busy for years, working on the details of the campus which will later provide space for two large research units. The site will house the Medical Research Centre (MedForCe) and the Body & Brain Institute (BBIM), in the immediate vicinity of Münster University Hospital (UKM), a subsidiary of which – UKM Infrastruktur Management – will be handling the construction work.

The MedForCe will be home to the Institutes of Virology, Medical Microbiology and Hygiene at the Faculty of Medicine. In future, on 3,900 square metres of floor space at the Body & Brain Institute, around 200 researchers will be investigating the interaction between the brain and bodily functions. Last June, the Joint Science Conference of the Federal Government and the Heads of Government of the Länder (regional states) approved 70 million euros for the construction of the building. A total of 200 million euros will be flowing into the entire research campus. “For me, this ground-breaking symbolizes something that has so far been missing in the overall building plans in the area of research at Münster University,” says Prof. Johannes Wessels, Rector of the University of Münster.

As the Minister for Culture and Science in North Rhine-Westphalia, Isabel Pfeiffer-Poensgen, added: “A major prerequisite for excellent university medicine is an efficient and effective infrastructure. This includes short walking distances promoting communication and collaboration between institutes, disciplines and researchers. With these two new research units, university medicine at Münster will be decisively advancing its top-level research in the fields of infection medicine, cancer research and neuropsychiatric research.”

Facts and figures on Research Campus East

- Floor space at MedForCe: 12,500 square metres. Total cost: around 130 million euros.

- Floor space at BBIM: 4,000 square metres. Total cost: around 70 million euros.

- The building units consist of 14 so-called standard laboratory clusters, including offices and rooms for so-called core facilities which will provide researchers with modern laboratory methods for common use.

- The MedForCe with the BBIM as a central building complex extends along Rishon-le-Zion Ring and on what is today the carpark at Coesfelder Kreuz, as well as along the adjacent transverse to Domagkstraße. This transverse is currently closed off and will later disappear. Together with further parts of the building and a multi-storey carpark, the total site will be developed step by step to become the new “Research Campus East”.