The center represents a collaboration between researchers at LSU, LSU's Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices, the LSU Health Science Center in New Orleans, Tulane Health Science Center and Xavier University in New Orleans.

This new "Research Infrastructure Improvement Award" is a competitively awarded grant provided through the NSF's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR. It was officially awarded to the Louisiana Board of Regents and the Louisiana EPSCoR program. With $3 million from the Louisiana Board of Regents Support Fund and $1.5 million from the participating institutions, the grant will total $13.5 million over the next three years.

The new Center for BioModular Microsystems will be located in LSU's recently acquired 45,000-square-foot lab and office complex on GSRI Road, formerly owned by Albemarle chemical company. It will bring together an interdisciplinary, multi-institutional research team with expertise in microsystems engineering, materials, chemistry and biological systems and provide state-of-the-art equipment and facilities.

Steven A. Soper, the William L. and Patricia Senn Jr. Professor of Chemistry at LSU, will serve as director of the center. A large number of researchers from LSU will be involved in the project, including faculty from CAMD and the departments of biological sciences, mechanical engineering and chemistry. External partners in the project include researchers from Cornell Medical College, Sloan Kettering Memorial Cancer Research Center and Baylor College of Medicine.

According to Soper, the center will have three primary missions: basic research, service to the community and country through micro- or nano-fabrication and development, and educational outreach. Soper said the focus will be on building new eq
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Contact: Rob Anderson
rander8@lsu.edu
225-578-3871
Louisiana State University
30-Jun-2004