Edgewood Renaissance
Written by Joan Michel
MMT 2009 Volume: 13 Issue: 7 (October)
of Chemical Defense Breaks Ground on a
$430 Million Facility.
The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense (MRICD) broke ground in September on a new $430 million laboratory complex. When finished in 2013, scientists at MRICD will have 526,255 square feet of space in which to carry out their mission, which is to mitigate the medical effects of chemical warfare agents and toxins through research and development, consultation, support and training. Those scientists conduct basic and applied research in the pharmacology, physiology, toxicology, pathology and biochemistry of chemical agents and medical countermeasures.
“You can have the most gifted scientists in the world, but if they are working in a substandard environment, it makes it difficult to do state-of-the-art research,” said Colonel Harry Slife, commander of MRICD, which has funding of approximately $55 million annually.
Slife said that his 300-plus civilian, military and contract employees are currently spread among 15 buildings, only one of which was built for the purpose it serves. This primary research facility, the General John R. Wood Building, built in 1968 for $4.1 million, can no longer support the additional requirements of modern instrumentation and laboratory equipment.
“Several decades later, we’re trying to make these buildings provide a venue for our scientists to do the kind of cuttingedge research taking place in academia and industry,” said Slife. “Technology has changed dramatically since the cornerstone was laid on any of the buildings we are in. The power and ventilation systems were not designed to accommodate modern technology.”
PLANNED GROWTH
The Edgewood area of APG is also home to other agencies that conduct chemical and biological defense research and development, including Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC), 20th Support Command, Chemical Materials Agency and the Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine. Leaders at these organizations struggle with maintaining adequate infrastructure, some of which has been in continuous use since World War I. Several “close call” incidents at MRICD and ECBC, during which the power failed while researchers were working with agents in laboratories, prompted the redirection of funds into renovation and replacement of electrical and mechanical systems, and several of the facilities have been upgraded.
BRAC will locate several additional organizations at Edgewood—the Joint Program Manager for Chemical and Biological Defense (JPEO-CBD), a component of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the medical chemical defense division from Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In all, Edgewood will receive about $27 million for new headquarters for JPEO-CBD and $27 million for MRICD, which is only about 10 percent of the total infrastructure dollars invested in the Edgewood area in recent years.
“The renaissance in Edgewood is a matter of planning, and not by accident,” said Jeff Hinte, MRICD’s transition officer for the recapitalization project. “There is $50 million of BRAC investment but over $400 million from other military construction funds.”
Hinte oversaw construction of two new laboratory facilities for ECBC several years ago: the Advanced Chemistry Laboratory and the Sample Receipt Facility, both of which are within walking distance of the new MRICD campus.
“But this will be the crown jewel of the Edgewood area,” he said of the MRICD complex.
Located at one end of the multi-story facility are the entry courtyard and lobby, the chemical casualty care training wing, the administrative staff and the command group. Two wings of laboratories house the researchers and technicians supporting functional areas, including analytical chemistry and biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, pharmacology, drug screening, NMR and molecular toxicology labs. Vivarium and logistical support areas and a dedicated central utility plant complete the complex.
The facility offers more precise control of the temperature and humidity in laboratories, which is essential for data integrity. Also, the facility is designed for work with hazardous materials, which means that it has more stringent safety and physical security standards and engineering controls than a regular research laboratory found at a university, for instance. Laboratories are designed with negative air pressure, and exhaust air from laboratory operations is filtered through large banks of high efficiency gas absorption filters.
David Ruderman of the U.S. Corps of Engineers Baltimore Office, who is overseeing the construction of the facility, said that the toxicity of the materials handled in the new MRICD facility and the need to keep these materials in as secure environment as possible drive the multiple redundancies in the air filtration, security and power systems. From the Corps of Engineers’ perspective, the building is completely unique.
“The uniqueness of this facility is the level of security, the redundancy of filtration and power systems and the high level of security embedded in the building, all of which allow research to be safely conducted on chemical warfare agents,” said Ruderman. “The end result is this facility allows researchers to safely work on development of lifesaving countermeasures to protect American soldiers and citizens in the event of a chemical-based terrorist attack.”
FACILITATING COLLABORATION
Dr. William J. Smith, MRICD acting deputy commander for research, is anticipating the improved communication and collaboration the facility will offer scientists. “Right now there is a checkerboard nature to our research buildings,” he said. “The closest adjacency between labs is 40-50 feet, which means that my teams spend a lot of time just going from one lab to another. This limits productivity. Carrying samples, animals, cell cultures from building to building is not a way to do research.”
Just the ability to have scientific communication taking place is of great benefit, said Smith, with the facility designed to enhance communications, collaboration and cooperation between functional areas and the new facility, where laboratory space is flexible and adaptable to future new research priorities and technologies. That flexibility in space suits the evolving nature of the facility’s mission, added Slife.
“The building will obviously be a great advantage because of the ability to support technology advancements that have taken place over the decades, and it will provide a venue where collaboration will be enhanced because scientists will not be physically separated,” Slife said. “All of the research will be under one roof. Keeping the entire process from concept and development to the transition to advanced developer under one roof eliminates variables, shortens the development timeline and keeps people safer.”
Scientists at MRICD are working to develop countermeasures and materials that protect warfighters against the effects of chemical agents such as mustard or nerve agents. The institute has fielded a topical skin protectant that is part of the personal protection ensemble. Newer programs include a bioscavenger program and injectable products that provide “circulating” protection against nerve agents. Smith said his researchers are also working on new technologies for wound healing, occular protection and respiratory protection technologies.
Clark Construction Group, based in Bethesda, Md., was awarded a contract for the construction of the new building worth $229.3 million. This is the second of two construction contracts for this project. The first contract was for site preparation, which included clearing and preparing the site for the buildings. According to MRICD, the total amount authorized by Congress for this project was $430 million. Appropriations are adjusted based on actual costs and include funds not only for construction but for contingency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers supervision and administration fees, facility commissioning and communications infrastructure requirements. In addition to these expenses, there is initial outfitting and transition costs that include laboratory equipment and furniture, the cost of moving people, operations, equipment and installation, and setup of equipment and operations. The construction is expected to be complete in May 2013, but the laboratories won’t be operational until all inspection, validation and commissioning is complete, which could take several months.
Once the buildings are operational, old facilities will be closed. At that time, decisions will be made about whether to recommission those buildings for other use or to tear them down. Buildings where work with chemical agents has taken place must be decontaminated prior to disassembly, which is a costly and labor-intensive process.
“This is an important milestone in the overall transformation of Aberdeen Proving Ground—a transformation that will see more than a billion dollars of investment in the future over the next several years,” said George Mercer, spokesman for APG. “Much of that activity will be in infrastructure and not necessarily open for public view, but it’s going on nonetheless. It is also significant because it is taking place in our Edgewood area and because it brings together BRAC and non-BRAC resources. It’s not just going to make the post ‘look different.’ It’s taking the entire installation well into the 21st century, with new missions, facilities and people.” ♦