Report: NIH May Have to Leave New Lab

BALTIMORE - The National Institutes of Health is experiencing trouble with vibrations in a new $250 million lab that is forcing it to consider renovating an older lab, according to news reports.

NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni acknowledged the problem at the new Biomedical Research Center in Baltimore in a letter obtained by The Sun of Baltimore.

Scientists had feared such problems before the building was erected. Vibrations can throw off sensitive scientific equipment.

The letter was sent to Sen. Barbara Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat who had inquired about the project after The Sun reported in October that portions of the building could not be used as intended because of excessive vibrations.

The older facility being considered for renovations is the Gerontology Research Center. Zerhouni wrote that NIH is "currently exploring renovation options" for it.

Details about cost or extent of the renovations were not mentioned in the letter.

The Biomedical Research Center is a 10-story building at a Johns Hopkins University campus with 500,000 square feet of offices and labs. It was designed to house 1,000 government scientists working on aging and drug abuse research. Ground was broken in October 2004.

Before that, government scientists at the National Institute on Aging complained that cost-cutting had compromised the design. Documents obtained by The Sun described concerns that vibrations and other problems could compromise research.

Zerhouni wrote in his letter that early measurements indicated problems, but that later studies showed the building met specifications for vibrations.

Zerhouni also wrote that a "large number" of instruments are significantly more sensitive than the building's design criteria allow.

A Mikulski spokeswoman said the senator is satisfied with the NIH's review.

Kenneth Drake, project manager for CUH2A, the Princeton, N.J., firm that finished the building design, said that scientists were surveyed about their needs before construction started and that the facility meets their criteria.

A spokesman for the NIH told The Sun he could not provide further information.