ASU President Michael Crow joined other University officials in dedicating a building that will house the Biodesign Institute at ASU on Tuesday morning.
The new facility, located near the intersection of McAllister Avenue and Orange Street, will house biotechnology and bioengineering research operations at ASU.
Crow said the institute building is his "baby," adding that it has been designed to stop interference in the airwaves from affecting operations inside the facility.
"This building is a tank," Crow said. "There's never been a building like this."
Crow joined other ASU and political officials onstage with him to press a button on a podium, releasing colored streamers from the ceiling as music played. Reception attendees then walked around the building to tour its laboratory space.
John H. Marburger, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy for President George W. Bush, said he makes trips to visit similar biotechnology research centers around the country and thinks ASU's center is livelier than most.
"The center is not unique but it certainly has an energy I haven't seen anywhere else in the country," Marburger said.
Researchers in the institute will investigate topics including genomic mapping, bomb detection systems and intelligent prosthetic devices that have built-in temperature sensitivity, said George Poste, Biodesign Institute director.
"This is no longer science fiction but an unfolding vista of bioengineering," Poste said.
Nicole Saidi is the Editor in Chief of the ASU Web Devil. Reach her at nicole.saidi@asu.edu.