Issue: 1114 Date: 12/29/2011
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Work begun on Wash U data center expansion
Construction is underway on a $12.5 million project to double the size of the genetics datacenter at the Washington University School of Medicine.
Clayco Inc., a design/build firm, began construction last month. Completion is scheduled for next May.
When expanded to 32,000 square feet, the data center will allow researchers to sequence and analyze human genomes at a faster pace. New computers and processors will be added to the data center using grants and university funds. Federal stimulus money through a National Institutes of Health grant is financing the expansion's construction.
Washington University researchers were part of the original human genome project that identified the 20,000-plus genes in human DNA. The amounts of data involved require high powered computers and lots of space.
Construction of the expanded data center is underway on the east of the side of the original center, completed in 2008 at Duncan and Newstead avenues. Like the earlier structure, the expansion is designed to meet LEED building standards established by the U.S. Green Building Council.
Clayco said today the project is the company's first at the med center.
