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 The groundbreaking of the new ~$72-million Stephenson Life Sciences Research Center (SLSRC) was held on Friday November 9, 2007. On February 21, 2007, OU President David L. Boren announced the generous $15-million gift from Charles and Peggy Stephenson towards the construction of the new SLSRC to be located on the OU Research Campus (http://srtc.ou.edu/pdf/Red.pdf ). State and OU funds provide the remaining capital. Recently, an additional $3-million gift was provided by the Stephensons to complete the state-of-the-art space in the SLSRC. The OU Research Campus co-locates world class research and education programs (.edu), federal research and operations (.gov, .mil), and private industry (.com, .org, .net) in a setting that promotes creative thinking, stimulates synergy, and produces practical outcomes for the benefit of all. The new 160,000-sf SLSRC will house the research and administrative functions of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry; it will house a variety of chemists, biochemists, and other Life Sciences researchers. The SLSRC is designed to house 30 research groups (graduate and undergraduate researchers, technical staff, faculty, postdoctoral fellows). The space is also designed to accommodate visiting researchers from other institutions and companies. This will promote our desired interactions with the private sector and government, opening up new opportunities for students. We will combine outstanding intellect and extraordinary facilities to carry out groundbreaking research in the Life Sciences. Examples of research areas include,  but are not limited to (i) natural products chemistry, and the discovery and development of natural medicines from plants and organisms, (ii) catalysis, with applications in biofuels and energy, (iii) membrane science, with applications in antibiotic resistance and medicine, (iv) structural biology, and investigations of three-dimensional structures of proteins that can help in the design of new drugs to treat human diseases, and (v) biomaterials, including regeneration of bone and teeth, and overcoming rejection of artificial implants. Collaborations with the physics, engineering, mathematics, and biological research units and departments at OU are an integral part of the SLSRC concept. Teaching laboratories are not part of the SLSRC, and no classrooms are planned for the building.
The research support facilities in the new SLSRC (e.g., Electronics and Machine Shop, NMR Spectroscopy Laboratory, Mass Spectrometry Center, Macromolecular X-ray Diffraction Laboratory, Glassblowing Teaching and Service Center) will serve the whole campus and encourage interactions with the OU Health Sciences Center. The building will be completed and occupied in 2010.
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