First-Of-Its-Kind Research Center Opens

By fostering collaboration between medical and nutrition researchers, Tufts' Jaharis Family Center will catalyze studies of world's most difficult diseases.

Boston [11-01-02] In 1999, Tufts broke ground on the world's first center to integrate medical and nutrition research. Today, the $65-million Jaharis Family Center for Biomedical and Nutrition Sciences opens its doors for the first time, marking a new era for Tufts and its research portfolio. The cutting-edge facility will bring together scientists from across the University's health sciences campus to seek new ways to prevent, treat and cure some of the world's most debilitating diseases.

Jaharis Family Center Photo Gallery [ view ]
Center to Foster Collaboration [ read ]
Jaharis Family Center Fact Sheet [ read ]
The Boston Herald's coverage [ read ]

"Most patients will never venture inside the gleaming nine-story building that will open today in Chinatown," reported The Boston Globe. "But the building, with its acres of laboratories and hundreds of scientists peering at the smaller components of life, could one days yield advances in everything from infectious disease to Alzheimer's and cancer."

The 180,000-square-foot facility expands the medical research space on Tufts' health sciences campus in Boston by nearly 50 percent, and opens the doors to new research opportunities.

"One of the goals of the building is to foster collaborative research among specialists from different fields," reported the Globe. "For instance, scientists specializing in biomedicine and nutrition will work in adjacent labs to unlock the secrets of Alzheimer's by examining the role micronutrient deficiency has in causing the disease and other cognitive impairment."

The Jaharis Family Center for Biomedical and Nutrition Sciences continues to strengthen Tufts' position as one of the country's top research universities.

"The University has made a significant financial commitment in the building and the faculty that goes into the building," Tufts Provost Jamshed Bharucha told the Globe. "And we will certainly see an enhanced stature."

Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy and Archbishop Demetrios Trakatellis are among the dignitaries expected to be on hand at Friday afternoon's ribbon cutting ceremony.