Mayor Phil Gordon, along with Gov. Janet Napolitano, Arizona State University President Dr. Michael Crow, University of Arizona President Dr. Robert Shelton and state legislators celebrated the opening of the Arizona Biomedical Collaborative (ABC1) building on Monday.

"The opening of the ABC1 on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus is an important achievement," said Mayor Gordon. "This cutting-edge research facility is a unique partnership between the state universities. ABC1 begins the future growth of biomedical research on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus, which will have a great impact not only in the city, but the entire region as it serves as a knowledge anchor."

Construction on the ABC1 began Spring 2006. It is adjacent to the Translational Geonomics Research Institute (TGen)/International Genomics Consortium (IGC) headquarters and the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix in partnership with ASU facilities.

The new four-story, 85,000-square-foot research facility houses the ASU Department of Biomedical Informatics, computational research labs and wet lab space for UA College of Medicine research in diabetes, cancer and neurological diseases.

With the addition of the ABC1 building, there is now 330,000 square feet of biomedical research space on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus. The future build-out of the campus is estimated to grow to more than six million square feet and will include clinical healthcare facilities as well as research and academic development.