on May 18, 2007
In July of last year the IRB announced the beginning of an ambitious project of converting an existing building nearby into a state of the art research facility.The inauguration of the building was held on the 15th of May, and the process of moving in has begun. More machine than building, the sophisticated lab space will allow much needed room to grow for IRB researchers.
Inauguration of the IRBis (from Left):
On.Filippo Gianoni,Prof. Antonio
Lanzavecchia, Prof. Giorgio Noseda,
On. Gianluigi Della Santa, On. Bixio Caprara
The project of transforming the former hardware store into a research facility in less than a year was a challenging task. Representing the interests of the IRB and coordinating the technical specifications was Group Leader Fabio Grassi.Thanks to his extraordinary efforts in close collaboration with Enrica (Chicca) Mira Catò and Luana Perlini, the building is now a sophisticated piece of machinery.
The coming months will be dedicated to breaking-in the infrastructure and gradually moving in the scientists. Running the two buildings will not be easy.The added workload for Mauro (Mimo) Pasteris will be offset by Ronnie Baccalà, who recently joined the IRB.
Honorable Gabriele Gendotti, Minister for Education Culture and Sport, was on hand, together with the Bellinzona Municipal Governement and foundation representatives for a tour, led by Fabio Grassi, of the facilities.
Prof. Giorgio Noseda, in his official remarks at the ceremony opening the building, noted that the IRBis can be seen as a wave that is carrying the institute to the next stage in its development.The short wave was the startup in palazzo Fabrizia, which provided the IRB with the right environment and structure to grow from 0 to 75 collaborators.The medium wave is the addition of the IRBis in via Murate,which beyond providing more laboratory space, allows the IRB to perform sophisticated experiments that would otherwise be impossible. From a logistics point of view the two building solution will be a challenge and clearly the ideal solution would be to have a single building or cluster of buildings to house the IRB and other institutes.This vision of the future of the IRB was defined by the President as the “long Wave”.
Discussions with the city of Bellinzona about a future site for a single building, large enough to allow for future growth, have begun in earnest.The Municipal government is preparing a message to the city council that will outline the medium to long term strategy in support of the IRB for the Fall.
