The Baltimore Sun

In an effort to raise its profile as a top research institution, the University of Maryland School of Medicine plans to spend up to $100 million over the next five years for 100 new scientists as well as support staff and equipment. The hiring has already begun. Earlier this week, the school announced that it had recruited 23 biomedical scientists from the American Red Cross' national research program. School officials described the privately funded expansion as necessary to keep up with the changing nature of scientific research, which has become increasingly collaborative. To tackle complex problems such as cancer and heart disease, institutions are trying to bring together scientists working in a range of fields. The Red Cross operation includes a team of about 90 employees, among them secretaries and lab technicians, all of whom will jump to the Maryland school in July. Dickler said much of the $100 million for the school's expansion over the next five years will go for such costs - support staff, lab equipment and lab animals. For the next year, the Red Cross group will occupy its current lab space in Rockville. But next summer, the lab will move to the University of Maryland's west-side BioPark, which is under construction. The facility, which will contain 800,000 square feet of lab and office space, will be home to a mix of biotech companies and university researchers, Dickler said. About half of the 100 added researchers will probably end up at the BioPark.