DURHAM, NC (AP) Duke University Medical Center received $12 million in federal funding that will enable construction of 35,000-sq. ft. (3,000 sq m) addition to an existing biological research facility.

The construction grant, to be matched with $4 million from Duke, is separate from a $45 million federal grant announced Sept. 4.

The larger grant is to be shared by Duke, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and four other universities in the Southeast to develop vaccines and tests for germ warfare agents and diseases such as SARS.

The regional consortium, one of eight Regional Centers of Excellence for Emerging Infections and Biodefense (SERCEB), is to be headquartered at Duke, in offices within the new addition. It is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Homeland Security.

Pascal Goldschmidt, chairman of the department of medicine at Duke, said the new labs "would allow us to react quickly to assist public health efforts in the event of an emerging infectious disease outbreak or a biological attack and will enable future collaboration with researchers from the government and other academic institutions."

Construction on the facility is expected to begin during the spring of 2004 and should be completed by early 2006.

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