Crane installing large construction materials

National Institutes of Health | DTM T10B Cell Processing Modular Facility

National Institutes of Health | DTM T10B Cell Processing Modular Facility | Bethesda, MD

The Department of Transfusion Medicine (DTM) is a laboratory that supports intramural clinical trials for various NIH institutions, performing research to develop and validate new manufacturing processes for cellular therapies. To support urgent DTM needs to increase production capacity for clinical trials, NIH hired DPR to construct a cell processing facility on the East terrace of Building 10. The facility manufactures products used to test and treat NIH Clinical Center patients with cancer, hematological malignancies, marrow failure, congenital immune disorders and autoimmune diseases.

Project

Details

The new two-story facility is made up of six prefabricated modules, which include four ISO-7 cell processing suites, ISO-7 and ISO-8 cleanroom lab spaces, tissue culture suites, and cold room storage. An interstitial level provides mechanical equipment to support the facility and Building 10 supplies electrical infrastructure to the facility.

Team

Collaboration

Delivered in a design-build partnership with Perkins&Will and Genesis Engineers, the facility required constructing an exterior shell building before the modules were completed. After months of design review and revision, the prefabricated modules arrived on-site and were rigged into place. The process required hoisting the 55,000-pound modules over the loading dock and terrace onto a hydraulic track called a “lock and slide” that feeds into the facility. The DTM team left an opening in the side of the building for the modules. Once inside, the modules were removed from the track and placed on skates and slid into place, installed front to back.

People working in a lab
People working in a lab
Office outside of lab
Interior of a lab mechanical room
People working in a lab
People working in a lab
Office outside of lab
Interior of a lab mechanical room
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