Gene sequencers. Supercomputers. Microarray scanners. In the biosciences, the researcher is only as good as the tools.

But in Arizona, where the state has spent tens of millions of dollars to make a go at building a bioscience industry, the entire enterprise could hinge on one of the most mundane tools of all: wet labs.

The Chaparral Bio-medical Campus, planned for the area southwest of Loop 101 and McDonald Drive and due to be completed in 2006, could take a significant bite out of what a September 2003 report commissioned by the Flinn Foundation estimates to be a 450,000 square-foot shortfall.

The white paper, a preliminary report by a panel examining the bioscience space requirements in Arizona said that meeting this need could raise Arizona’s share of National Institutes of Health funding by $100 million per year.

Given Arizona’s wide availability of aerospace and semiconductor facilities, one solution under consideration is the conversion of clean room space into biological lab space, which is estimated to cost 60 percent as much as building a facility from scratch.

But there is also a need for new facilities. Biological facilities have very specific design needs, and bio companies can require a substantial amount of space to get off the ground. And according to Steven Steinberg, vice president at construction firm Grubb & Ellis’ Life Science Group, companies are willing to pay the substantial rent required if it means they have access to big players in a collaborative environment. Thus, bio-specific lab and office complexes are often build around attracting key companies, which then form the centers of gravity for the complex.

“These companies are reliant on synergy,” said Steinberg. “That collaborative, campus-like environment is so important to them. They want to be near winners, and they are willing to pay for it.”

Phase One of the Chaparral facility will include four 60,000 square-foot wet and dry lab facilities, along with a 105,000 square-foot medical building. The two wet lab structures will each consist of two floors with a basement, connected to the two dry labs via bridges.

Steinberg says the focus of the facility will be diabetes research and other medical concerns specific to the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, which is developing the project through its own company, Salt River DevCo.

“Diabetes is the focus at Chaparral—we want to match the design to something that is important to the community,” he said, but added that, although research would be focused on, other areas would be considered as well.

The site is near the Scottsdale Healthcare and Mayo Clinic Hospital campuses, and is less than 15 minutes from Arizona State University’s main campus.

Grubb & Ellis Company is working with Leo A. Daly on the design, which is the first of several facilities planned for Salt River DevCo’s Generation 7 project—a five-section, knowledge-based economic community under development in the same area.