University of California, San Francisco

Helen Diller Family Cancer Research Building

Corinna Kaarlela, News Director
Source: Elizabeth Fernandez (415) 476-2557
E-mail: efernandez@pubaff.ucsf.edu
Web: www.ucsf.edu

Fact Sheet: UCSF Helen Diller Family Cancer Research Building

Building overview: The new UCSF Helen Diller Family Cancer Research Building is a state-of-the-art research facility housing scientists investigating cancer’s basic biological mechanisms, including brain tumors, urologic oncology, pediatric oncology, cancer population sciences, and computational biology.

For the first time ever, the scientists of the UCSF Brain Tumor Research Center, one of the largest and most comprehensive programs of its kind nationwide, will be united in one place.

Part of the cancer enterprise: The new facility and its programs are an integral part of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of the country's leading cancer research and clinical care centers.

Translational research: The new building provides program space for UCSF to strengthen and expand its commitment to translational research, which is the process of applying ideas, insights and discoveries generated through basic science to the treatment or prevention of human disease. It is the first UCSF building specifically focused on promoting translational research for a particular disease.

Groundbreaking ceremony: April 5, 2006

Opening day celebration: June 2, 2009

Mrs. Helen Diller: A resident of the Bay Area, Mrs. Helen Diller has a history of philanthropic giving to education, science and the arts. She is recognized for her creativity in looking for opportunities to contribute and for her deep involvement in the areas she supports. She created the Helen Diller Family Foundation 10 years ago, and its gifts have supported a number of programs and institutions in the Bay Area and throughout the world.

Major gift: The new UCSF building is funded in part by a generous $35 million grant from the Helen Diller Family Foundation of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund made in 2003. At the time, the grant was the largest contribution directed by individual donors in UCSF history, and it supported construction of a new cancer research building. The facility was named the Helen Diller Family Cancer Research Building in recognition of the family's pivotal role in making it possible.

Cost: The total project cost for the building is $135 million. The Helen Diller Family Foundation grant is part of $81.5 million in private donations received toward a fundraising goal of $95 million. Another $40 million in building costs is covered through campus resources and external financing.

Size: The new building is five stories (163,865 gross square feet). With its opening, UCSF more than doubles its laboratory space in buildings exclusively dedicated to cancer research. The dedicated facilities represent a portion of UCSF's overall commitment to cancer research, which takes place in laboratories and clinics across nearly all UCSF departments and facilities.

Population: The new building is now home to about 250 people -- cancer scientists and their teams working in 33 labs. Eventually the building will house about 400.

Location: The Heller Diller Family Cancer Research Building is located at 1450 Third Street on the UCSF Mission Bay campus.

Architect: Award-winning architect Rafael Viñoly, who is recognized for his elegant and provocative healthcare projects, designed the building.

Building features:

  • It was built according to LEED guidelines.
  • A central atrium creates a dramatic five-story open space with natural light.
  • Terraced floor levels are linked by bridges and cascading stairways, creating stunning views and a visual connection to the surrounding community.
  • The design features interlocking L-shaped wings -- one containing labs, the other containing offices -- to foster collaboration among basic scientists, clinical researchers and physicians for the good of the patient.
  • Labs on the second and third floors employ a modular laboratory bench system that includes adjustable-height work surfaces and shelves that can be reconfigured by users to meet a variety of needs.
  • The exterior is finished in travertine that was chosen and imported for the project from a quarry in Tivoli Terme, Italy.
  • The building is made of reinforced concrete on driven piles

New cancer specialty hospital at Mission Bay: Complementing the new cancer research building in the future will be a specialty hospital for cancer patients on the UCSF Mission Bay campus. It will be part of an integrated hospital complex with special facilities for children, women and cancer patients scheduled to open in 2014. This 289-bed complex will be named UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay and will further strengthen UCSF's commitment to translational research and to patient care-with bench-to-bedside and bedside-to-bench collaboration among basic scientists, clinical researchers and physicians.

UCSF Mission Bay campus: UCSF Mission Bay is one of three major UCSF campuses, along with campuses at Parnassus Heights and Mount Zion. Located about one mile south of San Francisco's financial district, UCSF Mission Bay broke ground for its first campus building in 1999. Now with nine buildings and a 3.2-acre green space, the campus is the center of San Francisco's Mission Bay neighborhood. With the opening of the Helen Diller Family Cancer Research Building, the campus has four research buildings, a community center, and four housing buildings. A cardiovascular research building is under construction and scheduled to open in December 2010.

UCSF: UCSF is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care.