Boise VA Medical Center

The Boise VA celebrated the opening of a new state-of-the-art Biomedical Research Laboratory on April 27th.

Veterans, employees, elected officials and members of the public all celebrated the grand opening of the new state-of-the-art Biomedical Research Laboratory located at the Boise VA Medical Center on April 27, 2012.

The new building will be used to continue the evolution of current research strengths into a critical core of investigators whose mission is to develop novel treatments and rapid diagnostic tests to combat life threatening diseases that affect veterans and their families; and to translate basic science discoveries into newer treatments to improve patient care.

The new research facility is 18,000 square feet and utilizes state-of-the-art equipment such as a cell sorter, bio-layer interferometer, ultra high-speed centrifuges; all of which will greatly facilitate ongoing and future projects and help train the next generation of academic basic science researchers. The previous biomedical research laboratory was over 30 years old and housed in a basement location with old and outdated equipment.

State-of-the-art, new equipment was funded by VA Central Office Research and Development and a matching grant from the Murdock Charitable Trust in Vancouver, Washington.

Dr. Dennis Stevens, and his team of researchers at the Boise VA Medical Center are studying ways to prevent the spread of disease that many service men and women contract from open wound injuries in the field from which become more susceptible to infection. Dr. Stevens says "our goal in the Research and Development Service is to create and sustain a well-equipped and broadly supported Biomedical Research Institute that will serve as a nexus for such research in Idaho for decades to come."