The Biomedical Innovations Building

An Update for Our Supporters

2022

Thank You

Thanks to your generosity, Stanford has built a state-of-the-art facility that has the capacity to bring together 1,000 faculty, students, and staff from across medical disciplines. Together, they are working towards the goal of precision health — developing the knowledge, tools, and treatments to not just treat disease, but also proactively predict and prevent illness into the future.

The Biomedical Innovations Building (BMI) is now the center of Stanford’s effort to elevate standards of discovery and patient care around the world. Collaborative and translational work will be key to achieving lasting impact and the BMI Building now provides the space to work across teams with ease.

Thank you for your support and dedication to innovation across biosciences.

With deep gratitude,

Lloyd B. Minor, MD
​Carl and Elizabeth Naumann Dean of the Stanford University School of Medicine

Biomedical Innovations Building at a Glance

  • 16 Departments in the BMI Building
  • 1,000 faculty and researchers working in the building
  • 92 out of 94 labs operational to date
  • 125,000 net square feet per floor of flexible wet and dry labs

The innovative state of the art design of Stanford’s Biomedical Innovations Building (BMI) brings together scientists and clinicians in related fields to work together on translational research and clinical treatments. Departments in this space include:

Above: A lab in the Department of Pediatrics, second floor of the BMI Building

A New Home for Innovation

Construction on the BMI Building at 240 Pasteur Drive finished on time and received a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy at the end of 2019. Fit-up work began on the labs in January 2020 and labs started moving in late February 2020 to inhabit the building. This process was paused in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Progress resumed in late July 2020 with the labs gradually filling the building, as the fit-up work was completed (a complete schedule is below). While the pandemic slowed the process of occupying the building, both in the timeline of the space readiness as well as the comfort-level of the staff moving into a new space while research projects were underway, all labs are now fully occupying the new BMI Building.

The pandemic also necessitated new health and safety measures to be implemented, such as mandatory masking, social distancing, and capacity restrictions. Luckily, the new facility provided the space to safely continue work on important research.

Building Construction Timeline


Collaborative Spaces

Otolaryngology is already working with our “neighbors” in the BMI building and our proximity has made collaboration much easier. The new labs have been a game changer, allowing our department the space to acquire new equipment to progress our research and to work closely with colleagues."
​Teresa Nicolson, PhD
​Edward C. and Amy H. Sewall Professor in Otolaryngology

One of the goals for the BMI Building was the fostering of collaborative science. Private huddle booths with dry erase walls provide places across the building to work together. Each level has two defined common spaces, designed to foster collaboration and camaraderie with comfortable seating, convenient beverage stations, or kitchens. The commons on the west side of the building open to terraces providing open air gathering space, which has been especially welcome during the pandemic.

Left: A collaborative common space
​Right: Dr. Nicolson in her lab


​Before the BMI Building, Otolaryngology labs were dispersed in different buildings on Stanford’s campus. Now they are under one roof, making collaboration more efficient and organic. Dr. Nicolson is working with fellow otolaryngologists Alan Cheng, MD, and Stefan Heller, PhD, both of whom work on hair-cell regeneration, to understand the role of hair cells in hearing loss to treat deafness and balance disorders. Impromptu conversations and more in-depth collaboration are now taking place as a result of their physical proximity.

The orthopaedic team regularly engages with other Stanford bioengineers, cell and molecular biologists, radiologists and researchers specializing in advanced imaging techniques, as well as with pathologists, biostatisticians and others to advance our mutual research goals. This was immeasurably enhanced by our team’s move into the new Biomedical Innovations Building. This will especially advance therapeutic discoveries in osteoarthritis as our investigators work together to predict and track the damage to articular cartilage, and find new ways to treat it.
​William J.Maloney, MD
​Boswell Chair of Orthopaedics


Thank You

We are so grateful for your support and commitment to Stanford’s Biomedical Innovations vision. The new building provides a wonderful facility for some of Stanford’s most dynamic labs to work together. We look forward to keeping you updated on the innovation that develops in this space.