The State Building Commission agreed to pay $50 million in state funding for the preliminary phase of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery Wednesday, finalizing approval by a seven-to-one vote. The Institute would provide an interdisciplinary biotechnology research facility on the UW-Madison campus.
State Rep. Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, chair of the Building Commission's Higher Education Subcommittee, stressed the importance of biotechnology research.
Through research conducted at the Institute for Discovery, Wisconsin will play a major role in saving lives throughout the world,\ Shilling said in a statement. ""Biomedical research is the key to finding cures for the ever-increasing number of global epidemics, whether it is avian flu, SARS, AIDS or the next epidemic of the future.""
With Wednesday's approval, the date has been set for the Institute's construction.
""It would begin construction in December of 2007 to be completed in 2009,"" said Anne Lupardus, spokesperson for Gov. Jim Doyle. ""Then there is a phase two and three of the project, which would expand and occupy the 1200 block of University Avenue directly to the east of phase one.""
There has been some criticism due to the potential funding going toward stem-cell research. ""Killing the whole project because of this misunderstanding would be like cutting off funding to the entire UW System simply because you don't like one of the textbooks,"" Shilling said.
Brian Shactman, the chair of UW-Madison College Democrats, said it would be great for the school to be doing this kind of research. ""There are millions of people—not just in the state of Wisconsin, in the country—who have diseases such as Parkinson's or a form of cancer that can be cured, and stems cells are the way to do it,"" Shactman said. ""If we can, as a state, be the leader in finding cures for those diseases, that could be incredible and amazing.""
With a gubernatorial election at the forefront, Joe Wineke, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, warned citizens of Republican challenger U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Green Bay. In a statement, he said Green's stance on stem-cell research limits the abilities of science.
""If Mark Green had his way, Wisconsin would close its doors forever to the potential of stem-cell research to save lives and create high-tech jobs,"" he said.\
