A Medical Device Daily

The Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences (IBBS) at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore) reported receiving a commitment of $10 million from the John G. Rangos Sr. Family Charitable Foundation for basic science research in the institute's new life sciences park in East Baltimore.

Announcement of the gift coincided with the groundbreaking of what will be called “the Science + Technology Park at Johns Hopkins,“ part of an 80-acre urban redevelopment just north of the Hopkins medical campus. The $800 million overall project, under the direction of East Baltimore Development, will also include housing, retail stores, other business and services for the community.

Rangos is the founder and former CEO of Chambers Development , an environmental and waste management company. He previously funded an endowed chair in the Department of Medicine and is a member of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Board of Visitors.

William Brody, president of Johns Hopkins, said the Rangos Family Foundation gift would have even broader implications. “Johns Hopkins is committed, with many other dedicated partners, to ensuring the revitalization of East Baltimore,“ he said. “John Rangos' extraordinary gift will help create breakthroughs in medical science.“

University labs and offices will occupy 100,000 square feet in the Rangos Building. IBBS is forming interdisciplinary and interdepartmental research groups in four key scientific areas. The John G. Rangos Sr. Building will house offices and labs in the new centers, which will focus on epigenetics, sensory biology, cell dynamics, and metabolism and obesity research.

IBBS was created in 2000 to bring together the School of Medicine's eight basic science departments: Biological Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering, Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry, Molecular Biology and Genetics, Molecular Cell Biology, Neuroscience, Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences and Physiology.