UC Davis researchers are applying to the National Institutes of Health for federal funds to build an approximately 10,000-square-foot laboratory building at the California National Primate Research Center. If funded, the building would provide new laboratories, research support space and offices for the center's Virology and Immunology unit, which studies HIV/AIDS and other diseases. It would accommodate biosafety level 3 practices, equipment and facilities.

The proposed project is in addition to a number of construction and renovation projects now under way at the primate center.

Estimated cost of the building is approximately $5 million, with $4 million being met by the NIH grant and $1 million from campus resources. The results of the application are expected at the end of September 2004.

A public notice of the application will appear in local newspapers. The complete grant application, including a preliminary environmental analysis of the project as required by the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), will be available for public review at the Office of Research Sponsored Programs unit in 118 Everson Hall on the UC Davis campus and in the reserves section of the Shields Library on campus. Comments on the application and requests for information should be addressed to John A. Meyer, Office of Resource Management and Planning, One Shields Avenue, Davis, by March 15, 2004.

If the grant is funded, the potential environmental impacts will be fully evaluated as required by NEPA and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).