NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — The Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute has extended by five years the lease for its University of California lab in Walnut Creek, Calif., the DoE said today.
The new lease also gives JGI an extra 18,000 square feet in a vacant building that will be renovated and opened in the first quarter of 2008. The additional space will bring JGI’s total footprint to 80,000 square feet.
JGI said the additional space will allow the institute to consolidate its administrative and informatics staffs and will include an education and outreach lab.
The new lease will run through 2013 and includes an option to run through 2018. JGI said it now has a staff of 240 at the University of California.
JGI Director Eddy Rubin said the institute has “grown considerably over the last 10 years as we have transitioned from determining the DNA code for the human genome to a national user facility for the DNA sequencing of many different important organisms.”
Financial terms of the agreement were not released.