AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – The Georgia Senate on Tuesday released its budget for the next fiscal year, including $10.7 million to fund the design of a new “translational research” building for the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University.

This would allow the state’s flagship medical school to begin planning for a $146 million, 150,000-square-foot research building to house state-of-the-art labs and equipment for researchers and attract new physician-scientists and faculty to the state’s oldest and most prominent public medical school.

Translational research is meant to translating results in basic research into direct benefits for humans.

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MCG ranks 67th in the nation for National Institutes of Health research funding but ranks second in the country in NIH funding compared to other medical schools of a similar faculty size.

According to Regent James M. Hull, the new building would attract the talent Georgia needs for more research bench-to-bedside discoveries.

The Georgia House and Senate would need to agree in conference to fund the remaining cost of the planning for the new research building.

That is expected to be under $15 million for planning, design and demolition of buildings constructed in the 1950s.

The new translational research building is expected to cost $146 million, and funding for that project would need to be approved in next year’s budget.

Augusta leaders praised this first step in the process, including Augusta’s Mayor, Garnett Johnson.

“It’s important to note that every dollar of National Institutes of Health funding brings $2.64 back to communities where this important research is being done,” he said. “This is a wonderful signal from the Georgia Senate.”

Dr. J. Ben Deal, immediate Past Chair of the Medical College of Georgia Foundation, agreed.

“We need to expand what the Medical College of Georgia can do, but we can only do that with investment,” he said.

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