While an addition to that building is scheduled for completion in 2002, some NIH campus scientists wonder whether construction alone can contain the burgeoning intramural research program. In one of that building's shared lab rooms, benches line one wall and computer workstations line another, with only a narrow strip of empty floor separating them. But Malech doubts that any more construction can contain the NIH's growing intramural research program. There's a strong need for the NIH to develop satellite programs. Existing satellite programs include additional NIH labs in Frederick, Md., an environmental science program in North Carolina, and the Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Arizona.
Good science requires constant communication.
If we had more space, we could do more work. Still, Marx sees an upside of sorts in the situation. He notes that he would likely inherit ample lab space should he choose to go to academia. I would have had a lot of space, but to fill that space I'd have to have a lot of grants. NIH director Harold Varmus was unavailable to comment on the campus' space issues.