The University of Mississippi Thad Cochran National Center for Natural Products Research

A center for primary research in the utilization of natural products, the Cochran Center has brought together an alliance of academia, government and the private sector to integrate research, development and commercialization of useful natural products. The center is designed to address completely unknown chemical and biological elements for human and animal health as a natural research center and is designed to contain all potential hazardous elements as investigations proceed. Safety and research integrity, critical to the center’s success, had a major influence on the design of the facility.

The laboratory component contains bio-safety work areas, entomology and environmental chambers, synthetic chemistry sections, cold labs, a scientific library, plus centers for agronomy and microbiology. An animal center houses twenty-five principal investigation suites with complete support operation, including surgical, necropsy and care centers. The facility also includes a material intake suite to categorize collected specimens and a full conference center.

The complex was developed in phases to facilitate funding availability. The design and construction concept utilized two phases and 11 construction packages spanning 25 years of development.

Joint Venture with Laboratory Research Group