According to Gov. Mark R. Warner’s website, primary beneficiaries of the proposed state research fund are already known.

The Governor announced that the funding package would support several new research facilities including:

• A bioscience facility and a biocontainment laboratory at George Mason University;
• A Medical Research Building at Virginia Commonwealth University as well as additional funding for the Massey Cancer Center addition;
• Investments in a new clinical cancer center at the University of Virginia; and
• Construction of a Critical Technology Building and an Infectious Disease Laboratory at Virginia Tech.

“According to the National Science Foundation, Virginia’s public and private universities conducted more than $770 million in research and development in 2003 — the latest year for which numbers are available,” said Secretary of Education Peter Blake. “It is our expectation that this initiative will catapult us over the Governor’s goal of $1 billion in research and development well before the end of the decade.”