New $44M Las Vegas medical lab aims to keep testing in Nevada, cut wait times

Construction on the $44 million Nevada Health & Bioscience Corp. project is progressing, the nonprofit announced during a hard‑hat tour on Tuesday. The 34,000‑square‑foot, two‑story NHBC Academic Laboratory is taking shape at 1601 Pinto Lane, directly opposite the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV. The facility will support research and healthcare services in Nevada, reducing the state’s dependence on out‑of‑state labs. NHBC says it expects to cut diagnostic test turnaround times, keep healthcare dollars within the state and generate more than $5 million in annual community savings. The lab will also serve UNLV’s medical school and may host hematology and pathology residency programs and fellowships. “It will surely help in educating and training the students who are coming out of the medical school,” said James Waddoups, president and CEO of NHBC. “But past the broader community will benefit from the quicker turnaround times on testing, keeping that investigation present in Nevada, not having to send it out of state, taking many days.” Funding comes from a $9 million city of Las Vegas wide‑funds assistance package and a $35 million State of Nevada American Rescue Plan Act grant. Completion is targeted for the end of 2026, with tenants slated to move in during the first quarter of the following year. The building will house University Medical Center and another tenant that will provide blood services; the specific partner has not been announced but lease negotiations are in the final stages, according to Waddoups. On the first floor, the blood services tenant and UMC will divide the space east to west. The blood services tenant will occupy the east side, featuring a blood donation center, while UMC will be on the west side with its freezer farm, deliveries and other intake functions. The second floor will contain a specialized laboratory for UMC’s microbiology and virology, tuberculosis detection, stem‑cell processing, environmental toxicology and molecular lab services and testing. The site will also host Nevada’s first Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration‑approved laboratory, offering high‑complexity substance‑abuse testing. Additionally, the lab will provide “esoteric” tests—uncommon assays that only four labs in the state currently perform, such as Fungitell, noted Deb LaCava, pathology manager at UMC. The test detects fungal infections, and LaCava anticipates “everybody on the West Coast” will start sending their specimens to the facility. LaCava said the hospital currently sends out about 15 percent of tests, roughly 1 million of the 7.5 million performed annually. The lab will not accept direct patient specimens but will test samples received through contracts with hospitals, outside laboratories and nearby nursing homes. “We have an instrument that can test for tuberculosis in two hours,” LaCava remarked about one of the new lab’s instruments. “It’s a DNA test, so we’ll be able to at least isolate that patient and begin treating them instead of waiting six weeks for results to return.”