UC Davis' new Center for Comparative Medicine will throw open its doors to the public during a June 4-5 Inaugural Jubilee, marking completion of the facility that will house research and teaching related to diseases afflicting both humans and animals. The center, located west of the main campus on County Road 98 and adjacent to the California Regional Primate Research Center, is a collaborative effort by the UC Davis schools of medicine and veterinary medicine. The new facility includes 16,000 square feet of laboratory and office space plus 8,000 square feet allocated for research animals. The celebration will begin Thursday, June 4, with a daylong symposium featuring campus researchers and scientists from other institutions who will present talks focused on diseases caused by bacteria, fungi, viruses and retroviruses and on the use of the mouse as an animal model for studying infectious diseases. The ceremonial opening of the center will begin Friday, June 5, at 2 p.m. Keynote speaker for the opening will be Judith Vaitukaitis, director of the National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes of Health. Her 3 p.m. talk about the "Key Role of Animal Models for Integrative Biology" will be followed by a 3:30 p.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony, building tours and reception.