The Jackson Laboratory has completed plans to open a branch in Connecticut. On 5 January, state governor Dannel Malloy finalized an agreement with Jackson, a biomedical research centre based in Bar Harbor, Maine. The lab will initially lease space from the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington. Next year, construction will begin on a permanent facility in Farmington that is set to employ 300 scientists and support staff by 2017. Recruitment is already under way in computational biology and systems genomics for the temporary lab, which will have 27 employees, including scientists, by the end of 2012, says Michael Hyde, Jackson's vice-president for advancement.