SAN DIEGO -- The University of California, San Diego is moving forward with a plan to build a 150,000-square-foot biomedical research building on the campus.

The University of California Board of Regents gave UCSD the go-ahead to begin the planning phase on the $118 million to $135 million project during its meeting last week in San Francisco, according to UCSD officials.

The facility, which would be built at UCSD's Health Sciences campus, is needed to accommodate recent and projected growth in research activities in the School of Medicine and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, university officials said.

Once planning for the project is completed, UCSD must back to the Board of Regents for final approval.