WORCESTER Craig C. Mello was the first person at University of Massachusetts Medical School to win the Nobel Prize, but he won't be the last.

This was the optimistic theme repeated by speakers at a lavish grand opening Wednesday of the $400 million new research building called the Albert Sherman Center.

Dr. Michael F. Collins, chancellor of the medical school, said the building will allow researchers to change the history of the course of diseases.

The Sherman Center was built with the help of $90 million in state funds from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. Elected officials, including Gov. Deval L. Patrick, called the building an important investment in the future of the life sciences industry in Massachusetts.

It is about jobs and investment, but for so many people and families, it's about hopes and cures and therapies, Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray said.

The Sherman Center doubles the medical school's research capacity and will bring under one roof researchers who currently work in different locations. The building was designed to encourage collaboration.

Researchers have started moving into their new labs, a process that will continue through April. UMass has recruited many top-flight scientists over the last five years to work in the new building. Through stem cells, gene therapy, RNA interference and other types of research, they're working on treatments for a variety of ailments including cancer, diabetes, heart disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.

The facility, House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo said, represents the best of what we in government can do.

U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern joked that he was so excited with what he saw in the more-than-500,000 square-foot building that he wanted to donate his body to medical research.

The building is named for Albert Albie Sherman, who formerly served as UMass vice chancellor of university relations and is well-known in political circles.

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Nobel goal for new UMass Medical School research center