Renovations Begin!

On July 11th Dean Horwitz joined the Chair of the Department of Pharmacology, Kris Palczewski, Vice Chair John Mieyal, and Michael Maguire, the architectural liaison for the Department, in the official wall breaking, all of whom enthusiastically wielded a sledgehammer to begin the demolition of the current third floor laboratories, marking the exciting beginning of the first phase of construction of completely new laboratories for the Department.  The renovations will eventually encompass the entire 3rd floor and the East half of the 1st floor.  On just the 3rd floor, bench space should increase by 20% and equipment space by 30%.  This improved floor plan will be able to accommodate 22 faculty members and over 110 research staff and students on the 1st and 3rd floors. 

In addition to the increased space, the renovations will update the department’s resources by providing state of the art audiovisual capability in meeting rooms including video conferencing capabilities, plasma screens throughout the Department for news and announcements, and original artwork displayed throughout the halls.  Administrative offices will be centrally located and the department will feature stunning new seminar room, meeting rooms, and break rooms. 

The labs themselves will benefit from a marked increase in ambient lighting with fewer shadows, enameled metal cabinetry with attractive wood facing, better safety features and entirely new heating and cooling systems.  The department will offer two tissue culture suites with 6 hoods each and extensive dark room and imaging facilities.  These improved workspaces will greatly boost the research capabilities of the department as a whole.

During this renovation, the Department is extremely fortunate to be working with Milan Bender and Associates for the architectural design and is most grateful to be receiving the expert assistance of Jill Stanley and Dan Davis in coordinating construction.  We are also very grateful to Dr. Jonathan Karn, Chair of the Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology for generously providing laboratory swing space for our use during construction.

The first phase, comprised of the West half of the third floor and the Center for Mitochondrial Diseases on the first floor is expected to be completed by April 15th, 2007.  The final, second phase will commence immediately thereafter and should be completed in April of 2008.