The Laboratories

Our laboratories are "laboratories without walls," designed to foster collaboration among scientists. The open concept layout allows for expansion and contraction of research space assigned to each investigator. A standard walled laboratory has four benches. Here we can tailor space to serve from 2 to a dozen lab scientists working for a single Principle Investigator.

All the casework is moveable so it is possible to reconfigure labs without construction expense, and to be responsive to shifting projects and staff needs.

On the inner wall, a series of small rooms will be shared spaces for tissue culture and safe handling of hazardous materials. Note the biotech hoods for conducting experiments with viruses or hazardous chemicals.

One of the unique features of the cancer laboratories is that they blend individuals from different departments. A toxicologist might be working next to physiologist. Benefit: most significant scientific contributions today are made through collaborations among scientists with different points of view. Our research focus at the Cancer Center is multidisciplinary, meeting the mission of the NCI to encourage interaction and interdisciplinary solutions to the problems of cancer. These labs have been designed with these goals in mind.