First Phase of Wet Lab Expansion Completed in DCL

11/3/2009 Sam Smucker

The Bioengineering Department has completed the first phase of a wet lab expansion in the Digital Computer Laboratory (DCL).

Written by Sam Smucker

The first phase of the wet lab expansion at DCL is complete.
The first phase of the wet lab expansion at DCL is complete.
The first phase of the wet lab expansion at DCL is complete.
The Department of Bioengineering is located in the Digital Computer Lab (DCL), although faculty offices and labs also can be found at the Beckman Institute, the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory, and the Institute for Genomic Biology. The Department occupies 9,300 sq. ft. of space in DCL including the main office, teaching labs, offices for six faculty, and graduate student offices.

With the support of the College of Engineering, the Bioengineering Department plans to transform DCL into a center of biomedical research on the University of Illinois campus. During the spring of 2009, the Department remodeled 3,700 sq. ft. of space on the first floor, formerly used as computer labs, into Biosafety Level 2 wet labs encompassing approximately 400 linear feet of bench space, three solvent fumehoods, four biosafety cabinets, and an acid fumehood. This completes the first phase of a plan to create 10,500 sq. ft. of wet lab space on the first floor of DCL and an additional 3,250 sq. ft. of computational research space on the second floor. The wet lab design incorporates individual research space along with shared facilities for cell culture preparation, microscopy, as well as autoclave and dishwashing. The newly remodeled facilities will be home to the labs of Professors Sua Myong and Yingxiao Wang and will provide a home to future Bioengineering faculty. The renovation was accomplished with support from the College of Engineering.


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This story was published November 3, 2009.