Starting in the fall, the department of biology will have a brand new research facility to call home.
The Carolyn Lynch Laboratory, which is located at 433 S. University Ave., was officially opened in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 12.
In addition to an increase in biology laboratory space for faculty and graduate students, the building will also house Penn's Genomics Institute.
Some of the facilities in the lab include greenhouses, web laboratories, and facilities for fish and other animals.
"It's a wonderful new facility with flexible lab space so it allows for new advances in science," School of Arts and Sciences Dean RebeccaBushnell said. "It's built in a way that can adapt to the changing needs of research."
Construction on Lynch Lab -- located next to the bio-pond -- began in the fall of 2003, and is the first part of the University's plan for a large life-sciences complex, according to Bushnell.
Lynch Lab has few classrooms and will not be used as a teaching facility. However, the next phase of the project will include a larger number of classrooms and will integrate the existing Leidy Lab into the design.
"The plan is that once the second part of this building is completed it will connect the new complex to the Leidy Lab," said Ramin Sedehi, Vice Dean for Finance and Administration at the School of Arts and Sciences.
Leidy Lab "has excellent teaching spaces in it and is a very solid old building so it will be part of the whole process."
Professors, who will begin moving into Lynch Lab this summer, include many who currently have offices in Mudd Biology Research Laboratory and Goddard Laboratories.
One professor who is preparing to move into Lynch Lab next fall is biology professor R. Scott Poethig.
"We're extremely happy with this building," Poethig said. "The old facilities were substandard."
Opening Lynch Lab "will demonstrate that the biology department is at the forefront of science," he said.
Bushnell and Poethig both emphasized that the modern facilities will help attract stronger graduate students and faculty to Penn.
"It is absolutely critical to our competitiveness in the science," Bushnell said. "If we can't provide the kind of cutting edge research base for our faculty... we're going to have trouble recruiting people."
Bushnell added that Lynch Lab will also serve as an integration point between disciplines.
"It really is to provide a facility for the important new areas of teaching and research in the life sciences with the integration of biology and psychology," she said.
Integrating fields of study is a key component of the Penn Compact, University President Amy Gutmann's plan for improving Penn's stature.
The design phase of the second part of the new complex will begin by next summer, Sedehi said.
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