Life Sciences Complex Highlights
The Life Sciences Complex: Redefining the Future of Life Sciences at Syracuse University
PUBLIC SPACES
The Milton Atrium joins the Life Sciences Complex and the Center for Science and Technology (home to the chemistry department’s research facilities). This expansive public space includes a café, public gathering spaces, a towering wood ceiling, and a commanding campus view. Made possible by a generous gift from SU alumni Jack and Laura Milton of the class of 1951, the Milton Atrium will provide a venue for events that speak to diverse audiences about the importance and vibrancy of the scholarship and research of those who learn, teach, and discover in the building’s classrooms and laboratories.
The RESTORE Center for Environmental Biotechnology, made possible by a $5 million New York State grant secured by New York State Assemblyman William B. Magnarelli, encompasses high-tech teaching and research support facilities for faculty and students.
The Lundgren Room, named in honor of the biology department’s first chair, Donald Lundgren (1970-1983), is a gathering space for departmental seminars and special functions.
Student gathering spaces are located throughout the building’s spacious public areas. Those waiting for lab classes can relax or study in the adjacent lounges located on both ends of the research wing’s first floor. Comfortable seating areas also line the hallway opposite the first-floor laboratories. Additional public lounges are located near the ground-floor auditorium and in the Milton Atrium.
TEACHING
Undergraduate teaching laboratories are located on the first floor of the research wing and the second and third floors of the teaching wing.The labs have all the necessary equipment for a very modern, experimental approach to hands-on, inquiry-based experiences with chemical and biological phenomena. Highlights:
- Four general biology and five advanced biology teaching laboratories, including the Cathryn R. Newton Advanced Teaching Lab, named in her honor as the result of a generous gift from the College of Arts and Sciences Board of Visitors; and the Druger Teaching Lab, named in honor of his 45 years of teaching Introductory Biology at SU as the result of a generous gift from Patricia Druger, former students, and friends
- Four general chemistry teaching laboratories;
- A highly specialized, 48-seat, organic chemistry laboratory where students will experiment with the full range of organic compounds (carbon-based compounds) and methods of preparing compounds;
- A molecular biology/biochemistry teaching laboratory, which will be shared by the biology and chemistry departments and be equipped with technologies to enable students to study DNA, RNA, and proteins;
- A chemistry computer lab where students develop three-dimensional simulations of complex molecules and their chemical interactions.
The 250-seat auditorium includes a behind-the-scenes prep room and mobile laboratory workstation with a fume hood. The high-tech teaching equipment enables faculty to conduct experiments and demonstrations during their lectures that normally could not be done in a classroom setting.
The Breed Lecture Hall, the result of a gift from the estate of the late Floyd “Moe” Breed ’37, a former member of SU’s Founders Society; the Keech Classroom, a gift from Bernice Keech '51; and the William Randolph Hearst Classroom, a gift from The Hearst Foundation, are equipped with the latest teaching technologies and provide much-needed space for larger classes and special presentations.
The complex also includes smaller classrooms for recitation and other small-group sessions and technology-equipped conference rooms. Wireless and wired Internet connectivity is available throughout the complex. Many of these facilities and public spaces have been made possible by the generosity of alumni and friends of The College in celebration of the Life Sciences at SU.
RESEARCH
A state-of-the art Research Wing includes 27 interconnecting research laboratories that provide primary workspaces for a group of faculty researchers engaged in diverse areas of discovery. The laboratories were made possible by a founding gift from Marilyn Smith Swift Tennity '42 and William P. Tennity. The physical interconnectedness of the laboratories will act to blur disciplinary boundaries. Researchers working on questions of cell growth, function, and organization will collaborate with colleagues asking questions about organism behavior; Ecology and Earth systems and environmental change scientists can readily interact; and questions about genomics can be directly related to evolution. The architectural design of the research wing allows for maximum flexibility in configuring physical spaces to accommodate ever-changing needs as well as cross-disciplinary communication and collaboration.
The Imaging Center—a telescope into the microscopic world—is centrally located on the third floor of the Research Wing, and will provide researchers critical world-class tools for fluorescence microscopy of fixed and living tissue to enable them to better understand how organisms function, how molecules and proteins within cells are assembled and regulated, and how cells communicate with their environments. The center is made possible by a generous gift in honor of Sydelle Blatt '51, from Lee Blatt '51, their children, and grandchildren. Tissue Culture facilities will be available to researchers on every floor.
The Genomics Center, centrally located on the fourth floor of the Research Wing, provides faculty and students tools to extract and analyze an organism’s genetic code to gain critical insights into how genes interact to control fundamental life processes.
Two Research Greenhouses are the jeweled crowns perched on the Life Sciences Complex roof. The state-of-the-art computer-controlled greenhouses and separate Plant Growth Chambers (located on the fourth floor) enable researchers to manipulate environmental conditions throughout the plant lifecycle—from seed propagation to mature plant. The controlled environment will also enable researchers to study the interaction of plants and insects and the physical proximity of molecular biologists will permit these questions to be addressed at the cellular and molecular levels.