Two-year, $12.3 million renovation completed at Lederle Graduate Research Center
AMHERST — One segment of the five-year plan that has already been completed is a two-year, $12.3 million renovation in the Lederle Graduate Research Center at the University of Massachusetts.
UMass officials say the project enhanced research in the biological and physical sciences and made the campus competitive nationally.
About 15,000 square feet of lab space was rebuilt with $7.1 million from the National Institutes of Health through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and $5.2 million from the university.
In addition to new plumbing, wiring, fire protection, air handling systems, offices and laboratory facilities on three floors, renovations included a new $1 million nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer, an X-ray crystallography instrument and an autoclave in the basement that will be used by biochemists to conduct experiments on how cells work at the molecular level.
Craig Martin, head of the chemistry department, says the new laboratory space will house six research faculty members of the federally funded Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Program, three of whom will move from temporary or shared space.
“We’re particularly excited to be giving our young researchers the space they deserve. They’ll get state-of-the-art new labs, built on an open floor plan that encourages interaction between groups,” he said.
— ETTA WALSH
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