We’ve recently moved our lab operations over to UNC’s new Genome Science Building. The building is notable for a few reasons. It has large shared labs – a new thing for us – with 3-4 groups together in one space. It has large shared offices dedicated to bioinformatics next door to each of the wetlabs, designed for the brave new world where many students and postdocs spend more time at the computer than the wetbench. The whole design is centered around cross-disciplinary collaboration – with faculty from Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Statistics and Operations Research all mixed up together. The building is a large addition to the facilities for genomics on campus (clocking in at 210,000 square feet). It houses a number of genome-related core facilities, a spacious and well-appointed rooftop greenhouse, and even a cafe for informal interaction, stimulant-rich beverages and sustenance. Finally, it is a visually striking and inspiring space – not your typical Southern brick colonial job – and it is LEED silver certified.
If you are in the neighborhood, come along to the opening celebration on Oct 12th, featuring talks from a number of genomics luminaries, including David Botstein, Joe Ecker, Evan Eichler and Ruth Ley, not to mention our own Jason Lieb and Alain Laederach.
