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Slide show: Microbial Sciences Building

September 14, 2007
Exterior of Microbial Sciences Pedestrians walk past the exterior of the Microbial Sciences Building. The 330,000-square-foot facility is the campus’s largest academic building.
Laboratory classroom Joanne Weber, center, a faculty associate in medical microbiology and immunology, teaches a laboratory class, in which students learned to identify different microorganisms through colony and cellular morphology.
Lecture hall A medical microbiology class meets in one of the lecture halls. More than 200 undergraduate students major in the two academic programs served by the new building.
Neighborhoods signage Signage printed on the glass walls near the elevators provides directions to the building’s different “neighborhoods” of research suites that promote idea-sharing and interaction among faculty and students.
Graduate student offices Nichole Broderick, a Ph.D. student in the microbiology and entomology, works in one of the graduate student office suites in bacteriology professor Jo Handelsman’s new research lab. 110 students are enrolled in the Microbiology Doctoral Training Program, one of the largest such programs in the nation.
Laboratory space Cindy Chin, a graduate student in the Graduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Biology, works in bacteriology assistant professor Karen Wassarman’s lab. The building houses 40 faculty-led research laboratories.
Atrium

Using seating on the main floor, students study as sunlight streams in the six-story main atrium of the building. The atrium features a cafe and seating areas equipped with rolling whiteboards on which scientists and students can brainstorm solutions to problems.
Atrium furniture Undergraduate Megan Kaiser takes a break from studying to read the newspaper in the atrium, which overlooks historic Hiram Smith Hall.

Photos: Jeff Miller