Center for the Sciences and Innovation
The biology department is located in the north wing of the Center for the Sciences and Innovation (CSI). In addition to its rooftop greenhouse, animal facilities, and walk-in, controlled environmental chambers, the CSI's glass-walled laboratories, classrooms, and offices aim to put science on display.
Supporting teaching and research
CSI supports teaching and research in biochemistry, botany, cell biology, developmental biology, ecology, evolution, genetics, immunology, microbiology, molecular biology, neurobiology, physiology, and systematic biology.
Undergraduates have the opportunity to learn and perform a variety of modern research techniques such as chromatography, electrophoresis, gene sequencing, phase contrast and fluorescent microscopy, tissue culture, and ultracentrifugation.
Research Labs
Biology research labs are run by faculty focused on specific research. Students and faculty work together in research labs to discover solutions to biological questions. The labs are equipped with sophisticated instrumentation and machines, and much of the research done in these labs is published in leading scientific journals. Students are invited to contribute to this research, give presentations, and lead discussions on the research issues at hand.
Teaching Labs
Biology teaching labs in the CSI are hubs for experiential learning. The settings for laboratory classes, the teaching labs are fully equipped with high-tech tools for study and experimentation. All teaching labs have access to microscopes, tissue culture facilities, specimens, controlled environmental chambers, and safety equipment.
Open to the professors who teach the laboratory courses as well as the students enrolled in the courses, the teaching labs bustle with activity. Students may use the facilities outside of class time for "come-back labs" where they monitor or wrap up experiments or tests. Students and faculty also use teaching labs for some specialized research.
Teaching labs include a genetics/microbiology lab, a cellular/developmental lab, an ecology/behavior lab, a physiology/neuroscience lab, a biochemistry/molecular biology lab, and a vertebrate/biodiversity/evolution lab.
