Burnett The Wistar Institute of the University of Pennsylvania is a renowned center for biological and biomedical research. The Institute occupies a building constructed as an anatomical museum in 1894, and many areas of the building do not provide an adequate environment for state-of-the-art research. Four laboratories in the area of structural and computational biology are being consolidated into an interdisciplinary division on the third floor of the building s west wing, which was last renovated in 1956. In order to accommodate these instrument- and computer-intensive research activities, this portion of the building will require a new roof, installation of ductwork to the building s central air conditioning system, installation of new fume hoods, and replacement of plumbing and windows. Rooms will be reconfigured to suit the research activities, and modern lab cabinetry will be installed. The renovation of the third floor of the Institute s west wing will bring together a critical mass of researchers who share an interest in the structural and molecular biology of proteins, and who share a need for instruments in the areas of x-ray crystallography, electron microscopy, image analysis, and computers and graphical workstations for analysis of sequence and structure data. The renovated facility will support state-of-the-art instrumentation, enable integration of research across these fields, and accommodate the training of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in these important scientific disciplines.
