UD celebrates opening of new interdisciplinary science building

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Newark Post

The University of Delaware celebrated the official opening of its new interdisciplinary science laboratory on Delaware Avenue last week.

“We're opening an exciting new chapter in the treasured history of the University of Delaware, one that is marked by bold exploration, surprising discoveries and inspiring moments of teaching and learning,” UD President Dennis Assanis said during the April 17 ceremony. “The possibilities of what can happen in this building are truly endless and truly amazing.”

The $180 million Building X brings together faculty and students from biology, psychology, neuroscience, physics and quantum science. Research done there will focus on human disease, developmental disorders, neuroscience and human behavior.

“It explores the most complex system known – the human brain – and it also explores the implications for understanding mind and behavior,” Assanis said. “It advances our understanding of the basic biology needed to study, treat and possibly prevent human disease.”

Building X replaces McKinly Lab, which was damaged by a fire in 2017.

The Building X name is technically temporary until the university chooses a permanent name for the facility, but officials seem to have embraced the moniker, even hiding Xs throughout the design of the structure.

“The X, it's not a random letter,” Assanis said. “It's because we're going to leave things to imagination, to your imagination, about the amazing science that's going to happen in this building for years to come.”

The building uses an open lab design, with large, shared spaces rather than areas that are carved up into lots of individual labs. That allows for flexibility in the future and invites collaboration.

Many of the labs have large windows, allowing people walking through common areas of the building to see the research happening inside.

Building X includes an enclosed bridge that provides researchers easy access to the building next door, which houses a state-of-the-art MRI machine.

Outside, a large outdoor plaza includes benches, grassy areas and rain gardens fronting Delaware Avenue, right across from the Main Street Galleria parking lot.

Velia Fowler, chair of UD’s biology department, said one of the biggest benefits of the building is that it brings researchers from different disciplines all under the same roof. That facilitates collaboration and the sharing of both ideas and equipment.

“If you’re a mile away, that’s just not happening,” Fowler said.

Doctoral student Skye Brand concurred.

“Nature does not recognize our departmental boundaries, and every scientific subject is highly dependent on ideas derived from multiple disciplines,” Brand said. “The systems and processes that we study here at the university are interconnected, and the scientists investigating them should be as well.”