University Professor Michael Waterman joined VIPs and colleagues at the dedication of the College's new life science facility.
|
Genomics Rising
USC College Celebrates Life Sciences—and Music—at Building Dedication
By Eva Emerson
Everyone knew their skills with pipettes, centrifuges and algorithms,
but few guessed at the hidden musical talents of the occupants of USC
College’s brand new life sciences facility.
When College leaders first drew up plans for the USC Molecular &
Computational Biology Building, they envisioned shared laboratories,
linked office suites, student lounges and common rooms designed to
foster interdisciplinary interaction and speed progress on efforts to
reveal and apply secrets of the genome.
But those involved in the building’s creation seemed delighted at
April’s dedication ceremony when some of the new occupants, in the
person of molecular biology graduate student Ronda Bransteitter,
revealed their vision of an environment conducive to creativity and
innovative thinking in the state-of-the-art facility.
“What would be really nice would be a piano,” Bransteitter told the
crowd gathered to celebrate the building’s opening just 22 months after
construction began.
The dedication, tour and gala dinner marked what USC College Dean
Joseph Aoun has characterized as a major milestone for the College in
its plans for increasing excellence in the life sciences.
“Tonight’s celebration is about much more than a magnificent building.
It is about the innovative research that led us to build this new
facility,” Aoun said.
Designed by Zimmer, Gunsul & Frasca and built next to Kaprielian
Hall, the 118,000-square-foot building, with room for 30 research
groups, increases USC College research space by 23 percent.
“This is not only a new building … [it] will be a complex and
interdependent ecosystem of scientific creativity and invention,” USC
President Steven B. Sample said.
The MCB Building realizes an idea long nurtured by
mathematician-turned-computational biologist Michael Waterman and his
colleagues. In 1982, Waterman, the USC Associates Chair in Natural
Sciences, began developing a cross-disciplinary research and education
program built on genetics, math, computer science and informatics. The
program has grown into one of the nation’s leading research groups in
computational biology, a field that has become increasingly important
in the era of rapid genome sequencing and the attendant exponential
growth in biological data.
“This state-of-the-art building,” said Waterman, now an esteemed
University Professor, “will give USC’s life scientists a world-class
infrastructure to engage in the most forward-thinking and competitive
research, ensuring USC remains a major academic center for molecular
and computational biology.”
At the gala, Bransteitter’s request for a piano led Sample to launch an
impromptu auction. He offered bidders a choice of breakfast with
himself or football coach Pete Carroll for a pledge to buy a piano for
the musically inclined scientists.
The evening’s emcee, College Councilor Patrick Haden did not hesitate
to take up the challenge. Asked who he’d like to dine with, Haden said
he’d prefer to breakfast with Bransteitter, a rising scientific star
who studies the biochemistry of the immune system with Professor Myron
Goodman.
The auction captured the spirit of the evening, which at times felt
downright giddy as scientists greeted guests in empty rooms that since
have been filled with furniture, books, computers, pipettes,
centrifuges, autoclaves, high-throughput gene sequencers, students,
faculty, staff — and one upright piano.
|
|
|
