Ceremony to launch biotechnology initiative

A ribbon cutting ceremony will celebrate the launch of the Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Initiative at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 19 in the third floor lobby of the Science and Technology Building on campus. Tours of the fifth floor labs and a reception will follow.

The initiative is a $2 million investment that created two large, shared lab spaces to accommodate multiple inter-related research groups for interdisciplinary research in topics including molecular genetics; biotechnology and the cellular basis of cancer. The initiative represents collaboration among the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of Biology and the Office of Research and Graduate Studies.

“Some of ECU’s…top researchers will be working in these new labs,” said Dr. Alan R. White, dean of the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences.

“This lab space is state-of-the-art, and it will be among the best research spaces on campus,” he said.

Among the researchers using the new labs are two individuals from ECU’s Wounded Warrior Program – Dr.s Baohong Zhang, assistant professor of biology who studies molecular genetics, toxicology and biotechnology; and Xiaoping Pan, assistant professor of biochemistry. Also using the lab is biology professor and developmental genetics researcher Dr. Beth Thompson, who received a five-year National Science Foundation CAREER Award.

For additional information, contact Dr. Jeff McKinnon, chair of the Department of Biology, at 252-328-6718 or mckinnonj@ecu.edu.