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August 16, 2005
Decomissioned Virology Lab
A little bit tangental this one, but surely interesting. Nikki and I are working at Kings College London (KCL), helping set up a rapid prototyping lab. This is the machine that is being installed, and it will be used to build physical models of damaged areas of bone and soft tissues, to aid surgeons in facial reconstruction. I'll follow up on this post soon, when the unit has arrived.
KCL is based at the site of Guy's hospital, and the department we are temporarily working in has amongst other things a materials lab and a cell lab, which are always glad of additional equipment. Enter the decomissioned Virology Lab, located at St Thomas' Hospital (the sister site of Guys) in a building in the process of being emptied for use by it's new owner. This lab was partially cleared when it was decontaminated some years ago, though this wasn't very thorough so we helped move glasswear and furniture between the two sites. The lab was a medical Mary Celeste complete with lab coats, staff photos and a class 2 laboratory - I'm reliably informed there are only 2 class 3 labs in the UK – which was thankfully locked. My hands still feel itchy though.
Posted by tobie at August 16, 2005 06:41 PM