Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
AT WHITEHEAD Construction Begins On Plant Growth Center Over the next several months, cranes and construction crews will temporarily alter the facade of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. Their appearance heralds the beginning of construction on the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research/National Science Foundation Plant Growth Center. The new Plant Growth Center, supported by a $300,000 grant from NSF in combination with Whitehead funds, will consist of a dedicated greenhouse and associated laboratory facilities. Dr. Gerald Fink, Whitehead's director, said that work in the Growth Center will focus mainly on projects involving the new genetic model for the plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Over the past five years, Arabidopsis studies in Dr. Fink's laboratory have led to new understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying plant growth and development. The Whitehead scientists also have identified biochemical pathways associated with basic plant defense mechanisms; in the future, manipulation of such pathways will enable plant breeders to "engineer" disease resistance into many common food plants. The new facility will enable Whitehead scientists to expand their work on disease resistance and to tackle other vital problems in the plant sciences. In addition to 740 square feet of greenhouse space, the Plant Growth Center will contain an environmentally controlled plant growth chamber; laboratory space with two benches, tissue culture hoods, and centrifuges, and a storage room. The new structure will be built in a section of the Institute roof designated as greenhouse space in the original plans for the building. The architect for the Plant Growth Center is Sheaffer Associates of Boston; the construction company is Turner Construction (the original contractor for Whitehead). According to John Shearns, director of the Whitehead Physical Plant, the engineering team consists of independent contractors with extensive experience in the design of specialized laboratory facilities. The completion date for the roof project is the last week in April. In May, Dr. Fink will host a dedication ceremony, including a scientific symposium for plant geneticists and other friends and supporters of the Whitehead Institute and MIT.