Exploring the Neurobiology of Drug Addiction
Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience, Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine
Infrastructure
Our Facilities and Resources
Veterinary and Biomedical Research Building
Our laboratory is located in the 118,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Veterinary and Biomedical Research Building (VBRB) on the Pullman campus of Washington State University. VBRB was designed to meet the specific needs of our department. Each floor of VBRB supports three laboratory neighborhoods, each consisting of labs clustered based on shared research interests and connected by modern open-concept laboratory space. A glass wall separates laboratory space on the north side of the building from the main hallway and the faculty, postdoc, staff, and student office space on the south side. Each floor also boasts multiple biosafety and chemical hoods, ice machines, kitchenettes, and multiple conference rooms with teleconferencing equipment. Finally, the building is equipped with a multi-story lecture hall, a 10,000-square-foot vivarium, and on-site cage washing and laundry facilities. The building received a well-deserved civic design award from the Washington Council of the American Institute of Architects. Importantly, our research mission is supported by the multiple award winning research and grants administrative team in Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience.
Laboratory Resources
Our laboratory consists of a large wet lab area with multiple sinks and islands set up for histology, western blotting, drug preparation, immunohistochemistry, and optogenetics. The lab also includes a private microscopy room housing the lab's epifluorescence microscope; a dedicated surgery room equipped with ceiling-mounted surgical lights, personal hoods, and stainless-steel furniture; a private vertical vivarium; four behavioral testing rooms; and a dedicated histology room with a downdraft perfusion table and chemical hood. Refrigerators and freezers are located in the adjacent equipment corridor. Other equipment in our lab includes 55 operant conditioning chambers, six locomotor chambers, lasers, automated stereotaxic instruments, nanoinfusers, microinfusion pumps, cryostat, freezing microtome, vibratome, standard cell biology equipment, and a Licor digital imaging system. Within VBRB, the lab has shared access to vapor self-administration chambers, several confocal microscopes, Wes Proteinsimple equipment, an IVIS small animal imaging system, and other resources. Finally, we can rely on a machine shop and a large variety of core facilities on campus.
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