CU Green Labs at the University of Colorado Boulder has spent the last year writing a case study to highlight the benefits of our Biochemistry Cell Culture Facility to our campus both in terms of avoided costs and numerous qualitative benefits. We believe it is the first in-depth case study of its kind, showing the significant benefits of sharing more “generalized,” lower cost laboratory equipment. This webinar will provide a detailed overview of our case study, our findings, and the broader implications and context for promoting shared equipment in collaborative research space.

With scientists experiencing intense competition for federal biomedical research funding, efficiency and cost-saving measures are powerful tools to maximize the impact of those research dollars. The large environmental footprint of laboratory research facilities and equipment, coupled with growing awareness of climate change, also points to laboratory resource efficiency as a contributing critical goal for the future of our planet. As will be elaborated on in this webinar, the Biochemistry Cell Culture Facility is providing a cost avoidance of $253,000 per year to CU Boulder with $195,000 per year of those avoided costs realized directly by scientists and the Biochemistry Division, and the remaining $58,000 per year realized by Facilities Management and building management. In addition, there is significant upfront cost avoidance to build a shared facility like the Biochemistry Cell Culture Facility instead of individual cell culture lab spaces. Other topics that will be covered in the webinar are: an estimate of time saved by scientists through use of the Biochemistry Cell Culture Facility, a phone survey of biosafety officers at peer institutions, an end-user survey, and a cost analysis of the number of labs required for effective implementation of a shared cell culture facility. This case study (available here, described here, also mentioned in this Nature article from 02/07/18) can be a resource to you at your home institution as a tangible demonstration of the value of shared resources for the benefit of science.

For members: Access webinar recording and presentation materials

Presenters

Christina Greever, CU Green Labs Program Assistant and Outreach Coordinator, University of Colorado Boulder Christina Greever is the Program Assistant and Outreach Coordinator for CU Green Labs at the University of Colorado Boulder. Since graduating with her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Lewis & Clark College in 2011 she has conducted research at Oregon Health & Science University and worked as a research compliance coordinator before beginning her current position with CU Green Labs in September 2015. Her background and belief in the importance of resource conservation has led her to the growing field of lab sustainability.