Biology Dept. Facility & Resources

Laboratories
The Biology Department has a total of 79 laboratories that occupy a total of 43,000 sqft. The laboratories have been built in three phases over a series of renovations. All the laboratories in phase 2 were opened in 2012 and phase 3 was completed in 2018. This renovation resulted in 30 new laboratories between both phases.

Animal
The UNM Biology Department has an accredited Animal Resource Facility including a Rodent and an Aquatics Animal Facility. Combined, the facility occupies 2051 sqft. The rodent facility consists of six animal rooms; two of them are BSL-2. Currently, there are hamsters, mice and deer mice in the facility but it has also been used for rats and rabbits. The Aquatics Animal Facility includes a 600 square feet Zebrafish Core Facility that Aquaneering recently built. The facility consists of a food lab prep room, a quarantine room with an educational zebrafish rack, and the main room which has four double zebrafish racks. The Aquatics Animal Facility also has a trout room with three independent recirculating systems with 18 20-gallon tanks with temperature control. There is a lab annex available for performing any animal procedures and sampling.

The UNM Biology Department maintains an animal resource facility following NIH guidelines. A full-time staff member and an assistant maintain the facility. The Animal Use and Care Committee at UNM oversees use of all vertebrate animals used. The Aquatics Facility has a laboratory to perform microinjections, behavior and other procedures. The full-time veterinarian, Dr. Kevin O'Hair, is responsible for the health and welfare of all the animal facilities at UNM and conducts daily visits to all facilities.

Offices
The Biology Department has a total of 101 offices for faculty, staff, researchers and graduate students