Biology ready for EPIC ribbon-cutting

The Biology Department will welcome the campus community to its annual research open house this Wednesday, January 15. The event will kick off with the grand opening of the Experimental Plant Investigation Center (EPIC), a greenhouse that will allow faculty and students in biology, biochemistry, environmental science, and other disciplines to expand their research related to climate change, sustainable agriculture, and urban and rural ecosystems.

The ribbon-cutting, to be held in room B135 of the Cathy ’83 and Marc ’81 Lasry Center for Bioscience on Maywood Street, will begin with refreshments at 1 p.m.; the formal program will start at 1:30. Invited guests will include Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty, State Sen. Robyn Kennedy, MPA ’21, State Rep. John Mahoney, and representatives from local agencies. 

The 1,275-square-foot EPIC lab features a head house, general grow space, and two research spaces, separated to avoid cross-contamination, as required for federally funded research projects. Biology professors Chandra Jack and Kaitlyn Mathis, both of whom study species interactions with plants, have research spaces in the EPIC lab and manage the facility.  

The researchers can customize and remotely control each room’s humidity, temperature, and irrigation. Unlike older university greenhouses, the EPIC lab uses LED lighting and relies on fewer windows, making it much more energy efficient. Using 100 percent electric heating and cooling, the lab is connected to Clark’s cogeneration campus loop.

Following the ribbon-cutting, biology students and faculty will showcase their research from 2 to 4 p.m. The day will conclude with a keynote address by Lily Khadempour, assistant professor at Rutgers University and a microbial evolutionary ecologist who focuses on insect-microbial symbiosis and eco-evolutionary dynamics. 

Khadempour’s presentation, which is also the first lecture of the Spring 2025 Biology Seminar Series, will take place from 4 to 5 p.m. in Lasry B237.