Everyone knows that all labs are not created equally. What differentiates the Cold Spring Harbors and Max Plancks of the world from less-illustrious facilities? Certainly money plays a part, but so, too, does some intangible quality--call it critical mass, if you like--a fusion of the right people, resources, architecture, and vision that combine and cooperate to make a whole that is greater by far than the sum of its parts.
Across the country, technology initiatives and consortia are rising up to tackle the new sciences--the 'omics, systems biology, and the like. As construction begins on new, state-of-the-art laboratories, it seems appropriate to pause and ask, just what does it take to build a dream lab?
Researchers in genomics, proteomics, structural biology, nanotechnology, and pharmacology were asked to envision their ideal research environments. Their answers reveal common themes--personnel and computing power, for instance--as well as field-specific requests.
Some long for top-notch ...
