Now Open

Since the end of 2010, the MIT Medical Lab has been undergoing renovations, and its newly re-done space has passed inspections and is open, according to MIT News. While the disruption was hardly noticed by patients, lab manager Jane Sylvester says that lab workers had to make trips from one side of the street to the other to bring samples from the phlebotomists — who remained in a space near to the lab undergoing renovations — to the temporary lab. "Delivering samples was part of going to lunch," Sylvester tells MIT News. For rush samples, she adds, "phlebotomists would bring the sample right over if they could get away, or a lab tech would run over to pick it up. Often they'd end up doing a handoff in the middle of the street."

The renovated lab has new equipment and an additional 10 square feet of bench space; the lab can also increase the number of tests it offers.