Maxine F. Singer Research Building Honors Former President

In recognition of former Carnegie President Maxine F. Singer’s outstanding scientific leadership, including her many contributions to society as a molecular biologist, scientific mentor and educator, the Institution trustees have named a new $30-million research laboratory in her honor.

The new biomedical research building for Carnegie’s Department of Embryology was completed in June 2005. It is the new home for over 100 scientists, lab technicians, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and administrative staff. It is an unusually attractive structure, containing thirteen modern and well-equipped research laboratories, plus a library, meeting rooms, animal quarters, specialized instrument rooms, and an auditorium. It will be a focal point for continuing the productive and collegial relationship that has endured for 90 years between Johns Hopkins University and the Carnegie Institution and will open new horizons for biological research.

In December of 2003, The Singer Building Project was awarded a challenge grant of $1.5 million by The Kresge Foundation of Troy, Michigan. The Carnegie Institution successfully met the terms of the Kresge Challenge by raising $18.5 million for the project by July 1, 2005.

The Department of Embryology was founded in 1914 to study human embryo development. Researchers now study developmental biology at the genetic, biochemical and cellular levels using a variety of animal organisms. Scientists at the department work to answer questions such as: How do genes turn on and off during development to give rise to an orderly array of cells and tissues? How do cells differentiate into, for example, nerve or skin cells? How do complex systems involving multiple genes work? How do cells communicate with each other to affect the profound changes accompanying growth? These questions are central to all of biology—indeed to all of society—for a solid understanding of them can help yield solutions to human diseases and birth defects.

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