Skip to main content

Illinois IGB

Get Acquainted

 

See the IGB

See the IGB

Welcome to the IGB! Please click the corresponding number below to see a 360 degree interactive image of selected areas at the IGB.

1. IGB Gatehouse Atrium

To the northeast of the IGB research building is the IGB Gatehouse, where the Director and Associate Director's office is located, along with IGB support staff. Inside the atrium is our memorial to Carl R. Woese, featuring a metal Tree of Life and the story and artifacts surrounding his discovery of the third domain of life, the Archaea. The DNA-themed spiral sculpture on the left is affectionately referred to as the "glow-worm" for the colorful alternating lights that continually fill it from within, visible across the plaza during nighttime. 

2. Darwin's Playground

One of the IGB's most recognizable landmarks, "Darwin's Playground" by artist Tony Tasset features three neon shapes sitting on the plaza in front of the main building.  Constructed of polyurethane and covered with fiberglass, the figures ranging in height from six to twelve feet, with the largest weighing 3,000 pounds. Rather than portray a specific biological structure, these colorful shapes suggest the malleability of life forms and allow the viewer to create their own meaning. 

3. Walk of Life

The Walk of Life lies on the west border of the IGB and faces the historic Morrow Plots. Configured to represent the double-helix shape of DNA, each of the paver stones within the walk are available to donors to have a message permanently engraved. 

4. IGB Research Building

Inside the three-story main IGB building, our permanent Art of Science display sits in the center of hallway access to the shared lab spaces where IGB members pursue their research. With two labs per floor, and a seventh in the concourse level, our research portfolio spans three broad areas: health challenges and solutions, genomic technologies, and environmental resources and conservation.

5. IGB Lab 2nd Floor South

IGB labs are located along the North and South side of the IGB building, and all share an open floor plan approach integrating communal spaces and research benches. Labs were intentionally designed this way to encourage collaboration across scientific disciplines, to further our team science approach.

6. Concourse Lab

A prominent feature of the Concourse level lab is the Illinois Biological Foundry for Advanced Biomanufacturing (iBioFAB), a fully integrated computational and physical robotic infrastructure that supports rapid design, fabrication, and analysis of genetic constructs and organisms. This synthetic biology foundry features a 6-degree-freedom articulated robotic arm that travels along a 5-meter-long track to transfer microplates among more than 20 instruments installed on the platform. 

7. Core Facilities Microscopy Suite

The IGB Core Facilities is home to a light biological microscopy suite, with image analysis software, NRM capabilities, a 2D Digital Radiography and 3D Computed Tomography system, and more. And as a ZEISS Labs @ location partner, they are able to provide the newest ZEISS instrumentation and advance training the anyone on campus. 

8. Wet Lab

Also on the concourse level is a fully-functional wet lab, where specific classes, instruction, and events that require a research component can be held. Our Summer Internship for Indigenous peoples in Genomics (SING), Genomics For(TM) series of classes, and Pollen Power summer camp have all made use of this space for their lab needs.