Facilities and Resources

Newly renovated and expanded in 2018, the Biology Building houses the UWG Department of Biology including faculty, staff, and graduate student offices. The 90,000 sq. ft. building contains Technology-Enhanced Active-Learning (TEAL) classrooms and state-of-the-art research labs. Surrounding the building are native plantings with pollinator and rain gardens. Faculty and students also use the 645-acre wooded campus with access to the Little Tallapoosa River, apiary, and Brock Field Research Site for research and teaching activities. A list of specific UWG Department of Biology facilities and resources are included below.

Analytical Physiology Lab: outfitted for detailed, precision measurement of biological tissue samples, as well as biochemical and hematological analyses.
 
Animal Collections: contain a wide assortment of vertebrate and invertebrate specimens primarily used for teaching, but also include approximately 25,000 insect specimens mostly from east Alabama and west Georgia.
 
Apiary: approximately 15 honeybee hives and related equipment used as an educational resource for biology classes, clubs, and community outreach.
 
Aquatics Lab: offers filtered, temperature-controlled, recirculating animal holding facilities for freshwater and marine species, with space outfitted for surgical and dissection-based research.
 
Bioinformatics Lab: a dedicated computer lab with required software for the pursuit of bioinformatics research.
 
Brock Research Field Site: a 5-acre woodland for ecological education and research located 5 miles from UWG at the confluence of the Little Tallapoosa River and Buffalo Creek.
 
Cell and Molecular Lab: consists of facilities for research on the molecular, biochemical, and physiological characterization of green micro-algae and bacteria.
 
Field Ecology Lab: contains a central prep/storage area and an extensive collection of equipment including two 4WD trucks, enclosed equipment trailer, and canoes with trailer.
 
Greenhouses: consist of a central head house for the potting and propagation of plants and four climatically controlled greenhouses.
 
Herbarium: collection of about 5,000 vascular plant specimens that are labelled, mounted, and databased, plus a backlog of 3,500 unmounted and unlabeled specimens of vascular plants and bryophytes mostly from the west Georgia Piedmont.
 
Insectary: an environmentally controlled walk-in chamber to rear and maintain agricultural pest insects for pesticide trials.
 
Microbiology Lab: consists of two biosafety level II teaching laboratories and one biosafety level II research laboratory with three sub-labs for the study of virology, immunology, and bacterial physiology and genetics.
 
Molecular Ecology and Genomic Analysis (MEGA) lab: a 2,000 sq. ft., state-of-the-art research facility for assessment of molecular data for systematic and ecological research.

Neuroscience Lab: facilities for research on neuroscience electrophysiology, histology, and protein biochemistry.
 
Proteomics Lab: contains the necessary instrumentation for proteomics and molecular biology including liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry.
 
Terrestrial Ecology Lab: conducts plant (biomass, cover, production, tissue chemistry, and water stress) and soil (organic matter, pH, and texture) assessments.
 
Tissue Culture Suite: self-contained unit equipped with biosafety cabinet, centrifuges, inverted microscope with digital image capture ability, and CO2 incubator.