Biology Dept. To Renovate Laboratories

Desires to Increase Molecular Research

The Biology Department will undertake a $1 million renovation of the Biological Laboratories this year designed to facilitate more intensive research into the developing areas of molecular and sub-cellular biology, according to Carroll M. Williams, chairman of the Department.

The administration has agreed to provide a maximum of $500,000 for the project and the rest of the funds will come from outside the University.

Williams said he expected it would be "fairly easy" to raise the necessary sum from the federal government following the "crucial" demonstration of "Harvard's support of this new biology."

Although no solicitations have been made so far, Williams said he anticipated that the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., and the National Science Foundation in Washington are the federal agencies most likely to be interested in providing aid.

Besides renovating the "antiquated" Biological Laboratories, built in 1931, the department plans to re-equip them. "The purpose is to tool-up for the rest of this century" with the modern equipment needed for investigating life at the molecular and sub-molecular level, Williams commented.