March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Historic Neal Lab object of renovation efforts

SALSBURY COVE — Not too many yards from the steps of Neal Lab at Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, the cold waters of Eastern Bay lick the shoreline. Full of life, the Atlantic saltwater has yielded life-giving puzzles and answers to scientists who have sat at the bench in Neal Lab since its construction in 1923.

“Without exaggeration, Neal Lab is one of the most historically important buildings for the study of comparative physiology in the world,” Donald McCrimmon, associate director of MDIBL, said Monday.

“In that building, the fundamental work was done which led to our modern understanding of the way the kidney functions,” McCrimmon added.

Unwilling to tear down a building which is admittedly drafty and inadequate for modern research, the directors of the facility decided instead to preserve their heritage and renovate a building which has housed leading research scientists for several decades.

Lifted recently from its original location, the building now rests on temporary pilings until ledge can be blasted, a new foundation constructed and a concrete slab poured. The cedar-shingle building will then be placed on top of the new slab and completely renovated during the winter.

Constructed in the early 1920s for $1,700, Neal Lab was built as an exact duplicate of an 1898 laboratory in South Harpswell. With research labs on the ground floor, sleeping quarters were provided for visiting students on the upper floor. Seasonal scientists in the early days opted for on-site tenting during the summer months.

According to McCrimmon, the lab in recent years had become crowded and was plagued by problems associated with poor lighting and antique fixtures. The sagging wooden floors meant that several types of scientific equipment that are sensitive to vibration could not be used.

The lack of insulation in the building, which also has gaps in the outside walls, precluded the successful use of air conditioners or heaters to control the temperature, a prerequisite for many types of research equipment.

Over the years, McCrimmon explained, the work done in Neal Lab has supplied critical information into the functioning of the human kidney and heart. Homer Smith of New York University, who worked at the lab during the 1940s and 1950s, conducted fundamental research about the kidney, how it works, how it regulates water and salt content and how it functions to eliminate waste.

McCrimmon said Smith had the unique ability “to make science a personal and philosophical experience. Smith was able to explain how the study of evolution enables us to understand our role and place in the development of life…and how that then extends to a philosophy of man’s place in the world and universe.”

Working with the dogfish shark, flounder, goosefish and other life found in abundance off the shore, Smith — and the others who followed after him — provided the foundation for the development of life-saving renal drugs, McCrimmon explained.

Another early scientist at Neal Lab, William Harvey, is credited with discovering the functional role of the heart in the circulatory system, McCrimmon said.

Ten scientists who have done research at Neal Lab have been recipients of the Homer W. Smith Award, given each year by the American Society of Nephrology for outstanding contributions to kidney physiology.

The $220,000 renovation of Neal Lab, funded in part by the National Science Foundation, will be “less expensive than building a new building,” the director said. “The scientific significance of the building warranted preserving it also,” he added.

Matching funds for the NSF grant are being provided by the Lucille P. Markey Trust, as well as individual gifts and private subscriptions from scientists at the lab and members of the MDI and Bar Harbor communities. The campaign for renovation dollars, conducted over a two-month period, was very successful, McCrimmon said, and marked genuine community support of the research facility.

The renovated building will include five individual labs and an upstairs computer room.


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