Construction workers behind SciLifeLab expansion meet the building blocks of life
On November 2, SciLifeLab invited construction workers and project staff working on the Campus Solna expansion into the Beta building, to learn more about the research carried out inside the buildings. Under the theme “The building blocks of life”, researchers explained how they study DNA, RNA and proteins, and how the new laboratory and office space will support life science research.
SciLifeLab is growing and needs more space. The renovation is a joint effort between SciLifeLab, KTH, Akademiska Hus and the contractor Oljibe with its subcontractors. Investigations started in 2022, and Akademiska Hus began its feasibility study in spring 2025 and the construction work is now in progress. Therefore, SciLifeLab, Akademiska Hus and Oljibe welcomed construction workers and project staff to visit SciLifeLab’s current premises at Campus Solna.
The afternoon opened with a welcome from Akademiska Hus and Oljibe. Hjalmar Brismar, SciLifeLab Campus Solna Director then introduced SciLifeLab and showed how microscopy lets researchers see the building blocks of life up close and brought 3D printed models of proteins.
Anniina Vihervaara took the audience inside the cell. She described DNA as life’s cookbook: a set of recipes, written in a four-letter code, that tells the body which proteins to make and when. To give a sense of scale, she showed how much information sits in a single human genome: some three billion base pairs. Printed in capital letters in Times New Roman on A4 sheets with standard margins, your DNA would correspond to a stack of paper taller than the Statue of Liberty.
Martin Haraldsson from Chemical Biology Consortium Sweden followed with a talk on chemistry and molecules, and how small molecules help researchers understand and influence what happens in the body in health and disease. After the talks, guided tours took the visitors into some of the current laboratories to take a closer look at the microscopy lab, the cryo-electron microscopy facility and clinical genomics.
