Outlook

3M donations boost university’s research capabilities

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Marina Cetkovic-Cvrlje, associate professor of biological sciences, with one of six tissue-culture hoods donated by 3M. Cetkovic-Cvrlje and Bert Roers, a colleague who worked at 3M, initiated the donation of more than 50 pieces of equipment from 3M Pharmaceuticals. Much of the equipment will be used immediately for undergraduate teaching laboratories and to support faculty and student research. The rest will be placed in the Wick Science Building annex following its completion in December 2008.

The sale of 3M Pharmaceuticals will help the St. Cloud State University chemistry and biology departments conduct research for years to come.

St. Paul-based 3M is donating two semi-trailer loads of drug discovery equipment to the University in the wake of the Jan. 2 sale of its pharmaceuticals unit to Graceway Pharmaceuticals, LLC. Delivery was expected in mid-November, according to Bruce Jacobson, associate professor of biology and director of bioscience outreach.

Some of the equipment will be put to immediate use by students and faculty members, with the remainder being stored until the December 2008 opening of the Robert H. Wick Science Building annex, Jacobson said.

The equipment, valued by 3M at more than $100,000, includes centrifuges, incubators for cell culture, equipment for animal surgery, refrigerators, freezers, systems for highly pure water and several tissue-culture hoods, Jacobson said.

The equipment’s value to the University is many times the paper value declared by 3M, according to Jacobson. Among the most valued and expensive acquisitions are a cryomacro-cutting device and the tissue-culture hoods. The cutting device thinly slices frozen tissue samples. The hoods are enclosures that protect tissue samples from becoming contaminated.

Jacobson credits faculty members in the chemistry and biology departments with pursuing an information lead, developing relationships at 3M Pharmaceuticals and then securing the donations. "This has been nearly a year in the making," he said.

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