WORCESTER, MA – Today, Consigli Construction Co., Inc. joined staff members of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and elected officials to celebrate the grand opening of the brand new Massachusetts Facility for High-Resolution Cryo-Electron Microscopy.

The first-of-its-kind facility in New England includes two cryo-EM systems worth more than $10 million. The systems open new windows into the world of biology by giving experts the ability to see single molecules and their dynamics and macromolecular assemblies inside cells in unprecedented detail.

“This is a state-of-the-art, cutting-edge facility that will bring life-saving technology to our state’s flagship university,” said CEO Anthony Consigli. “This facility will have a meaningful impact on the health and lives of all Massachusetts residents and we’re very proud to have played a role in its realization.”

The cryo-EM systems are extremely delicate and require precise vibration, acoustical and climate controls.

To fulfill those requirements, Consigli’s team built a five-roomed box, constructed with eight-layered walls, floors and ceilings, encompassing the microscopes as well as two observer viewing rooms. Almost two feet thick, this layered construction isolates and protects the microscopes and the immediately adjacent spaces that support their use, from noise, sound and movement, creating the stable environment that is essential to produce accurate research results.

To support the work of this equipment, the facility also includes a lab for the preparation of research samples, staff offices, a large mechanical room, room for a possible third microscope, and the facility’s extensive computer resources.

One of the microscopes, a Titan Krios, was delivered this summer in 19 separate crates. The box-like form of the Titan Krios measures close to 13 and a half feet tall. The facility’s second microscope system is the Talos-Arctica.

Consigli was the construction management for the project that was designed by TRO Architects.