NEWS
NORMAN, Okla. – The University of Oklahoma today broke ground for the construction of a new Life Sciences Laboratories Building on the Norman campus, dedicated to supporting Oklahoma’s health care workforce while advancing education and research capabilities at OU. The new facility will be supported in part by a transformative $80 million investment from the Oklahoma State Legislature, coupled with private giving.
“Thanks to this remarkable support, we will soon open the doors to new opportunities in research and education that will heighten OU’s excellence while strengthening the state’s workforce and economic impact,” said OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. “Together, we are creating a space where innovation and progress will thrive for generations.”
The 105,000-square-foot facility, located at the former location of Sutton Hall, will house 25 state-of-the-art teaching labs, a 250-seat auditorium and modern classroom and research spaces tailored to the evolving demands of biology and chemistry education. About 80,000 square feet of the facility will be dedicated to undergraduate education, while the remaining 20,000 square feet will feature biomedical research labs for OU faculty.
The project was first approved by the OU Board of Regents in March 2024 as part of the Campus Master Plan of Capital Improvement projects. Guided by OU’s “Lead On, University: The Next Phase” Strategic Plan, the new facility provides the world-class infrastructure necessary for the university to lead as a top-tier public research university while helping to lift the health of Oklahoma.
“This building will be essential for meeting Oklahoma’s health care workforce needs by expanding the pipeline of students with the foundational training in biology and chemistry that is necessary to enter OU’s nursing, allied health, and medical training programs,” said Michael Markham, dean of the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences. “In addition, the building’s state-of-the-art faculty research laboratories will enable the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences to significantly expand our biomedical research initiatives in our School of Biological Sciences.”
Construction of the new Life Sciences Laboratories Building is expected to be completed in fall 2027.
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. For more information about the university, visit www.ou.edu.
In a rare achievement for an undergraduate student, Colby Higdon, a geology major on the paleontology track with the University of Oklahoma has published original paleontological research conducted at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History that reveals new insights into whether competition between ancient animals was responsible for their extinction.
Newly published research in Science Advances, led by Jessica Cerezo-Román, at the University of Oklahoma, documents the oldest known cremation in Africa and provides some of the earliest evidence for intentional cremation using a pyre in the world.
Three University of Oklahoma graduate students have been named winners of the 2025 Three Minute Thesis competition, which challenges participants to explain their research in three minutes to a non-specialist audience.
