Lawrence M. Witmer, PhD
Professor of Anatomy
Chang Professor of Paleontology

Dept. of Biomedical Sciences
Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine
Life Science Building, Rm 123
Ohio University
Athens, Ohio 45701 USA

Email: witmerL@ohio.edu

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Facilities

Take a Virtual Reality Tour of the WitmerLab!

We often like to think of "WitmerLab" as a concept that extends beyond facilities to involve people, approaches, and ideas...but we also have a pretty sweet suite.
In June 2002, we moved into a state-of-the-art new Life Sciences Building at OU. We worked closely with the architects in designing the spaces, casework, air-handling, and other facilities. WitmerLab is in a suite shared with the labs of Audrone Biknevicius , Steve Reilly , and Don Miles . A similar suite housing the labs of Pat O'Connor , Nancy Stevens , and Susan Williams is right down the hall.

(left) Aerial view of Ohio University's West Green, home to the Life Sciences Building (LSB; yellow box). Click photo to enlarge. (right) LSB at dawn. More detailed information on location can be found on the WitmerLab Google Map page .

WitmerLab Main Lab

Our main lab measures 900 square-feet and is a fully equipped wet lab with large chemical fume hood; Nikon stereomicroscope with fiber optic lights, camera lucida, and digital photomicrography setup; Zeiss compound microscope; photographic copy stand and other photo studio equipment; guitars; multiple high-performance computer workstations equipped for 3D visualization; a large collection of skull casts ; and extensive holdings of digital resources including hundreds of CT datasets, tens of thousands of digital photographs, and hundreds of hours of digital video. Click the image above or here to enlarge.

Vertebrate Preparation Lab

Adjoining the main lab is an 1100 square-feet shared Vertebrate Preparation Lab consisting of a large central area for anatomical preparation; a huge commercial canopy hood over a large stainless-steel sink/counter area; a large chemical fume hood; a walk-in freezer; a walk-in dermestid beetle colony (for skeletal preparation); air-compressor; chest freezer and two upright refrigerators; band saw, chain saw and other dissecting instruments; DeWalt tile saw for osteohistology; hypobaric injection chamber; and several bench areas. It is a full wet lab, with special air-handling. Click the image above or here to enlarge.

Vertebrate Collections Room

Also adjoining the main lab is a 345 square-feet shared Vertebrate Collection Storage Room with cabinets and shelves for storage of anatomical specimens, all of which are accessioned into the Ohio University Vertebrate Collections (OUVC), a registered natural history collection. The Collections Room also contains a conference table for lab meetings and specimen study; two 4-panel light boxes for viewing old x-ray films; a high-performance computer workstations equipped for 3D visualization; and a specimen curation computer. Click the image above or here to enlarge.

Virtual Reality Tours of WitmerLab Spaces


Main Lab

Vertebrate Preparation Lab

Vertebrate Collections Room
Note on viewing these VRML files: These interactive virtual reality visualizations allow the user to move around in 360° as well as to zoom in and out. Clicking on the images above will launch a new window in which a QuickTime Virtual Reality (QTVR) player will load the visualization. Another option is to save the files to your computer, rather than run them in a browser. Click and drag to pan; hold Shift to zoom in; hold CRTL to zoom out. Users with 64-bit computers will have to use a different viewer app, because Apple has yet to update QTVR with 64-bit compliance. We recommend DevalVR , which not only works for 64-bit systems but has some additional functionality.

Ohio University MicroCT Scanning Facility

The OUµCT is a facility for Ohio University researchers that provides microtomographic imaging of a range of subjects. The OUµCT is not housed in LSB but is nearby on campus. Witmer is Director of the shared facility, and  Ryan Ridgely is the chief technical associate. See the OUµCT website for more information.

Panoramic photography and virtual reality courtesy of Joshua Armstrong.

note: Research in the Witmer lab does not involve experimentation on live animals.  Specimens of modern animals used in research are salvage specimens, obtained legally from commercial or governmental sources.
Ohio University
Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine
Irvine Hall, Athens, Ohio 45701
740-593-2530 740-597-2778 fax

Last updated:11/19/2015

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