By Ramsey Baden | August 12, 2018
The Steinhauer Lab is a microbiology and immunology lab at Emory, and it is on the front lines against influenza. Their study of the structure and functions of the virus HA (hemagglutinin glycoprotein) is directly related to the development of vaccines.
Sustainability was already practiced at the Steinhauer Lab when they joined the Green Labs program, and their coordination with the OSI has only enhanced their efforts. Evangeline Abgogu, a research scientist in the lab, says that “even before the university established its box recycling policy, I had already had my own recycling bin in the back.” The lab has since stopped purchasing the majority of its shipping boxes, opting instead to reuse the ones that they would previously have disposed of after a single use.
Recycling is just the beginning: the lab has also created “an organization system where pictures are taken of sample shelves so that lab staff can locate things before they even have to open the fridge,” reducing the lab’s carbon footprint and conserving energy.
Part of the reason that the Steinhauer Lab is so committed to its work has to do with the importance of the vaccines that they help produce. “Every year the flu kills thousands of people, thousands of children in Georgia, and to know that I do research to help is very comforting,” Abgogu says. Their Gold Green Lab certification shows that sustainability is a practical aspect of life-changing research. To read more about the Green Labs program, click here.