The Pilgram Marpeck School of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics offers students four academic and teaching labs, one research lab, and numerous support labs/rooms on the second floor of Miller Hall. Students will also utilize the 200 acre forested campus and surrounding north Georgia mountains as an academic playground as they learn the beauty and magnificence of creation, science, and discovery. Each lab and resource has a dedicated purpose to support a specific and unique aspect of the STEM curriculum offered at Truett McConnell University.
The Exercise Science Laboratory is located in Miller Hall and has various modalities used for the Exercise Science curriculum. Currently, there is a Parvo metabolic cart interfaced with a treadmill to assess cardiorespiratory efficiency during graded exercise tests. The metabolic cart monitors VO2 max along with oxygen intake, carbon dioxide expiration, and respiratory exchange ratios.
Another impressive piece of exercise testing equipment is the InBody 770, a research grade body composition analyzer that uses bio-electrical impedance to distinguish body mass index, basal metabolic rate, muscle-fat analysis, intracellular and extracellular water composition; as well as body segment lean muscle analysis. All testing components educate users on muscle-fat ratios in the body and body segments to ensure body symmetry.
Other pieces of equipment include a blood lactate analyzer, sit-and-reach box, stadiometer, and outfitted York half-rack and PerformBetter dumbbell rack. All pieces of equipment ensure exercise science students acquire a comprehensive lab and field testing experience necessary to excel in the workplace after graduation. The Exercise Science Lab prepares students for graduate work, research, and working in the exercise science field.
The Concepts in Biology Laboratory can be found in Miller 210. This lab is dedicated to the lab curriculum associated with the General Education Core class Concepts in Biology (BI 101).
The General Biology Laboratory can be found in Miller 212. This lab is the primary laboratory for many major level biology courses. This lab contains resources and equipment to perform a variety of different laboratory exercise including autoclaves, laboratory ovens/incubators, water baths, gel electrophoresis equipment, spectrophotometer, iWorx Teaching Assistant for physiology labs, phase-contrast LED microscopes with image and video capture, and fruit fly husbandry equipment.
The Chemistry Laboratory can be found in Miller 221. This lab is the primary laboratory for the chemistry curriculum offered to biology, pre-health science, exercise science, and nursing majors. This lab is equipped with digital balances, water baths, four vent hoods, and a large array of equipment dedicated to micro-scale study of organic compounds, acid-base chemistry, structural modeling, and stoichiometry.
The Physics and Physical Science Laboratory can be found in Miller 219. This lab is the primary laboratory for the physics and physical science curriculums offered to biology, pre-health science, exercise science, and middle grades math and science education majors. This lab is equipped a whole slate of Vernier hand held devices and probe sets to measure an array of physical, chemical, and mechanical variables.
The Cellular and Molecular Biology Research Center can be found in the Miller 213 suite and is comprised of four labs and support rooms. This lab houses the Laboratory of Applied and Exercise Endocrinology (PI: Robert S. Bowen, Ph.D.), the Laboratory of Intestinal Microbiomics (PI: Andrew J. Fabich, Ph.D.), and the Sociomicrobiology & Microbial Interactions Laboratory (PI: Diby Paul, Ph.D.). The main lab room is equipped with water baths, thermal cyclers, mircocentrifuges, centrifuges, mixing and stirring equipment, pH meters, and vertical/horizontal electrophoresis equipment. The lab is supported by a supply room equipped with chemical storage, cold storage, water purification, wet and dry ice production, and autoclaves. An instrumentation room with dark room capabilities is equipped with a Bio-Rad Experion automated electrophoresis device, a real-time PCR thermal cycler, a microplate reader, and a Bio-Rad ChemiDoc MP Imaging system. A fifty cage small animal housing facility is equipped with animal husbandry equipment and resources and contains a small animal surgical and anesthesia suite.