Black Bldg.: Vacuum System Disruption, July 7

The vacuum system throughout the William Black Building will be temporarily unavailable from 9 a.m. to approximately 4 p.m. on Thursday, July 7, due to emergency repairs.

Highlights of what to expect:

  • The vacuum system that runs through laboratory fume hoods and laboratory benches will not be available. However, the temporary disruption will not affect the exhaust function of the fume hoods. Please refrain from conducting any research that requires the vacuum system while we conduct the repairs.
  • Vacuum systems used to aspirate cell culture media in biosafety cabinets also will be unavailable. Per Environmental Health and Safety, investigators needing to withdraw media can employ an alternate manual approach using a mechanical pipetting device in the biosafety cabinet. Email biosafety@columbia.edu should you have any additional questions.

CUIMC Facilities Management and Environmental Health and Safety are available to assist with any building, laboratory, or other issues that may arise during this time. For Facilities Management, call 212-305-HELP (4357) and select option 3. For problems in research laboratories between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., you may call Environmental Health and Safety at 212-305-6780.