Paul Serenos Fossil Lab moves to Washington Park [Video]

Newswise — Soon, South Side residents won’t have to travel to the Field Museum to see a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton—there will be one in their own backyard. Paleontologist Paul Sereno’s Fossil Lab at the University of Chicago is moving to the center of the Washington Park neighborhood on South Wabash Avenue, just off Garfield Boulevard. The 6,000 square foot facility will open May 2, 2024, transforming a 1921 wood-beam warehouse into a fossil wonderland.

“It’s a dream lab for paleontologists and archaeologists,” said Sereno, who is a Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at UChicago. “It will be one of the largest labs of its kind in the world, one designed for high throughput of massive dinosaur skeletons.”

In addition to housing Sereno’s fossil specimens, the new lab is designed to welcome the neighborhood as well. Featuring a colorful dinosaur mural on the front of the building, the glass walls of the Prep Lab and the mobile work desks and projector screen of …