Daniel Rutherford Building

Daniel Rutherford was a Scottish physician, chemist and botanist, known for his isolation of Nitrogen in 1772. He was a professor of Botany at the University of Edinburgh from 1786 to 1819 and one of the founders of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 

This building is home to many of our academic staff and their research labs. The building also has a lecture theatre and two teaching laboratories.

This lecture theatre is mainly used by students in their later years of our undergraduate degree programmes and it seats around 160 people.

There are two teaching laboratories which are next door to each other. 

We can host lab sessions in just one of the labs or spread over both labs at once. 

These teaching labs are mainly used in the later years of our undergraduate degree programmes but some teaching does take place here from Year 1. 

As for all of our Biological Sciences teaching laboratories, we provide white lab coats for you and lockers for your belongings. You will be supported during lab sessions by floor leaders and demonstrators. They wear navy blue coats and are present to guide you and to help you.

Topics covered in the practical classes here vary from plant and animal evolution to the molecular aspects of biology such as enzyme analysis and DNA extraction. You’ll use equipment such as spectrophotometers, centrifuges and the kit needed for gel electrophoresis.