Xing Wu
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Ripon College received a large donation of laboratory assets from Luxerin Laboratories LLC in Fond du Lac. The donation includes equipment, chemicals, glassware, manuals and supplies valued at just over $ 54,000.
Luxerin Laboratories LLC was founded in 1967 as a family business to meet the needs of microbiological testing. After the death of founder Patrick Sheridan in November 2020, Laboratoires Luxerin have now ceased their daily activities.
“For 53 years, my father has been proud to serve customers in Wisconsin and the Greater Midwest and has always found opportunities to teach and learn the latest in biology and microbiology,†said Sheridan’s son, William Sheridan.
As the family struggled to shut down the company’s operations and reconcile the collections, they sought to make a donation that would benefit others. Many people from Ripon College and Luxerin Laboratories were involved in the mutually beneficial exchange.
Professors from the departments of biology, chemistry and physics were all invited to receive the gift. When biology professor Mark Kainz and associate professor of chemistry Patrick Willoughby visited Fond du Lac’s facilities to access assets, Kainz said they “were overwhelmed with what was available.”
“Looking around the lab rooms gave us an idea that the donation could be huge and really help us,†Kainz added. “Once we entered the lab rooms and started looking in the cupboards and drawers, the size of the donation increased with every door or drawer we opened.
The professors coordinated with vice president for advancement Shawn Karsten and physical plant grounds manager John Tobin to arrange transportation of the items to Ripon. Several Physical Plant staff, Farr Hall of Science faculty, and many Farr summer research students provided vehicles and assistance in transporting items from the Luxerin lab to Farr.
Kainz noted that Joanne Sheridan, the widow of Patrick Sheridan, “was delighted to see the students helping with the move and was happy to know that the lab equipment would be put to good use,” adding that “she even pulled out a crate. of bottles of ice water for us and gave us several large bins to carry things.
Faculty members and tutor Mary Ann Douglas spent several weeks inventorying donated items and distributing them to their new homes.
Ripon High School science teachers also received articles that will be useful in their lessons.
Kainz says the donated materials will help departments at Ripon College in several ways:
- Benchtop upgrades in chemical laboratories;
- Upgrade of the zebrafish facility of Associate Professor of Biology Barbara Sisson.
- Addition of a refrigerator space in the biology and chemistry departments.
- Addition of an incubator space in biology and chemistry.
- A water purification system that will be useful for quantitative analysis laboratories as well as for general use in Farr.
- A substantial addition to Ripon’s microbiological culture media that will expand microbiology laboratory exercises to include food microbiology and clinical microbiology.
- Replenish stocks of laboratory glassware – beakers, flasks, reagent bottles, etc.
- A large supply of disposable laboratory items that otherwise should have been purchased.
- Improved pH meters with research instruments.
Kainz said this donation will also allow Ripon to add exercises to the microbiology lab to include food and clinical microbiology; and make microbiology labs more efficient as the added equipment will reduce the wait time for students using equipment and instruments.
Joanne Sheridan, the widow of Patrick Sheridan, said she felt “very grateful that the donations you have received from Luxerin Laboratory LLC are being used to help your students learn throughout their lifelong career path. their choice. What could be better than that? My husband’s legacy continues to live on in their lives. … Jesus said in the Bible: “There is more happiness in giving than in receiving. And in the ‘gift’ we have all ‘received’ blessings beyond measure.
