Years of Research Saved by Teamwork and Collaboration

Record-breaking cold wreaked havoc across the Garden State this winter—including the Rutgers campus. On the afternoon of February 9, single-digit temperatures caused a sprinkler pipe to freeze, then burst, at the Rutgers School of Public Health/Research Tower 2 building, knocking out the electrical power and ventilation system, severely impacting the facility’s laboratories. 

The sprinkler pipes, located in the ceiling of the building’s atrium, sent water flooding the lobby and down to the basement. It then triggered the fire pump, creating a bigger flood. As a result, the building’s electrical room was submerged in water and the electricity and emergency power had to be shut down. The building was immediately evacuated. People stood outside, shivering in the cold.

The building had no lights, no heat, and even worse, no power for the building’s freezers and incubators. Running at -80 degrees (with some at -20 degrees), the freezers provide long-term storage for sensitive materials like tissue samples, critical reagents, vaccines, viruses, and more. If the materials thawed, many years of important work would be lost.

“A major disaster was avoided due to a coordinated response on site and behind the scenes,” says Céline Gélinas, PhD, senior associate dean for research and chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. “Faculty, staff, and trainees stepped up to help the labs that were affected by this major flood. They saved the day!”

Operations director Georgia Kyrifides, PE, MS, was notified about the flood immediately after it happened. She went right into recovery mode to coordinate the response. Emergency services workers came on-site to shut off the water to the building. Teams from operations and facilities assessed the damage, while electricians went to work drying and repairing the electrical equipment to restore power. 

As word of the flood emergency spread across campus, people flocked to the SPH/RT2 building to offer assistance. “It was like a master class in emergency management,” says Gélinas. “Volunteers helped relocate precious materials from affected freezers and incubators. Others offered available freezer and incubator space to those in need.”

The materials were packed into large bins filled with dry ice, carried down the stairs, placed on carts, and wheeled across campus, in still-frigid temperatures, to other facilities where freezer space was available. Mice and rats from the vivarium were also relocated to other buildings. Kyrifides saw two individuals carry a mini-freezer down three flights of stairs and take it outside. 

“It was amazing how everybody jumped to help,” says Nancy Walworth, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology. “The reason is because everyone here lives in fear of this happening.” 

It was apparent that there was not enough freezer space on campus for everyone who needed to relocate materials. At 5 p.m., Gélinas held an emergency Zoom meeting to discuss other options. Kyrifides began calling cold storage companies, finally locating one (Trane Technologies) that could send a mobile refrigeration unit. But coming from York, PA, it wouldn’t arrive for several hours. 

“Then Nancy Walworth went into action,” says Kyrifides. “She saved the day!” 

Walworth reached out to Mike Sheldon, senior director of research collaborations at Sampled, an integrated analytical laboratory and biorepository originally founded at Rutgers as the Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository (RUCDR). “I had visited Sampled last year with a group from India who was setting up a facility,” she says. “On our tour I noticed that Sampled had rooms of -80 degree freezers. I asked Mike if he could store our materials and he said he’d be happy to help.” 

Sheldon sent staff members and a truck to bring the remaining samples to the company’s facility on Knightsbridge Road. “It was gratifying to be able to respond when our Rutgers colleagues faced this unexpected emergency,” says Sheldon. “We will always stand in support of the Rutgers research community.” 

With most of the research materials safely stored, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. By 8:30 p.m., regular power was restored, “but we weren’t sure how stable it was,” notes Kyrifides. The Trane refrigeration unit arrived on campus around midnight, but it was no longer needed. The next morning, emergency power was restored and electrical systems stabilized, while sensitive deliveries were rerouted for safekeeping or rescheduled. By Wednesday, the steam system was repaired, the heat was back on, and the building’s occupants were finally able to return to work. 

“Some people lost materials and equipment, and that’s extremely unfortunate,” says Gélinas. “But it could have been much worse. A broad crisis was averted, thanks to this teamwork.”

Kyrifides notes that the efforts and quick response of all the volunteers was key to the recovery. “The synergy was amazing,” she says. “Department chairs, PIs, other lab staff, student workers, the facilities and operations staff, all worked together to be sure years of research were not destroyed. Everyone pitched in, saying: ‘Let’s just get this done.’”

“We want to recognize all the people throughout our campus who went above and beyond,” says Phil Mesisca, MBA, CMPE, executive vice dean for finance and administration. “A huge thank you—your efforts and teamwork saved important research.  If not for the heroics of faculty and staff, the damage to significant research would have been disastrous. We are lucky to have such dedicated individuals!”

A Huge Thanks to Those Who Helped

Faculty, staff, and trainees put in countless hours to help the labs that were jeopardized by the flooding, including teams from the RWJMS Research Tower building, the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, the chemistry building at the School of Arts and Sciences, and others. Teams from operations, facilities, emergency services, security, utilities, and environmental services were also critical to this recovery effort. Their names are listed below in alphabetical order.

Research Staff

Derek Adler
Lisa Antonucci
Luigi Apollon
Goker Arpag
Fatemeh Bakhtiarzadeh 
Dr. Detlev Boison 
Kylie Bond
Ashley Canizales
Gina Capece
Jose Cevallos
Patrick Chan (Kim Chan)
Yija Chen 
Hsuan-Ming Chi
Dr. Sangmi Chung 
Dr. Ahmad Cluntun
Dr. Paul Copeland
Dr. Emanuel DiCicco-Bloom
Dr. Sara DiRienzi
Aryan Doshi 
Dr. Cheryl Dreyfus
Dr. Jeetendra Eswaraka  
Arshel Fernandez
Ryan Fink
Dr. Marc Gartenberg
Anika Gaur
Aniket Gaur
Dr. Céline Gélinas
Anuja George
Jenna Greenberg
Barbara Gruszka
Nickilee Gurovich 
Kambiz Hassanzadeh
Julia Herbert
Tatiana Hernandez
Yangyang Huang (with husband Shunbing Zhao) 
Dr. Kouichi Ito
Naoko Ito 
Dr. Estela Jacinto
Sushmitha Kalakuntla 
Dr. Eleanna Kara 
Stavros Karamanos
Matthew Keller 
Hussein Khdour
Seungjoon Kim
Nirmal Kumar
Kathy Larrimore
Alex Le
Sang Hun Lee 
Kiarah Leonard
Jiadong Li
Jun Liu    
Caijing Lu 
Dr. Kiran Madura
Sally Marshall
Dr. Ricardo Martínez Zamudio
Dr. Conor McClenaghan
Maria del Carmen Medranda
Dr. Keith Mickolajczyk 
Alison Miller
Dr. M. Maral Mouradian
Kelly Mulraney
Dr. Hiroko Nobuta
Dr. Donald Nyangahu
Nicholas Offei
Abodunrin Ojetola     
Dr. Ian Oldenburg
Kirk Pabon
Dr. Pingyue Pan
Dr. Nicola Partridge
Naisargi Patel
Dr. Smita Patel 
Dr. Tulsi Patel
Mayra Paz
Whitney Petrosky
Dr. Chris Pierce 
Dr. Lauren Poole
Benton Purnell
Faizah Rahim 
Irene Regano
Dr. David Reimer
Veronika Revkova 
Ana Rodriguez
Joseph Ruffin
Alex Ruiz
Safreen Sain
Susan Saleh
Srijata Sarkar
Rahul Saxena
Dr. Kathleen Scotto 
Dr. Yevgeniy Serebrenik
Dr. Federico Sesti
Akhil Sharma
Timothy Sherrier 
Dr. Zheng Shi
Letice Smith
Mihai Solotchi  
Dominick Spera
Courtney Stains
Janavi Subramani   
Mary Tran (and husband Vy Tran)
Eduardo Troian
Aman Upadhyay
Dr. Nancy Walworth
Jinying Wang
Luna Wang
Maia Wang 
Jonathan Weininger
Dr. Guy Werlen
Dr. Nancy Woychik 
May Wu (Jianmei Wu)
Yuzhou Xia
Sudhir Yadav
Yang Yang
Dr. Huaye Zhang
Xiaofeng Zhou
Dr. Michael Zwick (also contacted Mike Sheldon at Sampled)

Sampled Team

Mike Sheldon
Lee Cavico
Ed Ellsworth
Mike Taibl 

Other Sectors (Operations, Facilities, Emergency Services, Police, Utilities, Environmental Services)

David Abruzzi 
Eileen Alicea
Gricelda Aragon Lopez
Susi Astiyant
Brandon Balle
Jason Bergmann
Joe Betanzos
Justin Blakney 
Yuri Borisenko 
Kevyn Bretones
Susi Chen
Tom Clemente 
Ken Cop
Perla Cordero 
Jose Diaz
Mike Dichiaro
Daryl Dinkins
John Domanow
Judah Doyle
Kenrick Eagar
Ted Elonis
Tori Evelyn
John Fata
Jose Figueroa
Michael Gardner
Neil Gyuris
Talesh Jagdeo
Michael Jastrzebski
Maurice Jackson
Steve Keleman
Kevin Kelly 
Tim Kielblock
Georgia Kyrifides
Clara Layugan
Daning Li 
Patrick Lorenzo
Ana Magdaleno
Stephen Molinelli 
Matthew Oblad
Jessenia Ocasio
Witold Oganiaczyk
Nishant Patel  
Sterlin Payano 
Christopher Pepsin
Daniczza Quesada
Jose Reyes 
Rich Rios 
Alex Ruiz
John Russo
Gregg Santanstaso
William Scott
Sheri Seminski
Rebecca Serrano 
John Shulack 
Kayla-Rachel Singer
Gurwinder Singh
Carel Smith
Mike Smith 
Doug Solvesen
Jason Springard 
Joseph Stankowitz
Izabella Stewart
Bill Stracci
Ken Stryshak
Brian Sudo
Michael Sullivan
Nick Tung
Henry Velez
Steven Velezquez 
Tony Venezia
Stephen Walsh
Boguslawa Wojtaszek