There still are boxes waiting to be unpacked in a new office on the third floor of the Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building.

Filing cabinets still labeled from moving day sit on brand-new carpet, and clean metal shelves beg to hold books.

And in the middle of it all, physiology Professor Bruce Uhal studies diagrams, researching lung disease.

His profession is a patient one.

“There are a lot of days when a lot of stuff doesn’t work,” Uhal said. “You look at the results and try to figure out what happened.”

Uhal is researching the causes and mechanisms behind certain types of lung diseases in the $93 million facility, which was dedicated officially on April 12.

“The only way to develop a better treatment is to understand the mechanisms that work with the disease,” he said.

The departments of Physiology, Physics and Astronomy, and Microbiology and Molecular Genetics will be the building’s primary occupants. The building will host classes beginning in the fall.

Uhal said his job is more than the long hours and endless research.

“Anyone that does research, they sort of have to be hooked on it,” he said. “You have to think about something for years and years.”

Uhal considers it a good day “if the experiment worked and the results make sense.”

“That happens every other week,” he said. “Research is kind of funny in that often, the most interesting and rewarding things are results you never thought you were going to get.”

Those surprise discoveries can make the job very exciting, Uhal said.

“It turns your head completely around,” he said. “That’s when you feel good.”

Uhal’s office and lab were in Giltner Hall prior to moving into the new building.

In addition to his office space, Uhal’s work occupies two adjacent laboratories in a secured area of the third floor.

The new facility offers more space and better technology, including more access to the Internet.

“It’s all electronic,” he said. “(The Internet) has really brought things and people quite a bit closer together.”

And the job is constantly changing, Uhal said.

“You find something that you’re interested in,” he said. “Your job is to discover something brand-new.”

Maria Pino discovers something brand-new every day.

The cell and molecular biology graduate student is investigating diabetes and insulin in the physiology lab. She said she loves the new building.

“My laboratory is a lot bigger than the other one,” she said. “It has a nice environment to it.”

The new building provides easy access to materials and a window with a view - her previous laboratory didn’t have one.

“I’m motivated to come here on the weekends,” she said. “It’s just a very good atmosphere.”

And Pino said she likes what she’s doing.

“I know the outcome will be positive to the whole world,” she said.

Department of Physiology Chairman Bill Spielman said the building’s connection to the neighboring Chemistry and Biochemistry buildings, as well as widespread Internet access, have made research and collaboration much easier.

“It will change dramatically our ability to recruit the brightest and best new faculty, and also new graduate students,” Spielman said. “The projects that we could never get off the ground are much easier.”

Ed Ronco can be reached at roncoedw@msu.edu.