“Integrated integrity”
Uppsala Biomedical Center (BMC) was planned in the late 1950´s in order to gather the old preclinical institutions, all of which were growing rapidly due to the increasing number of students and due to new technology requiring better security, more effective laboratories etc. The center was created by the well-known Swedish architect, Paul Hedqvist (1895-1977) in close cooperation with Karl-Johan Öbrink (1918-1998), professor in physiology in Uppsala. Hedqvist and Öbrink had a vision of “integrated integrity”, which meant that cooperation between different departments and researchers should be facilitated by all means, but no one should be forced to cooperate.

The construction started in 1968. In 1983, BMC was one of the largest research centers in Europe with more than 30 departments from 4 faculties and 2 universities situated in the very same building. Since then, BMC has been in a constant change: new walls and floors are added, departments and laboratories are moving around, and new research groups are created within BMC and today often also together with other research groups in Sweden and in other countries.

Today BMC harbors biomedical research and education in different life science areas such as biology, chemistry, medicine, pharmacy, and domestic sciences. The main part belongs to Uppsala University, but there are also units from the Swedish University of Agricultural Science and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. More than 1500 persons are employed as researchers, teachers, technicians, administrators etc. and there are about 4000 students from all over the world.

Since 2009, I have been associated to the Department of Neuroscience at BMC as a senior lecturer in Medical history, and the first course in Medical history was carried out during spring 2010. In a future, a research work on the development of modern medicine will be initiated for students and teachers at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy. Subjects for research and for a museum to be will concern the development of:

1. the different biomedical research fields in an international perspective,
2. the institutions and their education programs,
3. individuals and groups who have worked and studied at BMC,
4. the fascinating architecture and construction of the complex building with its old and new artifacts and design.

The research work will be facilitated by the many archives with documents, which are easily accessible. Artifacts have been collected and stored in locked rooms at BMC or at the Museum of Medical History in Uppsala. This museum was created by Lars Thorén (1921-2007), professor in surgery, who collected artifacts from all medical specialities up to our time. All this can be displayed in a multimedia environment within the BMC together with pictures and artifacts from older times. A suitable place for such a museum is the former library, which is situated in the middle of the center.

Questions to be discussed during the seminar
1. How can the story of the development of BMC be used as an illustrative example and a symbol for the development of modern biomedicine in Sweden and in the world?

2. How should such a story of BMC be told and displayed? Which questions have to be asked?

3. In the middle of the great building there is a 13 m high sculpture of a DNA-molecule made by the Swedish artist Bror Marklund (1907-1977), “possibly the largest and most spectacular double-helix sculpture” (1). How can this sculpture be used, as an emblem or a vision, for creating a modern biomedical museum within BMC?

4. In BMC, there are some savings from the old medical institutions in Uppsala, like anatomical objects and pharmocological collections from the 1900th century, which have been used for education and research purposes in those days. And there are some small “historical cupboards” with pictures and artifacts and a common theme of “Development”:

a. Development of drugs, of pharmacy and pharmacology
b. Development of structural biology, with X-ray examples from proteins and virus
c. Development of protein chemistry and different separation techniques
d. Development of biomedical research findings to clinical products like hyaluronic acid (Healon), heparine, and PDGF

Can these already existing “historical cupboards” be incorporated in a more general plan for a modern biomedical museum within BMC?

5. What has to be displayed in real life and in a tangible way, and what can be displayed virtually?

6. Are there similar museums in other countries?

Reference:
1. Hargittai I. “Something Has Doubled”. Editorial. Leonardo,Vol. 36, No.2, pp. 95-96,2003

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