DeLuca Biochemical Sciences Building

440 Henry Mall

Built in 1904

The DeLuca Biochemical Sciences Building was the home of the Department of Agronomy until 1930. It then became home to the Department of Genetics until 1963, the Department of Dairy Science until 1972, and Agricultural Journalism, now the Department of Life Sciences Communication, until 2008. A plaque at the building entrance is titled 'Pioneering Bacterial Genetics.’ Joshua Lederberg, the first UW faculty member to receive the Nobel Prize, discovered sexual reproduction in bacteria, thus launching the field of bacterial genetics. Today, the building is one of three biochemistry buildings named after Professor H. F. DeLuca, whose laboratory has been devoted to the understanding of the metabolism and action of vitamins A and D.