Labs

What is cultural heritage conservation?
Cultural heritage conservators are responsible for the long-term care and stewardship of artistic, historic, and cultural materials guided by a code of ethics intended to protect the integrity and authenticity of works of art and cultural heritage. Conservators are professionals with advanced academic degrees in art conservation.

Conservators use observation, documentation, consultation, scientific analysis, and research to understand materials and methods of manufacture. This knowledge guides the care, handling, and treatments of collections. This process may lead to returning indigenous belongings to communities from which they originated.

The Avenir Conservation Center
An extraordinary anonymous gift is actively transforming the Avenir Conservation Center into an advanced conservation laboratory and an entity that carries out expansive and inclusive projects. The work of the Avenir Conservation Center is guided by the mission and the vision.

Mission
Develop a facility that generates collaborative and innovative collections care and research; serves as a resource for other institutions and individuals; and mentors a new generation of conservators and museum professionals from diverse and wide-reaching backgrounds. We will join the forward-thinking people and organizations that model the changes we embrace.

Vision 
The newly established Avenir Conservation Center is committed to compassionate and scholarly conservation initiatives that are deeply rooted in shared learning. We strive to model excellence as well as decenter historical perspectives on ownership, care, and preservation of belongings housed in museum collections by partnering with originating and descendant communities to amplify their beliefs and desires. We resolve to honor diverse cultural protocols during all phases of our work.

The visualization methods employed in the Digital Research Lab include imaging, modeling, virtual reconstruction, and animation. The lab is focused on helping our curators address questions related to the anatomical structure of organisms, both fossil and modern. The noninvasive and nondestructive digital methods allow us to investigate and analyze specimens without putting the specimens themselves at risk. We can reveal hidden anatomical features, reconstruct fossils, extract microscopic details, and communicate results with exciting models and animations. Our lab motto is Scan-Segment-Study-Share!

Scan: We partner with scanning facilities locally and across the country to image our specimens. Most of our specimens are microCT-scanned, but some are imaged with laser surface scanners, microscopes, or cameras.

Segment: The image data are processed and “segmented” to digitally remove matrix, isolate skeletal elements, and reveal internal structures, such as the endocranial cavity (which houses the brain), the nasal cavity, the inner ear, and neurovascular pathways. These results are rendered in three dimensions for study.

Study: Models are reviewed by curators and research associates looking for specific features that give insight into the anatomical structure of each specimen.

Share: 3D models are used in figures, animations, and 3D prints to share the findings from each project.

The Department of Earth Sciences oversees several labs at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. The Schlessman Family Earth Sciences Laboratory is located within the Prehistoric Journey exhibition on the third floor of the museum and is visible to Museum guests. When exploring the gallery, guests have the opportunity to engage with volunteer preparators as they clean and stabilize fossils collected by Museum researchers and staff. Additionally, the Museum houses two behind-the-scenes labs in the Avenir Collections Center—one used for preparation of rocks, sediment, and large specimens, such as long-neck dinosaurs and giant turtles, and the second used for molding and casting of vertebrate fossils.

The Geology & Paleontology Labs at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science are unique; in addition to lab staff, over 150 skilled volunteers and interns prepare fossils and rock samples! Volunteers attend a training course to learn the basic methods and materials used in professional fossil preparation and are then part of the team that prepares specimens for Museum research, collections, and education. As a result of the many hours of volunteer time dedicated to the Geology & Paleontology Labs, the Museum is able to prepare hundreds of fossils every year.

In June 2024, DMNS opened a fourth preparation lab within the temporary exhibit: Discovering Teen Rex! In this space you can watch as scientists and lab staff work to uncover a remarkable fossil discovered by a crew of inquisitive young dino hunters in North Dakota.

Learn more here.

The Genomics Lab, located inside Expedition Health, is where Museum scientists, students, and collaborators conduct original research across the spectrum of life. The lab’s visibility to the public allows Museum guests to watch the team in action—pipetting liquids, extracting and quantifying DNA, performing PCR experiments, running gel electrophoresis, analyzing data, writing grants and papers, and engaging in collaborative research. 

Currently, the lab is focused on several exciting projects, including identifying new species of dung beetles using DNA, genomic and gut microbiome studies of the Museum’s dermestid beetle colonies, camel spider genetics, avian genomics, and prospective community studies of the human microbiome. The lab makes use of the Museum’s extensive collections of DNA, frozen tissues, and specimens to advance our understanding of genetics, genomics, and biodiversity. 

The Zoology Prep Lab is a crucial step in the life of a vertebrate zoology specimen. Staff and volunteers working in this lab collect data and prepare vertebrates for their long life in the growing zoology collections. We prepare a variety of skins, skeletons, and alcohol specimens for research. In addition, we sample tissues and save parasites from specimens coming through the lab. We work closely with zoology curators and collections staff to ensure that scientists receive the materials they need for their research.

In addition to preparing specimens, this lab houses the Zoology Department’s frozen tissue and parasite collections. The frozen tissue collection is made up of vials filled with tissues researchers can use for genetics and toxicology research. The parasite collection holds endo- (inside) and ecto- (outside) parasites that come from animals prepared in the lab.