How to Make a Mobile Lab

Mobile labs offer true benefits over traditional laboratories. They allow educators, healthcare providers, scientists, and lab managers to conduct their work and offer their services in the specific locations they are needed. 

Mobile labs require different equipment than permanent labs. At iQ Labs, we are proud to offer lab equipment for both traditional and mobile laboratories. Let’s take a look at what you’ll need to transform your laboratory into a mobile lab.

Mobile Lab Workstations

With mobile lab workstations, you can conduct your work or experiments wherever you need. Workstations, also known as lab benches or utility tables, are built with special materials so they can be used for scientific purposes. Common work surfaces used for mobile workstations include:

1. Epoxy resin
2. Stainless steel
3. Trespa®

At iQ Labs, we can outfit your workstations with casters instead of leveling glides, making them mobile. They can also be customized in a variety of ways that may be useful for mobile purposes, including:

1. Adjustable height
2. Electrical outlets
3. Skirting
4. Custom heights and depths

Mobile Lab Equipment

Many mobile labs require equipment that needs to be mobile as well. Specialty equipment that may be used in mobile labs include:

1. Flammable cabinets
2. Acid and corrosive storage cabinets

Mobile Lab Casework

In addition to workstations, your mobile lab may require other casework. With casters, we can easily make almost all of our casework products mobile, including:

1. Laboratory base cabinets
2. Storage carts
3. Lab Tables
4. Lab Benches

Mobile Lab Setting

When creating your mobile lab, it’s important to consider what type of setting you anticipate using it in. Some mobile labs have stationary equipment in a mobile setting, such as a van or bus. Others require the equipment itself to be mobile via casters, such as mobile classrooms in schools. 

Who Needs a Mobile Lab?

Mobile Science Labs for Schools

Many schools cannot afford to dedicate an entire classroom for the sole purpose of a school science lab. Instead, mobile science labs allow scientific equipment to move between various classrooms as needed. This also allows for lab equipment and casework to be shared between multiple grades or classes.

Mobile Medical Lab

The healthcare industry often offers services in a mobile setting. Blood drives, for example, may be conducted on a bus or in a van equipped with special equipment to draw and store blood. During the COVID-19 pandemic, mobile testing labs were necessary to ensure that people knew if they were infected with the virus. 

Mobile STEM Labs

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic pushed schooling to more virtual settings, education in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) was not always accessible. Many students in rural areas and lower-income districts lacked access to higher levels of STEM education. 

With mobile STEM labs, schools, libraries, and other educational organizations can bring STEM education directly to their students. Instead of buying lab equipment for every single building, schools can share resources by investing in a mobile STEM lab that makes regular visits to each school. STEM labs can also be provided by community organizations like libraries, making them more easily accessible to homeschool cohorts as well as traditional public or private schools.

Mobile Emergency Labs

In times of crisis, mobile labs are essential for providing healthcare to those who have been injured or wounded. FEMA and other first responders often rely on mobile labs to provide emergency care on the ground in a variety of scenarios, including:

1. Hurricanes
2. Tornadoes
3. Wildfires
4. Floods
5. Earthquakes
6. War zones
7. Mass shootings

Modular Labs

Modular labs are gaining popularity in the science industry. Many labs are being built from old shipping containers to allow for a more flexible set-up. If more space is needed, another container is simply added. At iQ Labs, our mobile laboratory products, such as our LA Series fume hood and casework, are well suited for modular labs.

Benefits of a Mobile Lab

There are many benefits to creating a new mobile lab or transitioning a permanent lab to a mobile one, including:

1. Flexibility: With mobile lab equipment, your lab can be wherever you like, from a classroom to an old shipping container to a bus.
2. Shared cost: Instead of multiple parties paying to own individual lab equipment, mobile labs allow different entities, such as schools or libraries, to work together to share lab equipment—and share the cost.
3. Accessibility: No longer do you have to ask students to travel to a specific school building or patients to travel to a specific lab. With a mobile lab, you can bring STEM classrooms, blood drives, triage centers, COVID-19 testing labs, and more directly to your desired audience, patients, or customers.

Make Your Lab Mobile

iQ Labs is proud to offer top-of-the-line lab equipment and casework for both mobile and traditional laboratories. Reach out to us today to learn more about how we can help you make your lab mobile.