Exterior view of BCL in 1989. CSL occupied the adjacent building (FC157-S18-ss01-B103-F08).
“Few laboratories in the nation have had as deep an impact on the evolution of computers in medicine and medical research as CSL and BCL.”
- A summary of accomplishments of the Washington University Computer Laboratories from 1967 to 1983, Washington University, 1989, p. 1.
The Biomedical Computer Laboratory (BCL), founded in 1964 as a division of the School of Medicine, focused on the application of cutting-edge computer technologies to biology and medicine. The Computer Research Laboratory (CRL), established in 1964, evolved into the Computer Systems Laboratory (CSL) in 1967. CSL focused on developing advanced computing technologies suited to biomedical research problems. The sister labs collaborated within a loose administrative structure called the Washington University Computer Laboratories from 1967 to 1983. In 1984, BCL and CSL were administratively united in a new interschool entity, the Institute for Biomedical Computing (IBC), which bridged the Schools of Medicine and Engineering.
