Dr. Murray arrived from Cambridge to find that he was the sole staff member of a department whose few laboratories were not designed for bacteriological work. With energy and determination, Murray undertook to create a new department for teaching medical students as well as undergraduate and graduate students in science. In 1965, the Department's name was changed to Microbiology and Immunology to reflect more accurately its greater scope of research and teaching activities. Additional space enlarged the Department to its present 37,000 square feet. Ten full-time staff members have laboratories in the Lyman Duff Medical Sciences Building.
Affiliated staff are in nearby research institutes or teaching hospitals.
The Department currently occupies four floors in the Lyman Duff Building which include research laboratories, media and glassware facilities, a fluorescence-activating cell sorting facility, a computer facility, animal quarters, seminar rooms and an administrative office. The nearby Sheldon Biotechnology Centre provides services of oligonucleotide and peptide synthesis, protein and nucleic acid sequencing.