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The Dreyfus Building (Building 18) will remain closed at least through Sunday while crews conduct specialized decontamination, MIT said.
A graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology showed “no signs of exposure to mercury” after being hospitalized for self-reported contact with a highly toxic form of the chemical while working in a lab, the university said.
The student, who self-reported to the hospital last week, remains under medical care, MIT said Saturday in an emergency alert.
MIT first announced Thursday that its Dreyfus Building, or Building 18, was closed for the day following “notice of an individual exposed to a hazardous material in a second floor laboratory.”
The Boston Fire Department’s Hazmat team was at Massachusetts General Brigham on Wednesday night to treat a patient after a “possible exposure to a chemical substance,” a MGB spokesperson said in a statement to Boston.com.
Officials did not specify whether the hospitalized patient was the MIT graduate student.
Jeremy Warnick, a spokesperson for the City of Cambridge, told Boston.com that Cambridge firefighters responded Wednesday night to a “chemical spill involving an unknown liquid” inside an MIT lab.
“The surrounding area was surveyed by various Cambridge Fire meters and appeared to be clear,” Warnick said in a statement.
On Friday, MIT described the incident as “localized” and confirmed the material was directly exposed to one student.
The student reported that they had synthesized dimethyl mercury, which the university said is not authorized as part of their research program.
“Emerging information calls into question whether this compound was in fact synthesized,” MIT noted.
The American Chemical Society describes dimethyl mercury as a neurotoxic compound that can be fatal if ingested, inhaled, or absorbed through skin. The compound is also suspected of causing cancer.
Warnick said information provided by MIT indicated that a small amount of the compound “spilled inside a hood.”
“Once it was confirmed to be a small amount of material inside the hood, it was determined that the lab needed to be isolated,” Warnick said.
In an update Saturday, MIT said a blood test showed the graduate student had “no signs of exposure to mercury.”
As a precaution, high-touch surfaces in the student’s residence hall common areas were cleaned, MIT said.
The university said there is a “very low risk of secondary or tertiary exposures,” though people within proximity of the student and their work environment on Wednesday were notified.
Building 18 on Ames Street will remain closed through at least Sunday while “specialized decontamination efforts” are completed, MIT said.
The risks of dimethyl mercury
Dimethyl mercury is primarily used in scientific research, but safety officials have long warned of its extreme toxicity. Absorbing less than 0.1 milliliters of the substance can produce a severely toxic dose, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
In 1997, Karen Wetterhahn, a Dartmouth College professor and specialist in metal toxicology, died a year after spilling a few drops of dimethyl mercury onto her latex glove.
Five months after the small spill, she began displaying symptoms of mercury poisoning, including impaired coordination, nausea, weight loss, and slurred speech. Her condition deteriorated into a coma, and she died four months later, according to Dartmouth College.
Latex gloves were found to be highly permeable to the toxic compound. Consequently, OSHA instituted stricter safety standard operating procedures for handling it, requiring personnel to wear impervious gloves and a face shield, work under a hood, complete qualified training beforehand, and undergo periodic blood and urine testing.
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