International Lab Move from UCLA to Cardiff University: Relocating Professor Baljit Khakh’s Neuroscience Laboratory from the USA to Wales

Moving a research laboratory across campus is complex. Moving one more than 5,000 miles across an ocean, between two countries and two major research institutions, requires an entirely different level of laboratory relocation planning.

In the summer of 2026, USA Lab Movers helped relocate the laboratory of Professor Baljit S. Khakh from UCLA in Los Angeles, California, to Cardiff University in Wales, supporting an important international transition for one of the world’s leading researchers in neuroscience, astrocyte biology and brain function.

The move took Professor Khakh’s research equipment from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA to the UK Dementia Research Institute at Cardiff University, representing exactly the kind of specialized international laboratory relocation USA Lab Movers was built to handle.

But this international lab move was about much more than equipment.

It was about helping move years of scientific research from the United States to the United Kingdom so that groundbreaking work on the brain, astrocytes, neurons and neurodegenerative disease could continue on another continent.

From UCLA to Cardiff University: A Global Laboratory Relocation

Professor Baljit Khakh spent nearly two decades at UCLA, where he served as Professor of Physiology and Neurobiology and held the Eleanor I. Leslie Chair in Neuroscience. He joined UCLA in 2006 after previously leading a research group at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge.

His next chapter brings him back across the Atlantic.

Professor Khakh was appointed Director of the UK Dementia Research Institute at Cardiff University, one of the UK's major centers focused on understanding and ultimately treating neurodegenerative disease. Cardiff University described him as a global authority on astrocytes and brain function.

There is also a remarkable full-circle element to the move.

Before Cambridge, Caltech and UCLA, Professor Khakh earned his undergraduate degree in Pharmacology at Cardiff University. His relocation from UCLA to Cardiff therefore represents a return to the university where his scientific career began.

For USA Lab Movers, it was an opportunity to support that transition through a specialized USA-to-UK international lab move.

Moving a Neuroscience Laboratory Internationally

An international laboratory move is fundamentally different from conventional commercial moving.

Research laboratories can contain years or decades of accumulated scientific equipment, custom-built components, experimental systems and supporting materials. Much of that equipment may be difficult to replace—not simply because of monetary value, but because specific pieces have become part of established experimental workflows.

Professor Khakh's shipment demonstrated that complexity.

The international laboratory shipment consisted of five palletized units with a combined gross weight of 2,886 pounds, or approximately 1,309 kilograms.

The equipment and research materials represented several areas of the laboratory, including:

• Main laboratory equipment and custom microscopy components

• Microscope components, cameras, controls and imaging equipment

• Behavioral research chambers, cages, mazes and experimental components

• Two-photon slice research equipment

• Stimulators, oscilloscopes and manipulators

• Optical components and stage controllers

• Stereotaxic and surgical research equipment

• Laboratory vacuum equipment and specialized tools

• Research notebooks, books, archived data and documentation

• Larger laboratory equipment, carts, racks and research furniture

The shipping documentation divided the research assets into seven sections covering the office, main laboratory, Cambridge equipment, behavioral research equipment, TwoP slice equipment, surgery room and larger laboratory objects.

This is why experienced lab movers are so important during scientific relocations.

A laboratory isn't simply a collection of boxes.

It is an interconnected research environment.

Specialized Moving for Microscopy and Neuroscience Equipment

One significant component of Professor Khakh's lab relocation involved microscopy and optical research equipment.

The shipment included microscope components, cameras, light sources, optical components, amplifiers, oscilloscopes, manipulators, controllers and other specialized laboratory equipment.

Another portion of the laboratory included equipment associated with two-photon slice research, including stimulators, an oscilloscope, manipulators, a stage controller, amplifiers and optical parts.

Scientific equipment moving requires a different mindset than conventional freight.

Researchers are often relocating equipment that has been used for years to generate data, perform experiments and support published research. Components may be customized, discontinued or configured specifically for an individual laboratory.

For an international neuroscience lab relocation, protecting those systems during their journey from the United States to the United Kingdom is critical to helping the research team resume work successfully at the destination.

Professor Khakh's Research: Understanding Astrocytes and the Brain

The science behind this move makes the project particularly meaningful.

Professor Khakh is internationally recognized for his work studying astrocytes, a type of glial cell found throughout the central nervous system.

While neurons are widely known for transmitting signals through the brain, astrocytes interact closely with neurons and help regulate their environment and function.

Professor Khakh's research has focused heavily on understanding astrocyte-neuron interactions—how these different brain cells communicate, how astrocytes influence neuronal networks and how these processes change in disease.

His UCLA research also investigated areas including astrocyte biology, calcium signaling, neuronal networks and P2X receptors. UCLA describes a major focus of the Khakh Lab as investigating how astrocytes regulate neuronal function in the healthy brain as well as in models of Huntington's disease.

That research has broader implications for understanding brain disorders and neurodegenerative disease.

Astrocytes, Alzheimer's Disease and Neurodegenerative Research

The UK Dementia Research Institute at Cardiff University studies neurodegenerative conditions including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and motor neuron disease.

Professor Khakh's expertise brings another important perspective to that research.

His laboratory has helped uncover fundamental insights into astrocyte-neuron interactions and the molecular basis of astrocyte diversity, improving scientists' understanding of how these cells contribute to both normal brain function and disease.

At Cardiff, that work can intersect with existing strengths in genetics, immunology and data science as researchers seek new ways to understand what causes neurodegenerative disease and identify potential therapeutic approaches.

For us, understanding the science behind the laboratories we move is important.

We aren't simply moving laboratory equipment from Point A to Point B.

We're helping move the science forward.

International Laboratory Moving Requires Specialized Planning

A move from Los Angeles, California, to Cardiff, Wales demonstrates how global modern scientific research has become.

Principal investigators routinely move between universities, biotechnology companies, medical schools and research institutes around the world. Their laboratories often need to follow them.

That means an international laboratory relocation can involve:

• Laboratory inventory planning

• Scientific equipment packing

• Specialized equipment protection

• Microscopy equipment moving

• Palletization and freight preparation

• International shipping documentation

• Commercial invoices and equipment classification

• Coordination between universities and research institutions

• Export and import requirements

• International transportation

• Delivery coordination at the destination laboratory

Professor Khakh's project required detailed international documentation identifying the laboratory equipment, its research use and its destination at the UK Dementia Research Institute at Cardiff University. The shipment included seven accompanying commercial-invoice categories covering the various sections of the research laboratory.

That level of documentation is one of the major differences between a domestic laboratory relocation and an international lab move.

USA Lab Movers: Moving Science Across the World

USA Lab Movers specializes in laboratory relocations for universities, biotechnology companies, pharmaceutical organizations, hospitals and research institutions.

Our capabilities extend beyond domestic laboratory moves.

As scientific collaboration becomes increasingly global, researchers need a laboratory moving company capable of supporting international lab relocations between the United States, United Kingdom and other global research destinations.

The Khakh Lab relocation from UCLA to Cardiff University is a great example.

Five pallets.

More than 2,800 pounds of laboratory and research equipment.

Thousands of miles.

Two world-renowned universities.

One continuous scientific mission.

From neuroscience equipment and microscopy components to behavioral research systems and years of scientific documentation, the goal was to help Professor Khakh's research make the journey from California to Wales.

Supporting the Next Chapter of Neuroscience Research in Cardiff

Professor Khakh's appointment at Cardiff represents an important addition to the UK's neuroscience and dementia research community.

Cardiff University expects his expertise in astrocytes, neurobiology and brain function to complement the UK Dementia Research Institute's existing research strengths and contribute to the search for better understanding and treatments for neurodegenerative disorders.

For USA Lab Movers, being involved in moves like this is exactly why laboratory relocation is different from conventional moving.

Behind every microscope, research system, instrument and carefully packed component are scientists trying to answer questions that have never been answered before.

Protecting science in motion isn't simply our tagline. It's what international laboratory moving is all about.

Planning an International Lab Move?

If your university, biotechnology company, pharmaceutical organization or research institution is planning a domestic or international laboratory relocation, USA Lab Movers can help coordinate the movement of specialized scientific equipment from origin to destination.

Whether you're moving a laboratory across the country or across the Atlantic, our focus is the same:

Protect the equipment. Protect the research. Protect the science in motion.

Contact USA Lab Movers to discuss your next laboratory relocation, international lab move or scientific equipment moving project.

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