India, Aug. 30 -- The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Building 18, or the chemistry building, which houses one of the largest labs on the campus, has been closed since Friday night for "specialized decontamination efforts."

According to an emergency notification shared on the university's website, "only one student was exposed" to an "unauthorized" material - which has not been named - leading to the contamination of the labs inside the building. The school said the specialized decontamination effort is underway "out of an abundance of caution."

"As has been shared with those who work in the building, based on the information available to the department, industrial hygienists, MIT Health medical experts, and other resource...