Ophthalmology Research Enterprise Moves to New Space in Hammer Health Sciences Center

For more than 20 years, the groundbreaking work of the Department of Ophthalmology’s highly ranked basic science research faculty, now consisting of 14 Principal Investigators with $12 million in extramural funding, has taken place in renovated laboratories in the research annex of the Edward S. Harkness Eye Institute. In August 2023, as part of the major facilities project resulting from the construction of the new cancer center, our research enterprise relocated to a new purpose-built space in the Hammer Health Sciences Center.

“The 18-story building is dedicated to research,” notes Xin Zhang, PhD, Herbert and Florence Irving Professor of Ophthalmic Science (in Ophthalmology) and Pathology & Cell Biology, who is spearheading the move. “We are moving to the center of Columbia’s biomedical research program, one floor above the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library, with excellent resources
immediately adjacent to our facilities. I think the new location and its environment will be very stimulating for our basic science research.”  

The new open floor plan will foster collaboration and creativity. “When people are in different, closed-off labs, they don’t have as much opportunity to talk to one another or get to know other people in different labs,” he says. “Now it’s much easier to walk down the corridor and talk to someone about what they’re working on. Science is all about synergy and cooperation, and I think the new setup will stimulate advances in our research.”