About the laboratory

Welcome to the home page of the Laboratory of Molecular Immunology at the Schepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard Medical School. The Schepens Eye Research Institute is an independent research institute affiliated with Harvard Medical School, which is approximately 50 years old. The institute was founded by a prominent ophthalmologist, Dr. Charles Schepens, who invented the indirect binocular ophthalmoscope, and pioneered retinal reattachment surgery. From humble beginnings in a rat infested building, the institute has evolved into the largest independent eye institute in the world, and is a major recipient of funds from the National Eye Institute. Former fellows of the institute can be found in medical school faculties and hospitals staffs around the world.

Approximately 350 persons currently work at the Institute, and many of the principal investigators are members of the Harvard Medical School Faculty. There are now more than 30 laboratories pursuing projects ranging from optics to molecular genetics, from immunology to tumor biology. The Institute is headed by Dr. J. Wayne Streilein, Professor and Vice-Chair of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School.

We moved here on July 1, 1996 from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. While we miss our colleagues and friends in Baltimore, we are very happy with our new home here at the Schepens, and with Boston as a place to live. The laboratory is located within the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) community, in a region called Charles River Park. More generally, the lab is located in Government Center. The closest T stops are Government Center (Blue and Green lines), Park Street (Red and Green lines), Charles/MGH (Red Line)and Bowdoin (Blue line).

In addition to the MGH and its laboratories, the Shriner's Burn Institute, the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary and the Boston Biomedical Research Institute are neighbors, and MIT and the Whitehead Institute are across the river. The Schepens labs are located in 3 buildings bounded by Staniford St. and Cambridge St. The original building is located at 20 Staniford St, and the majority of the scientists at SERI work there. The main building also houses the animal facilities, a morphology unit (with all possible microscopes, including an EM and a confocal microscope), a flow cytometry facility, library and cafeteria. Clinical and some administrative activities take place in a second building in the Charles River Plaza, primarily on the second and sixth floors of the building. Our laboratory is located in what was most recently The Charles Theater, once one of the largest big screens in the Boston metro area. The back two-thirds of the theater will soon be transformed into a modern lecture hall for SERI, and the former lobby/popcorn area is now home to the Development Offices.

Our lab and that of our friends and neighbors (the Kazlauskas group) are in the front third of the theater (where the screen used to be). Another neighbor is the Stein-Streilein Laboratory of Cellular Immunology. SERI is undergoing a major phase of expansion. Five new groups have been added in the past few months, and 4 more will be added shortly. The expansion is part of an initiative to build a cluster of laboratories focusing on molecular and structural biology, with the hope that basic research in these areas will form the foundation for new approaches toward the treatment of diseases of the eye. SERI has provided us with a wonderful facility with state of the art equipment, and we are already up and running. We are grateful for the labs, and for the many relationships (personal and scientific) that we have already developed in such as short time at SERI.

This home page is created and maintained by Albert Tai
Last update: Oct 23, 1996.