Dalhousie University's Retina Lab (aka Retina and Optic Nerve Research Laboratory) opened in the Fall of 1998 bringing together Drs. William Baldridge, Steven Barnes, Balwantray Chauhan, Melanie Kelly and Francois Tremblay in new shared research space designed to foster strong collaborative interactions.  A sixth member, Dr. Gautam Awatramani, joined the group in 2007.  The Lab houses the six independent investigators and their trainees and technical support personnel in the west half of the top floor of the Sir Charles Tupper Medical research Building on the Dalhousie University School of Medicine campus in Halifax.  Core Facilities for confocal microscopy, electrophysiology, molecular biology and immunohistochemistry expand the synergistic interactions of the individual investigators and strengthen the product of the laboratory in terms of understanding retinal function and disease and in training of new investigators to help achieve these goals.

The commitment of Dalhousie University to support retinal research was evident with a $1.7 million expenditure for the renovations of the new laboratory space and the basic items of equipment that the group required to get started. The University’s commitment extended beyond the creation of the new laboratory space, since it also involved the recruitment of three retinal neurobiologists (Baldridge, Barnes and later Awatramani) to join together with investigators already at Dalhousie (Chauhan, Tremblay and Kelly). With the membership of the group representing three basic science departments (Anatomy & Neurobiology, Pharmacology, and Physiology & Biophysics) and one clinical department (Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences), the full ramifications of multidisciplinary, synergistic, bench-to-bedside research in retinal problems is being realized.