The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine’s Department of Computational and Systems Biology (CSB) has a new home! CSB will relocate to the top floor of a newly constructed 10-story building on Fifth Avenue and Halket Street. The move has already begun and should conclude by April 22. 

The majority of CSB’s offices and labs have been spread between Biomedical Science Tower 3 and the Murdoch Building, splitting experimental groups from purely computational groups. This move will unite all of these department members under one roof.  

“The future of biomedical research is increasingly at the intersection of experimental and computational analysis,” said department chair Fritz Roth. “Fifth and Halket was designed to facilitate tight communication across these worlds and to train the next generation of multidisciplinary scientists.” 

The Department of Computational and Systems Biology will be housed on the 10th floor of the building, with eventual expansion to the ninth floor. The new building boasts an abundance of natural light, an open floor plan and a central open meeting space with sightlines to “wet” and “dry” labs.  

Another highlight of this space is a large classroom with windows overlooking the Cathedral of Learning. Students will learn in a state-of-the-art environment with a projection wall, an inspiring view and a nearby ping-pong table. One unique feature of the space is a robotics room where visitors can watch robots in action through the glass. 

“The move is going to make working together and collaboration a lot easier,” said Amanda Shaheen, assistant to the chair. “We have this beautiful new spot, and it’ll be wonderful to have everybody together.” 

CSB is grateful to Dean Shekhar’s team, especially Associate Vice Chancellor for Strategic Space Planning and Management Jaime Cerilli, for making this move possible. CSB also thanks the incredibly talented team of architects at Perkins & Will and builders led by Strada, as well as Pitt’s project management team. CSB was represented during space planning by department chair Fritz Roth, faculty members Robin Lee and David Koes, and staff members Haniza Yaacob-Ritz and Mandy Shaheen. 

CSB looks forward to this exciting new chapter and welcoming friends and collaborators to visit Fifth and Halket.