Top science lab opens in 100-year old Ybor City cigar factory

Tampa, Florida -- Imagine this: there's a disease that causes more than 100,000 people to go blind every year. Okay, now imagine this: one of the leading groups working to cure that disease, glaucoma, thinks a cure could come from Tampa.

That's because the world's largest eye research center is opening its doors Wednesday. The Lions Eye Institute for Transplant & Research is in an historic building complex in Ybor City.

It's an interesting life for a cigar factory in Ybor City. Nearly 100 years after it was built, it was reborn in 2005 as an eye transplant center run by Lions Clubs International. The center is a transfer point to get eye tissue from donors who have died to living people who need it.

The cornea that restored sight to Kevin Moore's right eye came through here. "A lot of people take sight for granted," said Moore, who now has 20/20 vision in his right eye after a disease called keratoconus left him able to make out only shapes and colors.

Moore's disease means soon, his other cornea must be replaced. But his next surgery will be, well -- easier on the eyes -- than the one had had just three years ago. For example, advances in eye care have lowered the number of stitches he'll need from about 14 to four.

Dramatic changes like that are what researchers hope to speed up with a new expansion to the original Lions eye bank that opens this week. The center in Ybor City is now the only place in the world that handles tissue donations and is also a research mecca.

CEO Jason Woody says researchers from the world's best labs will come here to work with top colleagues and the best samples available.

Since the center's supported by Lions Clubs International, instead of a particular university or pharmaceutical company, Woody says the center can serve as a sort of "think tank", bringing together experts with different backgrounds to tackle a range of diseases like glaucoma and macular degeneration.

New cures and new treatments from Tampa can change lives. Just ask Kevin Moore, whose new cornea -- donated by a 46-year old Tampa Bay woman when she died -- has opened up the door to his dream.

Moore's in school to become a police officer, and he says officers must have 20/20 vision in at least one eye to pass their basic physical exam.

The first team due to work at the Lions Eye Institute will come from Emory University in Atlanta. The team will be working to cure macular degeneration -- a disease that the institute says impacts about 1 in every 100 Americans.

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