Banner Alzheimer’s Institute Awarded $6.5 Million Grant
PHOENIX (May 17, 2010) — Banner Alzheimer’s Institutehas received a $6.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for renovation and expansion of its research facility, providing an imaging resource for researchers throughout Arizona.
The grant was announced by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius as part of $1 billion of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds awarded across the U.S. The NIH and its National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) administers these highly competitive research grants, which are expected to create and sustain jobs, promote scientific advances and improve human health.
The grant will provide almost 18,000 square feet in renovated and expanded research space for two Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging suites, a new Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) suite, a computational image-analysis laboratory, and the equipment needed to produce a broad range of PET radiotracers for researchers throughout the state of Arizona focused on Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, diabetes and other diseases.
The construction project will more than double Banner Alzheimer Institute’s research space and is predicted to generate and sustain more than 130 new jobs. It will permit Banner Health to acquire a new 3T MRI and other additional imaging equipment to support its research mission.
The PET research team at Banner Alzheimer’s Institute is a world leader in brain-imaging research, a major contributor to the Arizona Alzheimer’s Consortium, and a catalyst for imaging research around the state. It has introduced researchers from several scientific disciplines to brain-imaging research and forged close working relationships with researchers from each of the state’s biomedical research institutions. The researchers are well known for the contributions to brain mapping research, the discovery of brain regions involved in memory, emotion and other human behaviors, and the detection and tracking of the brain changes associated with the risk of Alzheimer’s disease decades before the onset of symptoms. They have developed a brain-imaging strategy to evaluate the most promising treatments to prevent Alzheimer’s disease as quickly as possible.
“With this facility improvement grant, our enhanced PET and MRI resources will advance Alzheimer’s disease, cancer and other research projects throughout Arizona,” said Eric Reiman, MD, executive director of the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, director of the Arizona Alzheimer’s Consortium, and the project’s lead investigator. “Indeed, it will give us the chance to find demonstrably effective Alzheimer’s prevention therapies without losing a generation.”
About Banner Alzheimer’s Institute
The Banner Alzheimer’s Institute is a treatment and research facility dedicated to helping patients with memory and thinking problems. It offers clinical care for patients; provides education, referral and support services for family and caregivers; and conducts leading-edge research in clinical trials, brain imaging and genetics studies. The Institute is devoted to finding effective Alzheimer’s disease-slowing and prevention treatments in the shortest time possible. Banner Alzheimer’s Institute is owned and operated by Phoenix-based Banner Health, a nonprofit organization. For more information go to www.banneralz.com.
About the National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. The activities described in this release are being funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov/.
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Brian Browne
Ph: (623) 875-6536
email: Banner Health Public Relations
