History
The institute now known as Banner Sun Health Research Institute was started in 1986 by its founding president and senior scientist Joseph Rogers PhD, who believed Sun City was exactly the right place to establish a world-class research center dedicated to diseases of aging.
With more than 75,000 residents over the age of 65 in the Sun City area, the community has offered a wealth of resources for researchers interested in aging.
The community also helped through charitable contributions as well as volunteering and participating in clinical studies and tissue donations.
In 1987, the institute began its tissue bank, which now sends samples to researchers around the world. More than 2,000 people have enrolled as donors and many more have served as volunteers for the bank.
Banner Sun Health Research Institute researchers have contributed greatly to better understanding of Alzheimer's, inflammation and general age-related disorders. Their achievements include:
- Research on inflammation damage to brain tissue and how that affects Alzheimer's disease.
- Studies that medications that lower cholesterol may be an effective treatment for Alzheimer's.
- Developing a compound that reduces bone deterioration associated with arthritis by 70 percent and reduces inflammation from rheumatoid arthritis 50 percent.
- Identifying an enzyme that boosts production of amyloid B-protein, prevalent in brains of Alzheimer's patients. This suggests that a drug to control that enzyme could prevent or cure Alzheimer's.
