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Lab in Emerging Biomedical Corridor Installs $3 Million High Tech Magnet

“Ten years from now if we have accomplished half of the audacious goals we have for research I’ll be a very happy person,” said HMRI President Dr. Marie Csete

Published on Tuesday, July 7, 2015 | 5:18 am
 
HMRI President Dr. Marie Csete stands outside the Pasadena laboratory in front of the newly-installed $3 million General Electric 3 Tesla MRI on July 6, 2015. (Photo: Rachel Young)

A powerful new $3 million Magnetic Resonance Imaging device weighing in at 20,000 lbs was hoisted through a hole in the wall of Huntington Medical Research Institute’s Magnetic Resonance lab just off South Fair Oaks Avenue on Monday morning.

The Pasadena-based nonprofit biomedical research organization leads the nation in combining scientific research with applied medical results for clinical patients. Experience with patients drives all the research, which sets this small institution apart from others.

With double the strength of the previous magnet, the General Electric 3 Tesla MRI is specifically designed and calibrated to capture the more detailed variety of images necessary at the lab – not just anatomical images as are typically done in a normal MRI.

Carefully, workmen move the 20,000 lbs. MRI device into position at the HMRI Laboratory on July 6, 2015. (Photo: Jim Kingman)

“This is the central piece of equipment that all the scientists here will use as the basis of our research. This is the essential thing that moves us forward,” HMRI President Dr. Marie Csete said.

HMRI will use the new equipment to study Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic brain injuries, liver cancer, heart failure, brain tumors, multiple sclerosis and other conditions currently being researched at the institutes.

While most other MRI technology requires the patient to get a fluid injection before the scan, Dr. Orest Boyko who heads the imaging program explained that the specialized technology eliminates the need for MRI dye.

“Think of magnetic resonance spectroscopy as Green Technology. You can get biochemical information without injecting the patient,” Boyko said.

Very few magnet machines are dedicated specifically to research or are very costly for researchers to use, about $800 per hour to gain access. Having the horsepower of this new machine in HMRI’s building will give the researchers quicker answers for patients.

The MRI device installed by HMRI has special capabilities to go beyond the standard image produced by the proton signal that comes from abundant water in the human body, to tune in other elements such as carbon and phosphorus.

Tuning in these other elements allows the researchers to obtain chemical information necessary for insight into cell energy and metabolism as well as pathologies that can’t be seen in the more simple images. Even information on lesions can be gathered to send to doctors.

“Spectroscopy opens up a different category of biochemistry that we can provide information to doctors for clinical and research reasons,” Boyko said.

For example, the research on Alzheimer’s Disease will be enhanced by the ability to produce imaging of the inflammation in the brain.

Csete said with that imaging, researchers would be able to study the inflammation in the brain cells that precedes the memory loss. The goal would then be to find solutions to reduce the inflammation.

“Early diagnosis is critical,” Csete said.

The recruitment of Dr. Csete as the lead scientific research officer brought the long anticipated purchase into reality. The center received the funding from an anonymous donor.

Since becoming the president of HMRI six months ago, Csete has incorporated weekly meetings to bring all the scientists together to collaborate on the same research.

HMRI President Dr. Marie Csete and head of the imaging program, Dr. Orest Boyko, stand wioth the new $3 million General Electric 3 Tesla MRI on July 6, 2015. (Photo: Rachel Young)

“Working across disciplines is more fun and I think that is where the answers are going to be,” Csete said.

The immunologist, the stem cell researcher, the lipid biochemist, and the neurologist, will all work together to pick out new targets to point out the inflammation.

“Ten years from now if we have accomplished half of the audacious goals we have for research I’ll be a very happy person,” Csete said.

Looking forward, Csete pointed to the ground breaking of their new laboratory on Fair Oaks that will allow for “serendipitous” interactions between cardiologists and a neurologist at the same time.

“We are building a new laboratory that I think will be the core of the biomedical research corridor here,” Csete said.

With several new groups moving into the area, Csete said the face of the corridor will become much more research oriented.

HMRI’s direct neighbor is Doheney Eye Institute who also has physician scientists researching for UCLA. Schriner’s Hospital for Children has broken ground in the nearby area. Csete said that other medical institutes are rumored to join the area as well.

“We are Pasadena’s dedicated medical research institute. People hear of Caltech, but very little of it is directly medical. The strength of our programs is people with clinical experience lead them,” Csete said.

Huntington Medical Research Institutes is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit, public-benefit organization. For six decades, it has been making biomedical discoveries and developments that have set new precedents in medical knowledge across the United States and around the world. For more information, visit www.hmri.org.

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