12 Jun 2015

Arizona State University and Banner Health in Phoenix this week announced plans to create a joint institute called the ASU-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center (NDRC). The new institute will focus on the basic science of the treatment and prevention of neurodegenerative diseases. Though it will take aim principally at Alzheimer’s, the institute will also devote resources to other diseases such as Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Eric Reiman of the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute will lead the alliance together with Raymond DuBois, who currently directs the ASU Biodesign Institute.

With a start date of July 1, the NDRC has six research groups from the Banner Sun Health Research Institute (BSHRI) lined up to join, and is seeking to hire a director this year. Within the next few years, the NDRC will recruit 20 established or up-and-coming basic scientists and their teams and will move into a new building on the ASU Tempe campus. Current research areas include animal models, inflammation, epigenetics, and animal studies, with future topics likely to depend on the interests of new recruits.

The NDRC will support the ongoing expansion within the Arizona Alzheimer’s Consortium. “Almost all of our institutions continue to grow their Alzheimer’s research programs,” Reiman told Alzforum. For instance, the BSHRI is expanding its brain and body donation programs, plans to further develop its AD and PD clinical and research programs, and will help find and test new models of elder care.

ASU will foot the initial bill for building the new center, while additional capital for growth will likely come from external grants, the state, foundations, and industry, Reiman told Alzforum.—Gwyneth Dickey Zakaib