Press Release |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Rafael Lemaitre (202) 395–6649, Cell: 202–345–7912
Jeff
Kamen (202) 486–6188
Monday, August 26, 2001
DRUG CZAR'S CHIEF SCIENTIST TO ANNOUNCE FEDERAL FUNDING FOR CUTTING-EDGE
BRAIN SCANNER AT OREGON HEALTH AND SCIENCE UNIVERSITY
Pioneering Studies Planned of Teens' use of Steroids, Methamphetamine,
Leading to More Effective Prevention and Treatment
(Washington, DC)—Dr. Al Brandenstein, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy's (ONDCP) Counterdrug Technology Assessment Center (CTAC), will be in Portland, Oregon on Wednesday, August 29 to award a $4 million federal grant to the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) for use in obtaining a cutting-edge 4-Tesla (measure of magnetic power) brain scanner. The machine will lead to pioneering studies of teens' use of steroids and methamphetamines, leading to more effective drug prevention and treatment. Dr. Brandenstein and leading researchers associated with the project will be available to the media at 11:15 am in room 9D53 of the OHSU Hatfield Research Center. Videotape showing the machine and the images it produces will be shown and made available for Portland area TV stations. Following the event the media will be invited to tour the MRI center at OHSU.
CTAC is making great strides to develop the most advanced brain imaging centers to understand the fundamental causes and effects of drug abuse. CTAC is equipping the leading substance abuse academic research centers with the most highly advanced technology to develop a complete understanding of the regions within the human brain that can be permanently damaged by drugs of abuse. This technology will enable study of the brain's circuitry while on drugs and development of new treatment modalities. The machine will also help develop new therapeutic medicines, train new researchers, and enable researchers to view with greater clarity and specificity the regions of the brain that cannot be seen with current, less powerful functional magnetic resonance imaging machines.
Dr. Brandenstein stated, "Federal agencies are actively engaging and partnering with scientists and researchers to harness cutting-edge knowledge and technology with the potential to reduce substance abuse and its social and economic consequences in American communities. Dr. Jeri Janowsky's team at OHSU will make important new strides against addiction and the crime associated with drug trafficking. Through the use of new technologies we will make significant progress in reducing the demand for drugs, as well as the supply."
Previous brain scanner installations include Massachusetts General Hospital, UCLA, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Emory University in Atlanta, the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Baltimore, McLean Hospital outside Boston, and Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, NY.
