OKLAHOMA CITY Oct. 16, 2006 – When the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation opened the state’s first small animal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) facility in October 2004, J. Donald Capra, M.D., knew he was taking a risk.

“I told people, ‘This could turn out to be a home run—or a big flop,’” said Capra, who served as OMRF’s president until becoming president emeritus this past spring. “We invested $3.75 million to purchase the MRI, build a new facility and recruit a director. Still, only time would tell whether it would prove valuable, as we could not predict what direction Oklahoma scientists would take with their work.”

Two years later, the verdict is in: The 10,000-pound magnet is a hit. Researchers from institutions across the state are using the facility 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and OMRF is now in the process of purchasing a second, more powerful MRI to add to the facility.

The facility is one of only a dozen such facilities in the nation and is helping Oklahoma scientists conduct cancer, neurological and cardiovascular disease research. With the magnet, which uses 200 gallons of liquid helium to generate a magnetic field that is 140,000 times stronger than the earth’s, researchers can study the cells and organs of genetically engineered living mice and rats at microscopic levels without harming the animals.

“The MRI technique is completely non-invasive,” said Rheal Towner, Ph.D., who came to OMRF from Australia to direct the center. “It gives us a way to look inside the animals without surgery, biopsies or injecting dyes.”

At OMRF, the MRI has aided scientists in creating chemical compounds to prevent the formation of Alzheimer’s plaques in the brain. Other projects include studies of a brain cancer that primarily strikes children, the role of hypertension in diabetes, and Lou Gehrig’s and Huntington disease.

“Our scientists are discovering things that wouldn’t have been remotely possible without this high-resolution equipment,” said Towner. In addition to OMRF researchers, Towner noted that scientists from institutions around the state—the University of Oklahoma, OU Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma State University, University of Central Oklahoma and Langston University—also use the MRI. “We also have collaboration with a California biotech company and an upcoming project involving researchers at the University of Osaka,” said Towner.

With a magnet roughly four times as strong as those found in hospitals, OMRF’s MRI allows scientists to view cells and organs as tiny as one-tenth of a millimeter. “That’s a resolution far greater than those generated by MRIs used to examine human patients,” said Towner.

OMRF anticipates adding its new MRI, which will cost about $1 million, in early 2007. The new, more powerful machine will join the current MRI in OMRF’s state-of-the-art annex.

“This new machine will further speed the process of developing tests to diagnose deadly diseases at earlier, more treatable stages,” said Towner. “It will also accelerate our ability to create drugs to treat those diseases.”

For Towner and his staff, that means more late-night hours. “That’s OK,” said Towner. “We like being busy.”

About OMRF:
Celebrating its 60th birthday in 2006, OMRF (www.omrf.org) is a nonprofit biomedical research institute dedicated to understanding and curing human disease. Its scientists focus on such critical research areas as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, lupus and cardiovascular disease. It is home to Oklahoma’s only member of the National Academy of Sciences.