OKLAHOMA CITY Oct. 19, 2006 – The Order of the Eastern Star this week presented the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation with donations to fund research on neurological diseases and multiple sclerosis. The gifts, which totaled $19,300, bring the Eastern Star’s overall donations to OMRF to $117,000 since the organization began giving to the medical research foundation in 2002.

“The passion and dedication that Eastern Star has for OMRF year after year is inspiring,” said OMRF’s Emily Rothrock, who accepted the gifts Sunday at the Eastern Star’s Grand Chapter Convention in Oklahoma City. “We know they worked hard to raise these funds, and we will work to transform their efforts into treatments and cures.”

Rothrock received two checks at the convention. The Oklahoma Grand Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star gave OMRF $16,500, which came from monthly collections taken at the organization’s 138 state chapters. Eastern Star Chapter 77 of Purcell also presented a check for $2,800, proceeds from its annual Star Bike Ride (held this year on Sept. 23).

“Many of those involved in Eastern Star have seen MS and Alzheimer’s disease affect members of their own families,” said Norma Clark, grand matron of the Grand Chapter. “We support OMRF because we know the work they do benefits all of us in some way.”

The Star Bike Ride is organized by Purcell’s DeeAnn Simpson, whose former husband is among 400,000 Americans who suffer from MS, which attacks the body’s central nervous system. It can lead to impaired vision, cognitive functioning and a wide range of other problems.

Scientists at OMRF are now investigating the role that a common virus may play in bringing about MS. If they are able to establish this virus (known as Epstein-Barr virus) triggers the disease in some people, it could lead to more effective treatments – and perhaps even a vaccine – for the disease.

On the neuroscience front, OMRF scientists have created an inhibitor for the enzyme believed to cause Alzheimer’s disease. They are now working to turn this discovery into a drug to treat the disease, which affects about 4.5 million Americans.

The Order of the Eastern Star is the largest fraternal organization in the world to which both men and women may belong. It counts about one million members worldwide, including 20,000 Oklahomans, and is dedicated to furthering charity, education, science and fraternity.

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.