June 2010

The Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute provides this news brief for civic, corporate, political and scientific leaders to update you on the progress of the life sciences initiative in the Kansas City area. To unsubscribe, please contact Sharon Newman at 816-753-7700.

Merci Registry will help improve best practices for stroke victims

The founder and director of Saint Luke’s Stroke Center is a principal investigator for the national Merci Registry that is now the largest repository of data on the use of mechanical embolectomy in acute ischemic stroke patients. The registry recently announced 1,000 patients and is proving to be an important tool for physicians.
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Marion Laboratories celebrates 60 years

Former associates of Marion Laboratories, and its successor companies, along with their guests had a two-day reunion in Kansas City in June. Roughly 700 people came to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of Marion Labs by Ewing Kauffman. Kaufman was so influential that there is even a club for those who worked with or alongside him – The Marion Club.
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UMKC vision researchers secure $1.3 million grant

The National Institutes of Health’s Institute on Aging awarded the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Vision Research Center a five-year, $1.3 million grant to identify and develop new treatments for age-related diseases that affect the central nervous system, brain and retina. Researchers will specifically focus on the role of calcium as a self-defense mechanism.
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UMKC School of Pharmacy receives largest gift in school's history

The UMKC School of Pharmacy has received an estate gift commitment from Robert Sperry, son of Merle Sperry, who served as president of Kansas City-based McPike Wholesale Drug Company, the largest wholesale drug distribution center in the world. The gift will be used to create an endowed chair in geriatric pharmacotherapy as well as provide short-term loans to students.
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Children’s Mercy breaks ground on $48 million expansion

Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics broke ground on a $48 million, 73-bed tower in June. The tower will house a new Fetal Health Center, expanded pediatric intensive care and oncology units as well as a new interfaith chapel. The center is part of an $800 million expansion by the hospital. It is expected to open in 2012.
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Construction begins on KU’s engineering
research center

The University of Kansas broke ground on its new $18.8 million Measurement, Materials and Sustainable Environment Center in May. The building will give engineering and research groups the opportunity to work together on projects, develop solutions and test and certify products all in one place. The building is slated for completion in 2012.
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UMKC gets $1.8 million to further drug addiction study

Dr. John Wang of the University of Missouri-Kansas City received a $1.8 million National Institutes of Health grant for his lab’s research on mechanisms in the brain responsible for drug abuse and addiction. Wang’s team recently identified a novel interaction between an enzyme and a receptor in brain cells that is critical for controlling cellular and behavioral activity. With their findings, Wang’s team hopes to find treatment for various psychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative conditions such as drug addiction and depression.
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Saint Luke’s improves safety of common cardiac procedure

Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart and Vascular Institute developed a model to predict a patient’s risk of bleeding after angioplasty. The model categorizes patients as low, intermediate or high-risk for bleeding. Doctors can then use the information to make adjustments.
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KU gets $4.6 million grant to boost computing power

The National Institutes of Health awarded the University of Kansas a $4.6 million grant to upgrade its computing power for life sciences research. Currently, KU’s computers are pushed to the limit as they sequence genomes and peer into molecules. Now, the university will get a 20-fold boost in power and a 15 percent cut in its use of natural gas.
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Drug companies, all-natural industry to benefit
from K-State development

A Kansas State University chemical engineer patented a chemical structure that uses enzymes to produce all-natural scents and purer pharmaceuticals. The chemical structure will allow companies to increase production of such products while decreasing the amount of time and money needed. The patent was awarded in April.
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