哥伦比亚大学接受尼斯塔基金-脑成像研究将加速医学科学和创造就业机会

纽约，纽约——2001年5月8日——哥伦比亚大学获得了纽约州拨款1100万美元，用于开展大脑成像研究，这将扩大医学科学并创造就业机会。该奖项是科学、技术和学术研究办公室(NYSTAR)授予的2740万美元拨款的一部分。州长乔治·e·帕塔基(George E. Pataki)说，这笔拨款是“我们努力确保纽约在高科技和生物技术研究和经济增长方面发挥国际领先作用的一个重要里程碑”。哥伦比亚大学校长乔治·鲁普博士说:“州长在促进利用大学研究促进技术转让和经济发展的项目中发挥了关键作用。我们所有关心纽约竞争力的人都深深感激他的领导。”“这很重要,因为它将基金研究人脑成像的一种非侵入性的方式,不干扰大脑的功能,”杰拉尔德·d·菲施巴赫说,医学博士,哥伦比亚大学的副总裁对健康和生物医学科学,健康科学学院院长、医学院院长。“这将使研究人员能够研究非常复杂的大脑功能，这些功能以前是无法实现的，但对记忆遥远的事件或控制情绪至关重要，”菲施巴赫博士说。高分辨率成像将在一个新的中心——行为与病理功能神经回路高分辨率成像中心进行。该中心将配备哥伦比亚大学世界级的神经科学团队，包括诺贝尔奖得主埃里克·坎德尔(Eric Kandel)。在过去的十年中，新的成像技术通过允许对健康人类大脑的研究，正在给神经科学带来革命性的变化。 Using the grant, Columbia will exploit and improve those technologies, including positron emission tomography (PET), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and 2-photon laser microscopy. Previous research techniques were more invasive. This limited scientists to studying animal brains or to learn what they could from the experiences of people undergoing surgery for brain disorders. This was a fundamental research barrier; researchers cannot develop the best treatments for a diseased organ without fully understanding its normal function. The new technologies also will allow “more objective measures of brain function, so that one can judge the progress of disease,” Dr. Fischbach said. For example, he cited the critical need for very early diagnosis. “By the time patients with Parkinson’s disease come to a physician, usually more than 75 percent of the nerve cells in the affected part of the brain are already degenerated. There’s a real need for better imaging technologies to find when the first cells are degenerating. “This is a proud day for New York and Columbia,” Dr. Fischbach said. “This grant will promote science, stimulate business, create jobs, and help improve neighborhood life.” It is anticipated that the grant will generate approximately 200 jobs, for scientists, technicians, laboratory workers and support staff at Columbia. It is also expected to create jobs in New York’s pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical instrumentation industries by fostering partnerships between them and Columbia. Other grants in the group of NYSTAR awards went to City University of New York, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and Manhattan College. In awarding the grants, the state is designating research centers at Columbia and CUNY as Strategically Targeted Research Centers, or STAR Centers.

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