Kessler Foundation recently celebrated the grand opening of its new Neuroimaging Center. The Center is at Kessler Foundation’s second location, on the West Orange campus of Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation. Rodger DeRose, president, CEO, Kessler Foundation, notes that the Center, “Is designed to accelerate the pace of translational research that improves quality of life for individuals with physical and cognitive disabilities caused by neurological illness and injuries.”
The Foundation reports that the Neuroimaging Center features a 3T Siemens Skyra Scanner approved for scanning of the brain and spinal cord for Foundation research studies. The organization adds that the capabilities for structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional MRI (fMRI), and MR spectroscopy will allow researchers to determine how the brain or spinal cord functions while a research participant is thinking or performing a task.
John DeLuca, PhD, vice president, research and training, director of the Neuroimaging Center at Kessler Foundation, classifies neuroimaging as one of the objective ways to assess how investigational treatment impacts the brain or spinal cord, leading to improved outcomes for individuals with disabilities.
“Objective data prove the efficacy of a tested treatment and support efforts to attain third-party reimbursement. Through the work of the Neuroimaging Center, life-changing treatments will be more widely available to people with disabilities,” DeLuca adds.
A total of 10 new studies are slated at the Neuroimaging Center. The Foundation says current studies target the improvement of thinking, learning, and memory in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) and traumatic brain injury (TBI), mobility and nerve regeneration in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI), and aphasia in stroke survivors.
According to a news release from the Foundation, Glenn Wylie, DPhil, associate director of the Neuroimaging Center, and Bing Yao, PhD, physicist and manager of the Center, will use best practices to study the impact of rehabilitation interventions on the brain. Wylie and Yao will also work to establish best practices for new applications of neuroimaging research.
Photo Caption: Rodger DeRose, president and chief executive officer, John DeLuca, PhD, vice president for research and training and director of the Neuroimaging Center, and Bing Yao, PhD, physicist and manager of the Center, look forward to accelerating research discoveries that improve the lives of people with disabilities with the new Neuroimaging Center at Kessler Foundation.
[Photo Credit: Kessler Foundation]
[Source: Kessler Foundation]
