ORDWAY SCIENTISTS RECEIVE $9.1 MILLION FEDERAL GRANT

Major step in establishing Capital Region as biodefense research center

ALBANY (August 9, 2005) – In a move that helps establish the Capital Region as an increasingly important center for biotechnology and medical research, Ordway Research Institute announced today that Institute scientists have been awarded a prestigious $9.1 million federal grant to fund research into biodefense applications of their work.

The funding will allow the researchers – Dr. George Drusano and Dr. Arnold Louie of Ordway’s Emerging Infections and Pharmacodynamics Laboratory – to expand their pioneering work to develop a comprehensive and medically sound strategy to deal with bacillus anthracis (anthrax) and yersinia pestis (plague) as potential biological weapons.

“This is a milestone for Ordway and our research colleagues at the Wadsworth Center and Albany Medical College,” said Dr. Paul J. Davis, director of the Institute. “It’s no accident that the two NIH Program Project awards at University Heights and the Wadsworth Center’s Research Center of Excellence grant from the NIH are based on Infectious Diseases. We in the Health Department/Wadsworth Center, Ordway and Albany Med are nationally competitive in this area of research.”

Drs. Drusano and Louie and their Ordway team have been successfully applying cutting-edge, novel hollow fiber, pharmacodynamic, and animal infection models and mathematical methods to help design dosing strategies for anti-microbial agents. This research holds considerable promise for biodefense applications.

“Today's announcement is tremendous news for the Capital Region and a validation that we are in fact a leader, both nationally and internationally, in biotechnology applications,” said Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno. “This grant will provide the science team at Ordway Research Institute with new opportunities to expand their pioneering studies in the area of biodefense. By partnering with area health and education institutions, these research collaborations will greatly enhance the quality of life for people not just in the Capital Region, but throughout the entire world.”

The achievement was hailed not only for its scientific significance, but also for its validation of the relatively new Ordway Research Institute, founded in May 2002.

“This is a remarkable accomplishment for these scientists, for our collaborative approach, and for the national and international recognition we are receiving in a short period of time,” noted Richard Liebich, CEO of the Charitable Leadership Foundation (CLF). CLF played a key role in incubating the Institute, providing a $12 million commitment to recruit nationally recognized scientists to Ordway and the region. From its inception, the Institute was created to facilitate collaborations in basic biomedical and clinical research and to raise the medical research profile of the Capital Region.

The announcement was made at the new $56 million Center for Medical Science ( CMS) at University Heights in Albany before an enthusiastic group of scientists and leaders from biotechnology, medical research, education and regional economic development

“This is a success we all can share in,” noted Dr. Davis “It underscores the promise of Ordway and this region’s bio-medical capabilities while underscoring our efforts to facilitate inter-institutional research.” He pointed to another recent NIAID biodefense grant of $8.3 million received by a research team led by Dr. Dennis Metzger at Albany Medical College for study of the bacterial disease tularemia. The Research Center of Excellence Infectious Diseases/Emerging Infections grant to the Wadsworth Center is led by Dr. Lawrence Sturman, director of the Wadsworth Center. In addition, Wadworth Center’s Dr. Marlene Belfort leads an NAID-funded biodefense and emerging infectious disease training program for doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows.

“The Capital Region has become a national center for biodefense research,” Sturman observed. In addition to collaborating with New York State’s Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center and Albany Medical College, Ordway has memoranda of understanding with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Trudeau Institute and the University at Albany.

The $9.1 million grant will fund the Ordway team’s work for the next five years. This will include evaluation of the efficacy of certain antibiotics and evaluation of potential treatment regimens that would be effective against drug-resistant bacillus anthracis. .

For further information about Ordway Research Institute and its research, contact Eugene Schuler, chief administrative officer, 518-641-6410, eschuler@ordwayresearch.org or Sharon Hanley, sponsored research administrator, 518-641-6410, shanley@ordwayresearch.org.

News Footage - Provided by CBS-6 News, Albany

About Ordway Research Institute

Ordway Research Institute, Inc. is a not-for-profit, freestanding corporation with specific research themes and a mission to translate basic science observations into therapeutics. The Institute is committed to fostering inter-institutional, competitively-funded research while expanding on existing regional programs of excellence. Ordway’s research takes place in The Center for Medical Science building at University Heights in Albany that houses the Institute’s researchers and investigators, as well as research teams from the Wadsworth Center/New York State Department of Health. Entrepreneurial science at Ordway is fostered through its association with the Charitable Leadership Foundation (CLF) Medical Technology Acceleration Program, Inc. (MTAP). Full Story

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