KU Medical Center's Hoglund Brain Imaging Center dedicated today

A digital photo is available of William Brooks, Hoglund Center director, and Jeffrey Lewine, head of the center's MEG division, as well as a photo of the Hoglund Brain Imaging Center site. Contact kunews@ku.edu.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- A new center to research the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease, autism, stroke and other brain disorders was dedicated today at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

The 10 a.m. dedication of the Hoglund Brain Imaging Center took place at the recently completed $12 million center, located on the north side of the campus at the corner of 38th and Eaton streets. The ceremony included speakers Robert Hemenway, KU chancellor; Donald Hagen, M.D., executive vice chancellor; William Brooks, director of the Hoglund Center; Janice DeBauge, vice chair of the Kansas Board of Regents; and Frank J. Becker, chairman of the Kansas University Endowment Association.

Funding for the 12,250-square-foot building was provided in part by a pledge of $4 million by Forrest and Sally Hoglund of Dallas. The pledge to KU Endowment was a part of the couple's $7 million commitment for KU First: Invest in Excellence, the largest fund-raising campaign in KU history. To date, the Hoglund Center has also received $3.25 million in federal support and $2 million in state support, which helped fund the $8.8 million in equipment and financing.

The Hoglund Center will bring under one roof researchers and state-of-the-art brain imaging technology to explore disorders spanning the entire life span, from before birth through old age.

"This research facility is about improving health care in the heartland," Hemenway said. "People in the state of Kansas, the Kansas City area and around the region won't have to go hundreds of miles for care. Here, they will have access to the latest research and the doctors who make the discoveries."

The Hoglund Center is equipped with two magnetoencephalography, or MEG, devices that allow scientists to analyze magnetic signals associated with electric currents in the brain. A MEG detects which areas of the brain become active when the body performs activities and can pinpoint the exact location of damage to the brain. One of the center's MEG machines also is among only three in the United States capable of creating images of a developing fetal brain in the womb. With this technology, doctors may be able to detect a disorder, such as cerebral palsy, before a baby is born.

The center also has a 3 Tesla, or 3T, magnetic resonance imaging device that uses magnets to generate images of the brain's structures in elaborate detail. At twice the strength of most MRIs, the 3T enables scientists to identify where many brain functions take place and detect small abnormalities that cannot be seen using standard MRI technology. The 3T and another MRI device will be used in animal studies to examine injury and repair in brains affected by disorders such as Alzheimer's, migraines and epilepsy.

"With the tools of the Hoglund Brain Imaging Center, we can measure precisely the location and timing of thought processes," Brooks said. "Our challenge is to use these tools to understand brain function in a vast array of areas, including development, aging, disease and injury."

Brooks, formerly scientific director of the Clinical & Magnetic Resonance Research Center at the University of New Mexico, will focus his research on devising ways to predict the outcome of traumatic brain injury, which is suffered by 2 million people annually.

"At this time, there are no good tools for predicting the outcome of injury," Brooks said. "Knowing the outcome would enable physicians to make more informed decisions about treatment options and give the patients and their families a better idea of the future."

In addition to brain injury, researchers at the center hope to explore autism and its possible links to epilepsy in children, and restorative treatments for stroke victims. The center's technology also will be an asset to scientists and clinicians across a broad spectrum of medical disciplines, including psychiatry, psychology, developmental biology, child development, drug development, physiology and aging.

Brooks said that while the Hoglund Center's overarching mission is research, the center also will benefit patients. For instance, MRI and MEG will help surgeons map the functional areas of the brain before surgery for brain tumors or epilepsy.

KU Endowment, which is continuing to raise financial support for the Hoglund Center, is an independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fund-raising and fund-management organization for KU. KU Endowment is conducting KU First on behalf of KU through 2004 to raise funds for scholarships, fellowships, professorships, capital projects and program support.