The Albany Medical Center and GE Global Research have opened the Neurosciences Advanced Imaging Research Center featuring a new Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) system aimed at finding new ways to diagnose and treat Alzheimer's disease.

"We will very soon be able to make major breakthroughs in this area," said Nadeem Ishaque, manager of the Genomics and Molecular Imaging Research Program at GE Global Research.

Using a $3 million high-powered GE MRI system, researchers will seek to identify the biological changes that occur within brain cells of Alzheimer's patients. The goal is to develop a way to diagnose Alzheimer's in patients early enough to allow for treatment.

Dr. Earl A. Zimmerman, chairman of neurology at Albany Medical Center, said the researchers will start by begin taking images of the brains of healthy people. Then in about a month, they will begin comparing them to pictures of the brains of Alzheimer's patients.

"We believe this new center, which combines the best of corporate America with academic medicine, will serve as a national model for collaborative research in the neurodegenerative diseases," said Zimmerman.

Other sources: Albany Medical Center