Benefactor briefs

Marian Rochelle, Phoenix, has made a gift of $350,000 to the laboratory of Drs. Susana Martinez- Conde and Stephen Macknik for the purchase of ocular imaging research equipment. The funds support the vision researchers’ joint project on age-related macular degeneration and their joint patent application (pending) on treatments for abnormal blood flow in macular degeneration, epilepsy, and diabetes.

Rochelle hopes to accelerate the duo’s research into macular degeneration through her gift.

“I have macular degeneration,” she explains. “It’s genetic, so it could affect my daughter and grandchildren someday.

“I am very impressed with these young scientists. I told them that someday they’ll win the Nobel Prize.”

The donated funds are earmarked for three main pieces of equipment, plus a few support devices:

• A fiber-optic confocal microscope for measuring capillary blood flow in deep brain structures, and also in the in vivo retina. This device will also be used for Dr. Macknik’s research into epilepsy and diabetic blood flow. Dr. Macknik’s lab will now have the capability of conducting microscopic fluorescent imaging in any structure, neural or vascular, in the nervous system.
• A retinal optical imaging device that will non-invasively measure arteriole and venule blood flow, as well as oximetry, in the eye. This device will support the second phase of blood flow research in macular degeneration and will allow Drs. Martinez-Conde and Macknik to quantify the effects of ameliorative therapies.
• A non-invasive video-based eye-movement meas- urement system called EyeLink 1000, which will upgrade Dr. Martinez-Conde’s human ocular physiology laboratory to the highest possible level of eye movement measurement fidelity available in the world.

“We are very appreciative of Mrs. Rochelle’s gift,” says Dr. Martinez-Conde. “It will significantly upgrade our research capabilities.”

SSBTR gives Barrow $55,500 for brain-tumor research

In April, Students Supporting Brain Tumor Research (SSBTR) presented a total of $215,000 to Barrow Neurological Institute, the Brain Tumor Society, Phoenix Children’s Hospital and the Translational Genomics Research Institute. Barrow received $55,500. Most of the funds were raised at the seventh annual SSBTR Walk- A-Thon, held in February.

SSBTR funding currently supports a one-year fellowship in the Neuro-Oncology Laboratory at Barrow. Julia Mackey, a 2007 Northern Arizona University graduate who earned a bachelor of science in chemistry with a minor in biology, is the first recipient of the SSBTR fellowship. The fellowship provides Mackey a $24,000 stipend plus benefits to work under the supervision of lab director Dr. Adrienne Scheck.

SSBTR was founded in 2002, shortly after three students in the Paradise Valley School District died of brain tumors. Students from elementary schools, high schools and universities across the state participate in the annual fundraiser, which has raised more than $868,000 for brain-tumor research.