Press Releases
41,000 WEST VIRGINIANS
WITH ALZHEIMER’S COULD
BENEFIT FROM GRANTS
WV-BASED FOUNDATIONS GIVE $300,000
TO BLANCHETTE ROCKEFELLER
NEUROSCIENCES INSTITUTE
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Over 41,000 West Virginians have Alzheimer’s disease and an average of five die from complications of the disease every day. West Virginia’s elderly population is expected to increase 60 percent during the next 25 years.
The Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute, a non-profit institute dedicated to the study of human memory and Alzheimer’s research, received $300,000 from two West Virginia-based foundations. The Institute, which partners West Virginia University in Morgantown, W.Va., and Johns Hopkins University in Rockville, Md., has a simple diagnostic and several treatments for Alzheimer’s in development.
The Hugh I. Shott, Jr. Foundation, based in Bluefield, W.Va., donated $200,000 to BRNI. The grant will be used to purchase a mass spectrometer. This equipment is essential in identifying Alzheimer’s-related proteins which facilitate the design of “brain-boosting” treatments for Alzheimer’s patients.
The Shott Foundation was established in 1984 by publisher Hugh Ike Shott, Jr., to improve the social and economic quality of life in the trade area of the Daily Telegraph Printing Company. Shott spent more than 60 years with the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, the newspaper founded by his father in 1896.
“The contribution made by Senator Rockefeller and his family in establishing this Institute will have significant impact on West Virginians,” said R.W. Wilkinson, foundation president. “We felt Alzheimer’s research deserved our support as well.”
The Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute received a $100,000 grant from the Sarah and Pauline Maier Foundation, Inc. The grant will enable BRNI senior scientist and tenured Associate Professor of Physiology at West Virginia University, Dr. Bernard G. Schreurs, to develop a model to test treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. Project equipment will be purchased with the funds as well.
The Sarah and Pauline Maier Foundation was established in 1958 by Charleston lawyer and businessman William J. Maier, Jr., and named in honor of his mother and wife. "This grant signals our belief in the significance of Alzheimer’s disease research for the citizenry of West Virginia," said Edward H. Maier, principal manager of the Maier Foundation since his father's death in 1981. “We credit Dr. Jack Chambers, a member of the BRNI board of directors, for leading us to the Institute." Pauline Maier, one of the foundation’s principal benefactors, resides in an Alzheimer’s unit in Houston, Texas.
More information about the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute is available at www.brni.org.