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The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust is supporting construction and equipment for Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, AZ. This facility will include a wet lab as well as cutting-edge magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology, the 7 Tesla MRI, which will be used for collaborative research between Arizona State University and Barrow in the areas of neuroimaging, neurorehabilitation, neural engineering, motor control and movement disorders, brain and spinal cord trauma, cancer and neuroprotection.

In order to remain competitive in terms of research and clinical care, the Barrow Neurological Institute has teamed up with Arizona State University to jointly sponsor, build and fund a shared multi-user imaging facility at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. This facility will provide advanced imaging capability of rats and mice not currently available at Barrow.

The Barrow Neurological Foundation supports Barrow Neurological Institute, the neurosciences division of St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix, AZ. Barrow Neurological Institute treats patients with a wide range of neurological conditions, including brain and spinal tumors, cerebrovascular conditions, and neuromuscular disorders.

The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust is providing operating support for the Cure Alzheimer's Fund, which uses a venture capital approach to support translational and crossover research with a focus on early detection and prevention.

The cause of Alzheimer’s disease has eluded investigators for over a hundred years, partly because Alzheimer’s is a genetically complex disease and there have not been the tools or skills available for a full-scale assault on the disease until the last five or six years. Supporting these projects will result in a better understanding of how the leading candidate genes affect the risk for Alzheimer’s and, therefore, how the pathology with which they are involved can be arrested.

The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust is supporting the construction of an ambulatory surgery center at Greenwich Hospital which will be equipped with three operating rooms, 10 post-anesthesia beds, a waiting area for patients and their families and areas for administrative support.

Due in part to the closing of two nearby hospitals in Port Chester and White Plains, Greenwich Hospital has seen its operating room volume rise from 7,661 surgeries in 2001 to 9,444 surgeries in 2008, a 23.3% increase. Greenwich Hospital has reached its maximum operating capacity on-site and needs additional surgery space to serve its growing client base. This new ambulatory center will reduce surgery congestion in the Greenwich Hospital facility by transferring 50% of ambulatory surgery cases to the new building, thereby allowing the hospital to serve patient demand.

Founded in 1903, Greenwich Hospital primarily serves residents of Fairfield County, Connecticut and Westchester County, New York and has grown from a community-centered hospital into a premier, regional medical facility with a national reputation for patient safety, clinical excellence and customer service.

The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust is providing operating support to Klinefelter Syndrome & Associates.

X and Y chromosome variations (sex chromosome aneuploidy) affect approximately 1 in 500 individuals. Klinefelter Syndrome is the most common variation, but many others affect both males and females. At its most severe, Klinefelter Disease causes developmental delays and autism spectrum disorders, and patients require continuous support and are unable to work. A grant for general operating support will allow the organization to continue its advocacy efforts within the medical and patient communities on behalf of persons with these rare diseases.

Founded in 1989, KS&A’s mission is to help individuals with one or more extra X and/or Y chromosomes and their families lead fuller and more productive lives by raising awareness of the disease, educating medical professionals, fostering research, and promoting early diagnosis and treatment.

The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust is providing operating support for The Michael J. Fox Foundation’s 2009 Pipeline Programs. The five Pipeline Programs form the backbone of the Foundation’s annual efforts to support high-risk/high-reward approaches to applied translational studies and clinical intervention trials.

The cause of Parkinson’s disease is not known, and while some medications help patients manage a portion of their symptoms, no medication is available to treat the underlying disease to slow or halt its progress. Support will allow the Michael J. Fox Foundation to continue its path-breaking research strategies, thereby furthering its goal to create new therapies and a cure for Parkinson’s disease. The organization works closely with both academic and industry research teams at every stage of Parkinson’s disease therapeutics development to catalyze and support new ideas, seeking to create an informed revolution in Parkinson’s therapy development and to close gaps in the drug research and development process.

Funding from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust will establish the Salk Center for Nutritional Genomics, hosted at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Funding will support laboratory improvements, equipment and graduate student/postdoctoral fellow research positions for five years.

The Salk Center for Nutritional Genomics will ensure that experts have the necessary tools and opportunities to further study critical health and medical issues. Specifically, the Center will enable researchers to employ a molecular approach to nutrition and its impact on the role of metabolism on the immune system, cancer, diabetes and lifespan, thereby increasing the understanding of how nutrients brought into the body affect health. There will be a particular emphasis on diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. The upgrades will include brand new breakthrough technologies, including the study of gene networks based on massive parallel sequencing of millions of genomic DNA fragments, allowing scientists to study a huge number of variables at the same time, dramatically increasing the speed and effectiveness of their work.

Salk Institute for Biological Studies was founded in the 1960s by Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vaccine. His goal was to establish an institute that would explore questions about the basic principles of life. Today, the Salk Institute conducts its biological research under the guidance of 59 faculty investigators. It employs a scientific staff of more than 850, including visiting scientists, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students. The major areas of study are: Molecular Biology and Genetics; Neurosciences; and Plant Biology.