|
Feature Stories
New scientists join Science Center exhibit; AbioCor gets new home
On Monday, March 17, 2003, the Louisville Science Center unveiled new additions to our Breakthrough Gallery, which is updated every two years and features three teams of regional medical research scientists who've made dramatic advances in their fields. The exhibits are underwritten by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.
The Breakthrough Gallery is part of our permanent exhibit, THE WORLD WITHIN US, which opened in March 2001. The Breakthrough Gallery showcases careers in health and life sciences via video presentations, graphic panels and artifacts related to current regional medical research.
The 2003-05 medical research scientists are: Drs. Scott Whittemore and Christopher Shields of the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center at the University of Louisville, who are leading spinal cord injury research using stem cells, gene therapy and novel surgical approaches; Dr. Greg Gerhardt of the Center for Sensor Technology at the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center, who has developed sensor technology to understand the brain in its normal state and to design new strategies for treating disorders such as Parkinson's disease; and Dr. Donald Miller of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center at the University of Louisville, whose research focuses on preventing cancer at the molecular level by designing drugs that "turn off" cancer-causing genes.
Also, the AbiCor" Implantable Replacement Heart, which was placed in the Breakthrough Gallery in November, was moved to a new display in the adjacent BodyWatch Gallery. The heart is on loan from ABIOMED, developer of the AbioCor.
The Louisville Science Center is a nonprofit educational institution dedicated to improving public understanding of science, math and technology through films, interactive exhibits and educational programs. The Science Center houses the first IMAX Theatre in Kentucky, and serves more than 550,000 people annually and receives generous support from the City of Louisville.
|
