Masonic Medical Research Laboratory to use $400K REDC grant to buy research equipment

UTICA, N.Y. — The Masonic Medical Research Laboratory (MMRL) in Utica will use a $400,000 state grant to purchase “several pieces of highly specialized research equipment.”

The funding is a grant award through Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Mohawk Valley regional economic-development council (REDC).

The equipment will include a VisualSonics echo machine, a Keyence microscope, and a mass spectrometer, MMRL said in a news release.

The equipment purchase is part of a renovation project at MMRL that will result in a new laboratory that will house “new and expanded” research ventures.

The first phase of the project at MMRL began in early July and includes a multi-million-dollar renovation that will fully modernize and upgrade 6,800 square feet of research space on the second and third floors of the laboratory.

“Conducting science and research is an expensive endeavor, and as federal funding has become more competitive, support from New York State is all the more important,” Dr. Maria Kontaridis, director of research at MMRL, said in the release. “We are very grateful to Gov. Cuomo, the SIAT team, the members of the Mohawk Valley REDC and our local Utica-area representatives in the state legislature for their support. Thanks to them, we will be able to ensure that MMRL continues to be an international center for cardiac research based in the Mohawk Valley.”

SIAT is short for New York’s strategic implementation assessment team, which includes state agency commissioners and policy experts, hears presentations on REDC proposals and assesses their implementation.

MMRL in November had announced the appointment of Kontaridis as its new director of research. She comes to MMRL from Harvard Medical School, where she is an associate professor of medicine. She also serves as director of the basic cardiovascular research program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com