Within the next year, more than a dozen new pieces of research equipment will be installed at SDSU that will boost research efforts in such areas as cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

The equipment is being purchased with a $196,000 federal grant to the SDSU College of Pharmacy from the Health Resources and Services Administration, an arm of the U.S. Department of Health. Pharmacy faculty members credit the support of Sen. Tim Johnson in securing the grant.

“We have been communicating the research center needs to Senator Johnson. It’s been an ongoing process for the last three to four years,” said Chandradhar Dwivedi, professor of pharmaceutical sciences, who wrote the grant proposal along with Brian Kaatz, dean of the college of pharmacy. “Senator Johnson has been very helpful in putting forth efforts in Congress and in the Senate to get this support.”

“Often, funding comes to the college piecemeal,” Dwivedi said, “not enough to buy such heavy items. The timing on this grant couldn’t have been any better. It takes quite a burden from us. We’re very, very pleased.”

Faculty in the department of pharmaceutical sciences focus on free radical research and the prevention and treatment of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. The new equipment will greatly enhance their research efforts, and as a result, improve health care and quality of life and lower the cost of health care, Dwivedi said.

“Especially in the Midwest and especially in South Dakota, people have cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, diseases associated with aging,” Dwivedi said. “So this research equipment is a critical need for our research to focus on local health conditions.”

The college is now in the process of buying the equipment and hopes to have it in place and operational within a year.

For more information, call Dwivedi at (605) 688-4247.