Research and clinical practice get boost at new Edmonton facility

Edmonton, AB – A $25-million research centre has opened at the University of Alberta Hospital.

The state-of-the-art Alberta Cardiovascular and Stroke Research Centre (ABACUS) brings together 100 investigators focused on heart disease and stroke research. The centre will form an important arm of the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute.

“ABACUS is a $25-million, molecules-to-population research centre, or as I like to refer to it, a research hospital within a hospital,” says Dr Stephen Archer, ABACUS scientific director.

The centre is named after the mathematical calculation device, a portable tool that can be shared among thinkers. “It’s a tool for all of the researchers here, which will elevate science and medicine in Edmonton and hopefully beyond,” says Dr Archer, adding that the word is also an architectural term referring to the unit beneath a column that provides support.

The centre will be based around four cores: imaging and intervention, clinical trials and outcomes, vascular biology and a multimedia facility.

“One of the things that’s so important about ABACUS, is that it’s a place where science and medicine converge, where researchers and clinicians rub shoulders and share ideas. We’re very excited about the possibility,” says Dr Tom Marrie, dean of the U of A Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry.

The centre is the first in Canada, says Dr Marrie, adding that ABACUS’ many partners “share a vision to put Edmonton on the map as Canada’s leading health sciences region.”

Reported by Caitlin Crawshaw