April 11, 2005

BIRMINGHAM, AL — The National Institutes of Health announced Thursday that the Purdue-UAB-Rutgers Botanicals Research Center for Age-Related Diseases will receive $1.6 million during the next five years. The center, which was formed in 2000,will continue its investigations into the composition and effects of dietary supplements.

The center is one of five in the country to receive funding from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and the Office of Dietary Supplements. Stephen Barnes, Ph.D., UAB professor of pharmacology and toxicology, is co-director of the center and a lead investigator. Michael Wyss, Ph.D., professor of cell biology, is also a lead investigator.

Two UAB projects are included in the grant. Wyss, Helen Kim, Ph.D., and Jeevan Prasain, Ph.D., will investigate the effects of dietary supplements on blood pressure and the vascular system. Research into the prevention of vision loss and cataract disease by dietary supplements will be a project of Barnes, Om Srivastava, Ph.D., and Sam Wang, Ph.D. A core facility on in vivo analysis also received continued funding.