Ground Broken for Mayo Clinic Opus Imaging Research Building

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

March 22, 2006

For Immediate Release

Ground Broken for Mayo Clinic Opus Imaging Research Building

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic broke ground this morning for a new building to house advanced imaging research. Mayo received a gift of $7 million from The Opus Group to support construction of the facility. The Opus Group is a national, privately held commercial real estate development and management company based in suburban Minneapolis. Research in this building will focus on discovery and development of new medical imaging technologies and integration of innovative imaging techniques into Mayo Clinic's patient care.

"We have no doubt that this facility, and the Mayo Clinic researchers who will work here, will have a tremendous impact on the field of medical research and patient applications," said Mark Rauenhorst, president and CEO of The Opus Group. "We're honored to have a role in this significant facility."

Rendering of the Opus Imaging Research Building.

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This gift complements a National Institutes of Health (NIH) capital grant of $2.4 million awarded to Mayo Clinic. "It is unusual for NIH to provide capital building funds, so this is a unique opportunity for us. Pairing those funds with The Opus Group gift will provide the resources to complete the first phase of the imaging center," said Stephen J. Riederer, Ph.D., director of the Mayo Magnetic Resonance (MR) Laboratory, who wrote the grant application. "We are extremely fortunate to have benefactors who sincerely care about advancing the science of imaging that can lead us to breakthrough discoveries and applications for patient care."

"Much of medicine in the future will depend heavily on noninvasive imaging techniques," says Denis Cortese, M.D., CEO of Mayo Clinic. "We are grateful for this generous gift from Opus, which will help us expand both our diagnostic and treatment capabilities through the findings of this research. Applying basic science research findings to patient care is what we do best, and we look for this activity to keep Mayo Clinic on the cutting edge of imaging."

"The projects now underway in this imaging research program are all related to improving patient care," says Glenn Forbes, M.D., CEO of Mayo Clinic Rochester. "It is not by chance that Mayo Clinic has three areas of focus: practice, education and research. We believe that linking them together provides the best tools to deliver high-quality patient care. This gift from The Opus Group will make it possible for us to take that care to a new level."

Some imaging research will seek new methods for high-resolution Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to show natural movement of body structures such as a beating heart. There also will be investigations into new techniques of ultrafast MR imaging and methods for noninvasive mapping of the vascular system, such as the carotid and coronary arteries. Additional studies will focus on high-detail imaging of the brain and will be used to study Alzheimer's disease. To date, studies of the basic physics of motion effects have led to the development of imaging techniques that are highly suited for examining structures that are in motion. Mayo Clinic researchers plan to use the imaging center to create the next generation of these techniques and technologies.

"This is truly an exciting time in medicine," says Richard Ehman, M.D., leader of the Cancer Imaging Research Program. "Advanced imaging technology is providing powerful capabilities for early diagnosis of disease, when treatment is most effective. We are also seeing the development of innovative, image-guided therapies that will allow patients to avoid major surgery. The Opus gift is a significant boost to this research."

This gift recognizes the long-standing relationship The Opus Group and its employees have with Mayo Clinic. Construction begins today, with occupancy planned for the first quarter of 2007. A community steward since its inception, The Opus Group contributes 10 percent of its pre-tax profits to community organizations. The Opus Group will provide construction management for the project.

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About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy of "the needs of the patient come first." More than 3,300 physicians, scientists and researchers and 46,000 allied health staff work at Mayo Clinic, which has sites in Rochester, Minn., Jacksonville, Fla., and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz. Collectively, the three locations treat more than half a million people each year. To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to www.mayoclinic.org/news. For information about research and education visit www.mayo.edu. MayoClinic.com is available as a resource for your health stories.