Sen. Griffo secures funding to help Masonic Medical Research Institute purchase important equipment

UTICA – While standing at the Masonic Medical Research Institute, state Sen. Joseph Griffo, R-I-C-Rome, announced today that he has secured $500,000 in funding for the Utica-based research center.

With the funding, the Masonic Medical Research Institute will be able to purchase new state-of-the-art equipment that will enable the Institute to conduct cutting-edge biomedical research. The equipment cost around $800,000 altogether.

The Masonic Medical Research Institute previously received $950,000 from the state to renovate space in the facility.

Sen. Griffo was joined at the announcement by Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente Jr., state Assemblyman Brian Miller, R-New Hartford, and representatives from the Masonic Medical Research Institute and the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York.

“The Masonic Medical Research Institute is a premier research facility focusing on cardiovascular disease,” Sen. Griffo said. “This investment will help to purchase technology that will enhance the facility’s research capabilities, will allow the facility’s good work to continue and will hopefully grow the Institute’s presence here in Utica and beyond, including additional jobs and opportunities for employment. The Masonic Medical Research Institute does such great work in helping to improve the lives of others, and I am pleased to have secured important funding that will help it to continue those efforts.”

“The MMRI faculty are pursuing paths of inquiry in a variety of fields from cardiac research to lupus, diabetes and cancer,” said Dr. Maria Kontaridis, Director of Research at the MMRI. “These areas of research are evolving rapidly as new technological advances allow scientists to analyze huge sets of data and provide imaging in areas that would have been impossible just a few short years ago. The MMRI needs update our equipment with new models that will allow our faculty to keep up with our peers and collaborators across the country and around the world. As such, this grant from Senator Griffo is critically important; it will allow us to purchase equipment we might not have been able to for many years. We appreciate Senator Griffo’s support and interest in the work we are doing here at the MMRI.”

“We are proud to have one of the world’s preeminent biomedical research labs here in Oneida County,” Picente said. “The Masonic Medical Research Institute is an asset to our region in a variety of ways as well as putting us on the map as an international center for genetic research since it was founded by the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in New York State in 1958. Today’s announcement and this new funding, secured by Senator Griffo, of $500,000 will enhance even more the facility’s capabilities as it continues its cutting edge research in biomedical science.” 

The Masonic Medical Research Institute (MMRI) is an internationally recognized biomedical research institute founded by the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in the New York State in 1958. The MMRI is an international center for genetic screening of inherited cardiac arrhythmia diseases, especially those responsible for sudden cardiac death, including sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and is actively involved in the development of safe and effective drugs for atrial fibrillation, thus addressing one of the greatest unmet medical needs facing our society. The Stem Cell Center is focused on creation of human models of disease, thus enabling the development of innovative therapies and cures.

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