For Immediate Release
Contact: Carrie Hermanson, University of Illinois College of Medicine Rockford (815) 395-5601, caherman@uic.edu
Liz Sandine, The Blazer Foundation, info@theblazerfoundation.org
University of Illinois College of Medicine Rockford Announces New Nanomedicine Laboratory
Gift from the Blazer Foundation of Rockford makes lab possible
Rockford, Ill. — The University of Illinois College of Medicine Rockford will soon have a new nanomedicine laboratory where researchers can pursue treatments for disabling conditions using innovative nanotechnology needed for discoveries at the smallest, molecular level. The lab will be a part of the Department of Biomedical Sciences and will be located on the UIC Health Sciences Campus-Rockford at 1601 Parkview Ave.
Funding for research personnel, equipment and supplies for the laboratory will come from a $500,000 gift from the Blazer Foundation of Rockford and an additional matching grant from the University of Illinois College of Medicine Chicago of $150,000.
This new lab is an outgrowth of the college’s Regenerative Medicine and Disability Research Laboratory that opened in 2016 following a previous $3 million Blazer Foundation gift.
Divya Bijukumar, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, will direct the new laboratory and continue to expand upon her research, which includes investigations for treatments of vision loss from diabetes and the disabling side effects of some joint implants. She’ll be joined by Vishal Khatri, Ph.D., a researcher collaborator studying potential treatments for the digestive disease colitis.
The new laboratory is expected to open in fall 2019.