The law firm of Kilpatrick Stockton has made a $100,000 contribution to the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF), the organizations announced today.
Kilpatrick Stockton’s substantial gift will help OMRF establish a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) facility for mice, the first of its kind in Oklahoma. The new facility, which will be completed in 2004, will allow researchers to view the internal organs of experimental animals at virtually a microscopic level without dye injection, biopsies or surgery.
“Kilpatrick Stockton has been privileged to serve OMRF for almost 15 years relative to technology transfer matters, including work on patents, licenses and significant patent infringement and licensing dispute litigation,” according to John Pratt, chair of the law firm’s intellectual property practice. “We deeply appreciate what our relationship with OMRF has meant economically, the opportunity to meet and work with many of OMRF’s world-class scientists and to see first hand their remarkable progress in pursuing OMRF’s goal – ‘that more can live longer, healthier lives.'”
“We are delighted to have this chance to give something back, and it is particularly meaningful for us to support OMRF’s research involving Dr. Fletcher Taylor and Dr. Charles Esmon, with whom we have worked extensively in recent years,” said Susan Cahoon, a senior litigation partner with the law firm. “We want this gift to be a catalyst for making a real impact in helping save lives, and we are confident that this new MRI facility will make a difference.”
Although the MRI is commonplace in human medicine, according to OMRF President J. Donald Capra, M.D., there are currently no more than a dozen small animal MRIs in the country. “Thanks to the generosity of Kilpatrick Stockton and other far-sighted donors, our scientists will now have a powerful, research-grade MRI to study the cells and organs of living mice, just as doctors are able to use conventional MRIs to study human patients in hospitals,” said Capra.
Capra foresees numerous applications for the instrument, from helping OMRF researchers who are trying to develop an inhibitor that blocks the progression of Alzheimer’s disease to facilitating the study of such diseases as breast cancer, lupus and cardiovascular disease. “This new MRI will be a tremendous asset in helping our researchers transform scientific insight into treatments and cures for human disease,” he said.
Attached is a high-resolution architectural rendering of OMRF’s William Bell Building as it will appear once construction of the new MRI facility is completed.
About Kilpatrick Stockton:
Kilpatrick Stockton LLP (http://www.kilpatickstockton.com/) is a full-service international law firm with more than 470 attorneys in eight offices across the globe: Atlanta and Augusta, GA; Charlotte, Raleigh and Winston-Salem, N.C.; Washington, D.C.; London, England; and Stockholm, Sweden. In the life sciences area, Kilpatrick Stockton’s delivery of innovative solutions uses the collaborative efforts of its corporate, litigation and intellectual property attorneys to provide knowledgeable and proactive guidance at every stage of the life cycle of scientific discoveries – including patenting inventions, licensing technology, financing the commercial development of life saving or life enhancing drugs and medical devices and protecting this valuable intellectual property through contract and infringement litigation when necessary.
About OMRF:
OMRF (www.omrf.org) is a nonprofit biomedical research institute dedicated to understand and curing human disease. Its scientists focus on such critical research areas as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer and cardiovascular disease. OMRF is home to Oklahoma’s only Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and only member of the National Academy of Sciences in the area of biomedical research.
