04 Feb 2003

Faced with a multibillion dollar deficit, New York State’s Governor George Pataki last week proposed a budget plan that would merge the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research in Orangeburg with the New York State Psychiatric Institute in Manhattan, according to an article last Saturday in the suburban regional newspaper, The Journal News. The Nathan Kline Institute houses the Center for Dementia Research. Alzheimer’s scientists whose labs are at the center include Ottavio Arancio, Karen Duff, Steve Ginsberg, Ralph Nixon, Efrat Levy, Paul Mathews, Yasuji Matsuoka, and Suzana Petanceska. According to the news article, the state spent $40 million four years ago to renovate and expand the Nathan Kline Institute, building new laboratory facilities and establishing the Center for Advanced Brain Imaging. The story also states that the state pays 120 of the NKI’s 340 employees; the rest are supported by federal and private research grants. The state spends about $10 million annually to operate the institute, while researchers secure about $24 million annually in grants. See newspaper story.—Gabrielle Strobel.