Thanks to Foundation supporters, our research team is enjoying a major upgrade of their equipment.

 

Last year the Foundation's donors gave over $375,000 to buy new research equipment. This has dramatically increased the team's capabilities – results are obtained faster, and are of much higher quality.  

 

The new technology is being used in state-of-the-art laboratories in the new Kolling Building, on the campus of Royal North Shore Hospital.

 

‘The new building brings together disparate research groups under the one roof. It's opened up a whole new world of possibilities for heart research - we can readily share ideas and equipment, and carry out valuable collaborative research,' said Professor Stephen Hunyor, who leads the Cardiac Technology Centre within the North Shore Heart Research Group. 

 

The upgrade includes:  

 

• A digital angiography unit. This gives insight into how the heart functions, in particular before and after a heart attack. It is the most advanced facility of its kind in Australia. (Special thanks are due to Toshiba Medical.)

 

• New suits made of lead, to protect researchers from harmful x-rays while using the angiography machine.

 

• An anaesthetic machine and respiratory monitor. This is used in the high magnetic field surrounding a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine. (Acknowledgement for support from GE Medical.)

 

• A cell incubator, for growing heart cells.