McCausland Center for Brain Imaging

Researchers at the Brain Imaging Center will focus on neuro-degenerative diseases like stroke, Alzheimer's Disease, and Parkinson's Disease. South Carolina is at or near the top of the list in the incidence of these diseases.

Co-directors of the center are Mark George, director of the MUSC Center for Advanced Imaging Research, and Gordon C. Baylis, associate provost for academic initiatives at USC.

The Brain Imaging Center has the potential to impact economic development in several ways, George explained. “By attracting multi-million dollar grants and research partnerships, by generating the sale of patents on technology developed by the center, and by creating jobs.”

“Our collaboration creates an integrated statewide network of 3T MRI scanners located in Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville, and this will help South Carolina lure companies interested in conducting large-scale clinical trials,” Baylis said. “The fact that we can offer three of the most powerful MRI scanners in the world in three very different geographies is very attractive to companies that need to test new technologies or pharmaceuticals in a large, ethnically diverse population.”