UTEP Develops New Neuroscience Lab to Address Hispanic Health Disparities

EL PASO, TX – The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is developing a new biomedical research facility to address Hispanic health disparities in the border region.

The Imaging and Behavioral Neuroscience facility will be built on the second floor of the Interdisciplinary Research Building as part of a $5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

Importantly, UTEP has committed an additional $1.5 million to purchase new high-end imaging equipment for the facility. According to information from the university, the new space will allow it to address mechanisms that contribute to health disparities related to cancer and neurological disorders that significantly affect Hispanics.

“The research that UTEP faculty and students will conduct in the new facility will have a lasting impact on the well-being of our community,” said UTEP President Heather Wilson.

The new facility will provide high-capacity behavioral testing and high-resolution imaging. Members of the interdisciplinary research group behind the new lab said it helps position the university at the forefront of biomedical research associated with preclinical models of Hispanic health disparities.

Michael Kenney, associate dean for research in the College of Science and deputy director of UTEP’s Border Biomedical Research Center said the new facility will be the first of its kind in the region and will strengthen collaborative efforts with two regional medical schools that supported UTEP’s application for NIH funding – Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso and The Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

With the design phase nearly complete and initial equipment purchases underway, members of the research team expect to begin operating in the new facility in the spring of 2024.

Source: MEXICONOW Staff