AAQI News

AAQI Awards $60,000 Research Grant!

Posted: 09 Jun 2011 09:25 AM PDT

Dr. Alan Saltiel (Director of the Life Sciences Institute at University of Michigan), Dr. Mi Hee Lim (Principal Investigator), Ami Simms (Founder & Director, AAQI), and Dr. Jung-Suk Choi (Postdoctoral Fellow)

It was quite a day!
Anytime I write a check with a comma in the amount, my heart skips a beat. When the number in the little box has five digits, apparently I hyperventilate.
All I had to do was sign the check on behalf of the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI). Treasurer, Debbie Chenail had to write it out!
I’ve never been so happy to spend so much money.
And if you’re keeping track, the actual amount was $60,160.00. It was made out to the University of Michigan for Dr. Mi Hee Lim and her team to continue work on small molecules that break up deposits of amyloid plaque in the brain. That’s the substance that seems to cause cell death in Alzheimer’s. In smaller chunks, perhaps the amyloid plaque can be removed from the brain. Maybe they can figure out how to keep it from clumping together in the first place.
See theofficial news release.
As before, volunteers from the AAQI hand-delivered the check, met with the team of researchers, and toured the lab. We also brought quilts.
We hung quilts donated to the AAQI by quilters whose work was part of our first traveling exhibit, “Alzheimer’s: Forgetting Piece by Piece.” We brought some of the Name Quilts and smaller quilts from “Alzheimer’s Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope.” And we brought Priority: Alzheimer’s Quilts.
Several small quilts found new homes and the AAQI collected more money for research!
This research grant for the University of Michigan is the largest of the seven grants your quilting has funded so far. YOU have made this possible by donating quilts, by purchasing quilts, and by making monetary donations. With your hearts and your hands you are making a difference. For all of us who have lost someone we love to this horrific disease….THANK YOU!
And to the talented and dedicated researchers on “our” team…GODSPEED!
Celebrate this tremendous achievement by writing your own check to the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative. Here’s how. If everyone reading this today sent just $5 we could make a pretty good dent on the next research grant award. Better yet…BUY A QUILT!
Pass it on!
Ami Simms
Founder & Executive Director, AAQI