About

The pulse of our research

Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center is an internationally recognized center of excellence in cardiovascular research. Located on Mizzou’s campus in Research Park, it was founded over 30 years ago and has been continuously supported by the state with the express purpose of facilitating cardiovascular research. It contains 37,000 square feet of modern research space and has a dedicated small-animal vivarium, a small animal phenotyping core, and a comprehensive, advanced imaging core.

The center makes great strides toward understanding many diseases including cystic fibrosis, heart disease, hypertension, neurodegenerative disease, sleep apnea, spinal cord injury and stroke. The ultimate goal of this research is development of new and improved therapies.

History

Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center’s history involves an evolution of the purpose of research within its walls.

Constructed in 1967, the building began as a NASA space sciences research center and housed researchers who focused on depressed metabolism during long space flights. When NASA withdrew funding in the 1970s, the purpose shifted to a general research, and, after the recent death of former Missouri Governor John M. Dalton, it was officially renamed and dedicated the Dalton Research Center in 1973.

In those years, the center was multidisciplinary, with no particular focus in its research. That changed in 1992 when Ed Blaine was named its director and requested it officially change its name to Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center. Thanks to $2 million secured by Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond and a similar amount from the National Institutes of Health, the building underwent a renovation and boasted 1/3 more lab and office space when it was completed in 2004. At that point it had 18 principal investigators and 12 other affiliated researchers, focusing on areas including effects of both inactivity and exercise on cardiovascular function and interaction of the brain and nervous system with cardiovascular function.

Dalton's Mission

Partnership Statement

Dalton seeks to achieve international recognition as a center of excellence in cardiovascular research. We partner with the academic homes of our principal investigators and also collaborate with non-resident investigators to extend our resources to those departments by emphasizing interdisciplinary research. We aim to not consider our center as a distinct entity but rather share equally in our research success with our partners.

Operating Guidelines

Dalton offers excellent facilities to promote and accomplish research in the cardiovascular sciences. We invoke the doctrine of fairness related to use of facilities, recognition, shared credit and in establishing guidelines for becoming and remaining a Dalton investigator.

Dalton Investigatorship

Dalton investigators will be allocated space or maintain active collaborations with investigators in our center. Appointment as a Dalton investigator is for a renewable three-year period. All members have expectations to seek national sources of funding and will meet annually with the director to review research productivity as judged by publication in peer-reviewed journals, presentations at national and international meetings, and competitive research funding.