A multinational drug company is putting more than $2 million toward a new University of Ottawa Heart Institute research centre focused on medical imaging at a molecular level.

MDS Nordion, which makes the radioactive isotopes used in molecular imaging technologies such as PET (positron emission tomography) and SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) scans, is providing $2.3 million ($2.2 million US) for a centre that will start research using such techniques at the institute this fall, the company announced Monday.

The Molecular Imaging Centre of Excellence, as it's called, will support cardiology research and provide MDS Nordion with a "unique opportunity" to expand its molecular imaging business, the news release said.

Molecular imaging detects changes in the biochemical processes in the body that suggest disease before they become noticeable in other tests like CT scans, said Dr. Terry Ruddy, the chief of cardiology.

"It's like finding a weed in the garden," he said. "You get that weed when it's tiny, before it's grown into a large weed, which spreads and gives you more weeds."

The sensitive technique involves injecting a small amount of a sugar, drug or other compound tagged with a radioactive isotope into a person or animal. The cells where it accumulates show up as bright spots in the imaging scan, which can show biochemical changes caused by disease.

Ruddy said the centre, which has ordered equipment and plans to hire scientists in the fall, will do research on mice aimed at finding new ways to prevent and treat heart disease.

Centre will offer service to drug companies

Molecular imaging also allows researchers and doctors to monitor how drugs are absorbed and used by certain cells.

MDS Nordion said it plans to provide molecular imaging services to large pharmaceutical companies trying to bring new drugs to market.

Company president Steve West said the partnership will provide both MDS Nordion and the university institute with access to new resources.

"Our franchise is a worldwide franchise … When you've got our outreach and their access to patients and their clinical setting and their knowledge and all the researchers that they have there, the two of us together are formidable," he said.

He anticipates that it will also help the researchers earn the favour of grant providers.

"When the various funding agencies see the capabilities we have and the fact we have a private enterprise-public partnership, it'll be easy for the institute to access research funding," West said.

MDS Nordion specializes in medical isotopes, radiation and related technologies. It is a subsidiary of MDS Inc., a multinational life science company that trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange.