National Disease Research Interchange
As of July 1, 2004, the Heartland Lions Eye Banks became a substation of the National Disease Research Interchange (NDRI). The Eye Bank’s status as a remote site for NDRI has allowed it to strengthen ties with the ocular research community and provide tissue for study into a variety of blinding eye diseases like glaucoma, macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.

The Eye Bank and NDRI have worked together for the last several years to provide tissue for ocular research, making HLEB one of the top providers of eye tissue to NDRI. For HLEB, gaining NDRI remote site status was an honor and a reflection of a longstanding partnership.

NDRI is a not-for-profit organization that acts as a middleman between organ, tissue and eye banks and medical researchers. The organization is supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and is the nation’s leader in providing tissue and organs to NIH-funded and university-based research projects. For more information on NDRI, please visit their web site, www.ndriresource.org