PHOENIX, Ariz. -- July 29, 2010

Dr. Matthew Huentelman of the Translantional Genomics Research Institute (TGen) will trade test tubes and his lab coat today for a safety helmet and shorts as he bikes 200 miles to help increase funding for Alzheimer's disease research. The Breakthrough Ride 2010, sponsored by the national Alzheimer's Association, started July 17 in San Francisco, Calif., and will end Sept. 21 -- World Alzheimer's Day -- in Washington, D.C., in an effort to encourage congress to more than quadruple federal funding for Alzheimer's research. Nearly 60 scientists and researchers are riding relay-style through 13 states along the 4,500-mile route to show support for the Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act (S. 1492 & H.R. 3286), which calls for increased annual funding for Alzheimer's research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to as much as $2 billion, from $460 million. According to the Alzheimer's Association, this legislation would help fund better prevention and treatments for Alzheimer's disease, which in the long run will save the nation's taxpayers and public health programs billions of dollars. According to the Arizona Alzheimer's Consortium -- a leading research collaboration of which TGen is a member -- more than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's, a number projected to grow to 16 million within 30 years. Dr. Huentelman, an Investigator in TGen's Neurobehavioral Research Unit, is an avid bike rider who averages about 100 miles a week. For the Breakthrough Ride, he will start today from Phoenix and travel more than 200 miles over the next three days, arriving Saturday in Holbrook, Ariz.