The University of Colorado Medical School has received a $6 million grant – the largest in school history – to create a stem cell research center. The donation comes the the Gates family, longtime Colorado philanthropists.
The center will be headed by Dennis Roop, a noted stem cell research at the Baylor University College of Medicine.
The grants comes from Charles C. and June S. Gates Family Fund — Charles C. Gates was former chairman of the board and chief executive of the Gates Corporation and Gates Rubber Company.
“We are incredibly grateful to the Gates family and trustees for their exemplary and generous gift,” said M. Roy Wilson, the medical school’s chancellor. “They have demonstrated their commitment to medical research at a time when there is great potential for significant advances in medical science in an environment of dwindling resources.”
The $6 million commitment consists of $2.5 million for an endowed chair and $1.75 million for specialized laboratory equipment. There is also $1.75 million offered as a challenge grant to fund portions of up to seven discipline-specific programs in areas including congestive heart failure, liver disease, vascular disease, neurological diseases; type 1 diabetes, blood diseases, leukemia, and cancer.
Roop, who will hold the endowed chair, is a noted researcher in skin disease and cancer. He brings with him five National Institutes of Health grants totalling $3.8 million.
