Columbia University gets whopping 400 million for biomedical research

Columbia University thanked Roy and Diana Vagelos for their gift and said that it will help to secure the university's leadership in biomedical science research.

Study in US: Roy and Diana Vagelos have given a new $400 million gift to Columbia University for biomedical science research and education. The university said that it is the single biggest ever gift given to the medical school of Columbia University.

"We are deeply honoured to announce today a new $400 million gift from Roy and Diana Vagelos, which will secure Columbia’s leadership in biomedical science research and education and produce a vast array of compelling opportunities for improving society’s health and wellbeing," said the official statement of the university.

The gift will be used to construct a new biomedical research building named Vagelos Innovation Laboratories. It will be built on the Washington Heights medical campus at 167th Street and Audubon Avenue. It will help in innovative collaborations and coming out with new technologies. The funding is going to support gene therapy and cell engineering at the medical school.

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The advanced research in these areas will lead to many breakthroughs in finding new treatments for many diseases including metabolic disorders, blood disorders, and the immune system, cancers, and neurological, inflammatory and cardiovascular conditions.

Samuel Sternberg, an HHMI investigator and associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics, told STAT news, “It’s always tempting in science to focus on incremental advances that are safe and NIH-fundable that will lead to immediate publications."

“I didn’t have to worry about that first year being productive. I could dream big” Sternberg said.

Roy Vagelos said, “Diana and I want to help create an environment that will allow generations of scientists to fuel discoveries that address the most challenging problems in health and medicine. We envision that this Institute will remove barriers for talented individuals so that they can learn, collaborate, innovate, and explore the important questions in biomedical science that they are most passionate about. This is what inspired my career, and I am hoping we can provide these same opportunities for others," as reported by Forbes.

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