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UCSF has
received a challenge gift of $20 million from the Sandler
Foundation that will provide major support for the
university’s groundbreaking research and clinical care
efforts regarding neurological diseases.
In honor of
the extraordinary commitment of Herbert and Marion Sandler
and the Sandler Foundation to UCSF and the Department of
Neurology, the new neurosciences building, opening this
month at the UCSF Mission Bay campus, will be named the
Sandler Neurosciences Center. To meet the challenge, the
university will endeavor to match the gift dollar-for-dollar
with additional donations in support of the facility and
programs headquartered in the building.
The Sandler
Neurosciences Center signifies a milestone in the evolution
of UCSF’s world-class neuroscience enterprise. The
five-story, 237,000 square foot building will bring under
one roof several of the world’s leading clinical and basic
research programs, providing an environment that encourages
a cross-pollination of ideas and collaboration.
The goal of
the building is to support UCSF’s efforts to find new
diagnostics, treatments and cures for a number of
intractable neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s
disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, stroke,
migraine, epilepsy, autism and other neurological diseases.
At full
capacity, the building will house approximately 100
principal investigators and their research teams, who will
use cutting-edge neuroimaging, genetics and other
technologies to advance understanding of the brain and
neurological diseases. The space itself was designed to
support the movement of discoveries from the basic science
labs on the top floors of the building to the clinical
research space on the first floor.
“For more than
two decades, the Sandler Foundation has been one of UCSF’s
most important partners,” said UCSF Chancellor Susan
Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH. “Its new investment will bring
our pioneering neuroscience research and care to
unprecedented levels, giving new hope to patients
everywhere.”
Combined with
its earlier gift of $5 million, the Sandler Foundation’s new
contribution brings its total support of UCSF’s neurological
disease initiatives to $25 million. The foundation has
contributed more than $100 million to UCSF overall. Other
landmark investments have included the Program for
Breakthrough Biomedical Research (http://pbbr.ucsf.edu/),
a bold program that challenges UCSF scientists to pursue
basic science projects that are creative, risky and
transformative; Sandler Asthma Basic Research Center (http://sabre.ucsf.edu/),
an investigative unit dedicated to basic discovery in asthma
research that is supported by advanced technology cores; and
the Sandler Center for Drug Discovery, a research effort
focused on third world parasitic diseases.
Commenting on
the gift, Herbert Sandler noted: “UCSF is a special place.
There is no university in the world that can match the
quality of its people, the excellence of its basic science
research and the unique culture of collaboration that leads
to great science. The foundation’s gift not only supports a
superb new facility, but even more significantly helps
ensure that critical investments continue to be made to the
world-class scientists and innovative research that are the
backbone of UCSF’s impact in the world and its outstanding
reputation.”
Designed by
top architecture firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, the
Sandler Neurosciences Center will house the Institute for
Neurodegenerative Diseases, the UCSF Department of Neurology
and the W.M. Keck Foundation Center for Integrative
Neuroscience at UCSF. It also will host the UCSF Memory and
Aging Center, which will relocate there from its current
home on the Parnassus campus.
The building
is designed to enhance collaboration within the structure
and throughout the entire Mission Bay campus. Natural
gathering places, such as meeting and break rooms, are
located in the center of the building. Office spaces
located along the southern curved section of the building
create a continuous space. An outdoor courtyard allows
researchers to congregate with colleagues from adjacent
buildings. And the Sandler Center’s proximity to the
growing commercial biotechnology hub in Mission Bay provides
further opportunities for collaboration.
“What we hope
to accomplish in this new building is a bit audacious yet
extraordinarily exciting,” said UCSF Department of Neurology
chair Stephen Hauser, MD. “We can bring together
neuroscientists, clinical scientists and clinicians treating
patients to understand how a healthy brain works – and what
goes wrong when it becomes diseased.”
About UCSF
UCSF is a
leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide
through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level
education in the life sciences and health professions, and
excellence in patient care. For further information, please
visit
http://www.ucsf.edu/.
About Sandler
Foundation
Sandler
Foundation was formed in 1991 by Herbert and Marion Sandler
and has contributed more than $550 million to a variety of
causes. For further information, please visit
http://www.sandlerfoundation.org/.
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