Posted on December 19, 2012

Columbia University Receives $200 Million From Real Estate Mogul

Columbia University has announced a $200 million gift from Mortimer B. Zuckerman, chairman and CEO of Boston Properties, to create an endowment for a Mind Brain Behavior Institute.

To be located in the 450,000-square-foot Jerome L. Greene Science Center currently under construction on Columbia's new Manhattanville campus in West Harlem, the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute will undertake cutting-edge research in neurobiology and human mental functions, including translational programs focused on new therapies and potential cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), as well as neurodevelopmental disorders like autism and Asperger's.

In addition, the institute will work to promote interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers from Columbia University Medical Center, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, and other schools and academics working in the neural sciences and fields involving human behavior. Columbia plans to expand the institute's faculty to more than sixty-five members, including independent junior fellows and visiting scholars, over the next several years. At full capacity, the institute will include a thousand scientists and staff working across Columbia's campuses.

"This country has provided me with extraordinary opportunities, and I am glad for the chance to support scientific leadership in a field I believe is so essential to all our lives," said Zuckerman. "With an inspiring team of neuroscientists at its core, Columbia's Mind Brain Behavior Institute is not only researching vital questions about diseases of the brain, especially as we age, it is bringing together talented researchers across many academic fields to address the central questions we face as a society. At its root, this is an investment in accomplished scholars whose collective mission is both greater understanding of the human condition and the discovery of new cures for human suffering. I can hardly think of anything more important than that. I feel deeply privileged to participate in this path-finding venture."