$650M gift to Broad seeks to propel psychiatric research
The Broad Institute today announced an unprecedented commitment of $650 million from philanthropist Ted Stanley aimed at galvanizing scientific research on psychiatric disorders and bringing new treatments based on molecular understanding to hundreds of millions of people around the world. The Stanley commitment — the largest ever in psychiatric research and among the largest for scientific research in general — will support research by a collaborative network of researchers within the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute, a biomedical research institution that brings together faculty from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, the Harvard-affiliated hospitals, and collaborators worldwide. Stanley Center Director Steven E. Hyman, former Harvard provost and professor of stem cell and regenerative biology and of neurobiology at Harvard, said the Stanley gift in the short term will provide a boost for additional genetic sequencing for schizophrenia, autism, bipolar disorder, and other mental conditions. The gift will...