An unprecedented collaboration between two of the world’s foremost research institutions, the Rockefeller University and the Weizmann Institute of Science, will be made possible through a contribution by the Rapid-American Corporation (R-AC), it was announced today by Mona Ackerman, R-AC president.
A new foundation, the Foundation for the Rockefeller University and the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science, Inc., will be funded by the Rapid-American Corporation through a contribution of $5 million which is expected to generate $500,000 per year from investment.
It is anticipated that the beneficiaries of the new foundation will ultimately share in an aggregate of at least $14 million.
“The magnitude of the research efforts undertaken by these two institutions is enormous and they have already contributed significantly toward finding solutions to the world’s most pressing problems, “Ackerman said. “Our ardent hope is that the award will enable the Rockefeller-Weizmann scientific teams to work together even more intensively and fruitfully to eradicate disease.”
According to Dr. Joshua Lederberg, president of the Rockefeller University, the establishment of the new foundation will bring the two institutions closer together in ways that would not otherwise have been possible.
“We expect that the foundation will support work in many fields, but many of its initial efforts are likely to be in biomedical research areas like cancer biology, the neurosciences, molecular genetics, immunology, plant genetics and parasitic diseases, as well as other fundamental science,” Lederberg said. “Research in these fields would impact on a wide range of human problems.”
Prof. Michael Sela, president of the Weizmann Institute of Science, said that this new formal link with the Rockefeller University will serve as the catalyst for Weizmann and Rockefeller scientific teams, both in New York and in Israel, to deepen their range of potentially life-saving research. “The formalization of the Weizmann Institute’s link with the Rockefeller University adds a bold new dimension to the relationship between the two institutions — we are most grateful to the Rapid-American Foundation and the Riklis family,” he said.
Additionally, the subjects and findings of the research supported through the new foundation will form the basis of international symposia involving leading scientists from institutions throughout the world.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
