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The Eli and Edythe L. ӳ����ý of MIT and Harvard was established today as a permanent non-profit scientific research institute, and received the first installment of the philanthropists’ pledge of their endowment gift, announced last September.

“Today, July 1, marks a historic milestone for the ӳ����ý. Through the generosity of Eli and Edythe ӳ����ý, the ӳ����ý has transitioned from an ‘experiment’ to a permanent research institute closely affiliated with both Harvard and MIT,” said Eric Lander, founding director of the ӳ����ý. “This new status allows us to look at the future with much greater horizons, and to invest in people and projects that will make a lasting difference over a long time. It also gives us the freedom to dream even more broadly about how to understand and treat human disease.”

Photo courtesy of Len Rubenstein

“Our goal in funding the ӳ����ý is simple: to improve the human condition,” said Eli ӳ����ý.  “Edye and I are convinced that the hundreds of passionate scientists at the ӳ����ý will identify the genes responsible for disease and will discover cures or completely eliminate diseases altogether. We believe that our investment will put the ӳ����ý firmly on the path toward its mission of completely transforming medicine.”

“ӳ����ý 2.0,” as it has been affectionately termed by the ӳ����ý personnel working on the transition, is primarily an infrastructural change designed to even more completely and transparently support the ӳ����ý’s mission and collaborative scientific model.