NEW YORK – The University of California, Los Angeles said on Thursday that it has received a $29 million gift to establish a new center for precision genomic medicine.
The gift from Los Angeles-area philanthropists Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg will create a center within UCLA's Institute for Precision Health to "build on UCLA's efforts in precision health to leverage large data sets and innovative genomic technologies such as CRISPR engineering to improve diagnosis and treatment of a wide variety of genetic disorders," UCLA Health said in a statement.
The gift includes support for translating research into therapeutics using genome editing technology, a "new one-stop, multidisciplinary and integrated patient clinic" on the UCLA campus, a research fellowship, and an annual symposium — which includes an emphasis on population genetics research and ethics.
The center will draw from the expertise of physicians and researchers from the UCLA Institute for Precision Health, UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine human genetics department, as well as faculty specializing in medical genetics, rare diseases, computational medicine, and other disciplines.
"Charlotte and I believe strongly that science must inform policy and clinical care, and that future generations must be provided tools and mentors to push discovery forward," Allen Ginsburg said in a statement.
The Ginsburg Center for Precision Genomic Medicine joins several other programs at UCLA addressing precision medicine, including the UCLA Atlas Community Health Initiative, the California Center for Rare Diseases, and the UCLA Center for SMART Health.
In November 2020, UCLA Health partnered with the Regeneron Genetics Center on whole-exome sequencing for patients.