Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, part of the Mass General Brigham healthcare network, has announced a $100 million gift from the Laygend Foundation to support discoveries and therapies in immune-mediated diseases and a $17.5 million bequest from the Charles and Amelia Gould Revocable Trust to establish an asthma and pulmonary disease research center.

The gift from Gene Lay, founder and CEO of BioLegend, is the largest in Brigham history and will establish the Gene Lay Institute of Immunology and Inflammation in collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. In partnership with the other institutions, the institute will convene and develop interaction between faculty and trainees to advance basic science, translational science, and the use of technology in the field of immunology. Primary areas of research will include basic understanding of immune-mediated diseases, aging, and cancer and the translation of this knowledge to the development of new immunotherapies.

“During the past several decades, the astounding rise in inflammatory diseases has made it increasingly clear that chronic inflammation is a root cause of many diseases,” said Lay Institute director Vijay Kuchroo. “This…investment will allow some of the best immunologists of our time to address this epidemic head-on and build new knowledge to promote basic understanding for preventing and treating immune-mediated diseases.”

The $17.5 million gift from the estate of Amelia “Margie” Gould—whose husband, Charles, died following an asthma attack in 1989—will support the Charles and Amelia Gould Center for Asthma and Pulmonary Disease Research. According to Brigham, more than 25 million children and adults suffer from asthma, one of the most common health conditions in the United States, with rates increasing worldwide.

“The Gould Center will allow us to expand ongoing research and launch new studies with the goal of developing better treatments for asthma,” said Bruce Levy, interim chair of the Brigham’s Department of Medicine, co-director of the Lung Center, and chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. “The Gould Trust’s generosity is the catalyst we needed to really accelerate this work and bring discoveries to those who need them most—patients and their families.”

(Photo credit: Brigham and Women’s Hospital)