The University of California, San Francisco has announced a $35 million gift from the Helen Diller Family Supporting Foundation of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund toward construction of a cancer research center at the university's new Mission Bay campus, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The gift, the largest single contribution from an individual donor in the school's history, accounts for almost half of the $85 million in private donations needed to build the $120 million center and, in the past week, has motivated other donors to contribute an additional $12 million to the project. The Helen Diller Family Cancer Research Building, as the facility will be named when it is completed, will allow UCSF to consolidate all of its cancer research programs in one building and will foster collaborations among scientists on campus with the aim of translating their discoveries into new cancer treatments.

"By supporting the new Mission Bay campus we are not only aiding the scientists researching a cure for this devastating disease, [we are also] participating in the development of an entirely new section of this very beautiful city," said Helen Diller, who established the foundation six years ago with her husband Sanford Diller, a Bay Area real estate developer.

School officials announced the Diller gift at a dedication ceremony for the university's Mission Bay campus, which will double its available research and classroom space. To date, the university has raised $230 million for the project, including $50 million from biotechnology pioneer Genentech, Inc. and $17 million from William Rutter, co-founder of Chiron Corp, another Bay Area biotech company.