The Toronto-based Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation has announced a C$50 million ($39.7 million) gift from La Fondation Emmanuelle Gattuso and the Slaight Family Foundation to fund cancer research.

The gift will establish the Allan Slaight Breakthrough Fund and will enable the Princess Margaret—which operates the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, one of the world’s leading cancer research centers—to recruit researchers and facilitate collaboration among other top cancer research institutions. According to the cancer foundation, the undesignated funding will be dedicated to basic scientific, “pure discovery” research to give investigators the freedom to approach their work in creative, exploratory, and unconventional ways.

In addition to the Breakthrough Fund, a related annual forum will be named in honor of the late Canadian businessman Allan Slaight, and the Princess Margaret Research Tower will be renamed the Allan Slaight Medical Innovation Labs. A 2013 gift of C$50 million to the Princess Margaret Hospital from the Slaight Family Foundation established the Gattuso Slaight Personalized Cancer Medicine Fund.

“Scientific breakthroughs are possible, and if they are going to happen anywhere, they’ll happen here, at the Princess Margaret,” said Emmanuelle Gattuso and Gary Slaight, Allan Slaight’s widow and son. “Allan would have loved everything this gift stands for–it reflects his curiosity, creativity, and his belief that talented people will accomplish remarkable, magical things when they are empowered to do so.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/howtogoto)