To date, Google co-founder Sergey Brin has donated $1.1 billion in support of Parkinson’s disease research, Forbes reports.

Brin, whose fortune is estimated at $78 billion, according to Forbes, has become the largest individual supporter of Parkinson’s research, making him one of just a few people to have donated more than $1 billion toward a specific disease, including the late real estate billionaire Harry Helmsley and his wife, Leona Helmsley, who committed more than $1.1 billion toward research of Type 1 diabetes.

Brin has previously disclosed that he has a genetic mutation in the LRRK2 gene that gives him a much higher chance of developing Parkinson’s, and his mother, who has the same mutation, has been diagnosed with the disease.

While some of Brin’s giving has been via the Sergey Brin Family Foundation, Forbes estimates that two-thirds of his Parkinson’s-related giving was made through donations of Alphabet stock and from donor-advised funds. Moreover, Brin’s giving has focused much of his giving on advancing basic science, including launching the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) in 2017, which awards grants of up to $9 million over three years through the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) to collaborative teams of researchers. This year, Brin has donated $225 million total toward Parkinson’s research, including a $43 million gift to MJFF.

“This is probably the biggest experiment with Parkinson’s disease, certainly in the history of science,” said Dario Alessi, a biochemical engineer at the University of Dundee in Scotland, who leads an ASAP-funded team. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to really throw the kitchen sink at the problem and really do everything you can possibly dream of doing.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Davor Livincic)