The University of California at Berkeley has announced a $40 million grant from the Hong Kong-based Li Ka-shing Foundation to support scientific research, the Daily Californian reports.

The grant will support the construction of a $160 million scientific research center, set to open in 2009. The center, which will be affiliated with the university's Health Science Initiative, a campus-based program launched in 1999 to address the most pressing issues in biomedicine on an interdisciplinary level, will house programs in new fields of research in stem cell biology, brain imaging, and neurological science.

"This is a major gift that not only sets us on the critical path to completing the building phase of the Health Sciences Initiative, but also represents a strong endorsement from a world-leading philanthropist for the innovative and progressive biomedical science program at UC Berkeley," said UC Berkeley chancellor Robert Birgeneau.