The University of California San Diego has announced a $5 million matching grant from the Kavli Foundation that will leverage an additional $5 million in previous gifts from other donors in support of the university’s Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind (KIBM).

As part of the foundation’s five-year, $5 million funding challenge, grants totaling $5 million from Joan and Irwin Jacobs; William and Marisa Rastetter; Sandra Timmons and Rick Sandstrom, and an anonymous donor will augment KIBM’s endowment, established by the Kavli Foundation with a $13.5 million grant in 2004. In addition, the funding will bolster new initiatives including a postdoctoral fellow program and a summer science-training program focused on underrepresented UC San Diego undergraduates.

KIBM is a cross-disciplinary collaboration between UC San Diego and the San Diego-based Salk Institute for Biological Studies—where former Qualcomm chair Irwin Jacobs serves as a trustee—that enables scientists from varied disciplines, including biology, engineering, and neuroscience, to engage in basic research at the forefront of discoveries in brain and animal cognition.

“This match serves to double the impact of our generous donors who share our dedication to furthering our understanding of the human brain and cognition, with the goal of making discoveries that have potential to benefit people around the world,” said university chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla.

“We are thrilled to support the Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind at UC San Diego and applaud Chancellor Khosla, university leadership and faculty, on their successful [fundraising campaign],” said foundation president Cynthia M. Friend. “The Kavli Foundation…views KIBM and the other Kavli Institutes around the world as the vanguard of basic research…and helping in our aim to advance science for the benefit of humanity.”

(Photo credit: Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego)