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Print Edition StoriesWednesday, December 24, 2008
Madoff woes shutter Picower funding arm of MIT memory institute
By Marc Songini
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The nearly 20-year-old Picower Foundation, which invested millions in medical research and other charities, announced last week that it would cease operations because of heavy losses sustained from the collapse of fraudulent money manager Bernard Madoff’s fund, the local and national press has reported. The Palm Beach, Fla.-based philanthropic foundation launched MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory with a $50 million gift.
A person answering the phone Wednesday at the Picower Foundation’s New York office declined to answer any questions.
A spokeswoman for MIT on Tuesday said that the initial $50 million committed to fund the Picower Institute had already been paid in full and there was “no jeopardy” to the school. “It’s obviously terrible news,” she said. “The Picowers have made an enormous contribution to neuroscience. Everyone here was shocked and very much saddened.” She declined to comment on what the status of any subsequent and smaller grants from the foundation might now be.
In 2002, the Picower Foundation awarded MIT $50 million to launch what was then called the Picower Center for Learning and Memory (it was renamed in 2005). It was then the largest single gift from a foundation to the school. The goal of the Picower Institute is to study neurological disorders such as autism and Alzheimer’s disease.
Last may, the Picower Foundation awarded the institute an additional $4 million to launch the Picower Institute Innovation Fund. The fund was intended to support Picower Institute faculty members for innovative or high-risk neuroscience research. Among the projects the award funded was a research project that would flash lasers at brain cells to restore and disrupt memories. Another study involved investigating the genetic basis for language learning, according to an MIT press release issued at the time.
The Picower Foundation was launched in 1989 with the goal of sponsoring medical research innovation.
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