JOAN AND SANFORD I. WEILL MEDICAL COLLEGE
AND GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MEDICAL SCIENCES
OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY

SUMMARY - THE KRESGE CHALLENGE

The Kresge Foundation

Located in Troy, Michigan, The Kresge Foundation is nationally recognized for its highly competitive "bricks and mortar" grants. Kresge grants "challenge" the raising of new, private gifts in the midst of an organized fund raising plan. They are also designed to strengthen the organization's ability to generate future private support after the capital campaign.

Medical College Award from Kresge - $500,000

The Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University applied to The Kresge Foundation under its Science Initiative, a challenge grant program to upgrade and endow scientific equipment and laboratories in colleges and universities. The maximum award of $500,000 was approved on June 18, 1998.

Purpose of Kresge Grant

Of the $500,000 total grant, $250,000 is directed toward purchasing and installing an X-Ray Crystallography Unit for the Structural Biology Program, and the remaining $250,000 toward an endowment fund for the equipment.

Structure of the Kresge Challenge

The cost of purchasing and installing an X-Ray Crystallography Unit is approximately $750,000, which has been fully funded through a combination of individual and foundation donors and the first grant payment from the Kresge Foundation ($250,000).

The balance of the Kresge Foundation's grant ($250,000) is contingent upon the Medical College raising an endowment of $1,002,500 in cash and pledges from individuals, corporations, and foundations by July 1, 1999.

Use of Kresge Endowment

The endowment income will be reinvested in 1999 and used for technical support and maintenance for the X-Ray Crystallography Unit in the first two years of the unit's operation. If future years, the endowment income will be used for faculty recruitment under the Strategic Plan, and later, for general purposes associated with scientific equipment maintenance and purchase at the Medical College.

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12- 3-98 10:45AM : NYH-CMC DEV. OFFICE-

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# SUMMARY - THE KRESGE CHALLENGE

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## Benefits of Kresge Challenge to the Medical College

The Kresge grant will make Cornell more attractive to junior scientists who are currently being recruited under the Structural Biology initiative. Research faculty in departments such as Medicine, Physiology, Pathology, and Biochemistry will also benefit enormously from the acquisition of this advanced technology. X-ray crystallography allows researchers to visualize and understand the architecture of biological molecules, the ways in which they are organized into cells and tissues, and how they function during biological processes. Understanding diseases at this fundamental level is helpful in identifying an abnormality well before a patient becomes outwardly ill, developing treatments, and designing therapeutic drugs.

The first of two Units planned for the Medical College's X-Ray Crystallography core facility has been operational since March 1998, and it illustrates the broad potential of this technology. For example, Dr. Min Lu, assistant professor of pharmacology, is using it to analyze **AIDS virus coat proteins**, and Dr. Tim McGraw, associate professor of biochemistry, is looking at proteins related to insulin regulation of glucose levels, which will impact how we understand and **treat diabetes**.

A grant from The Kresge Foundation benefits the Medical College in several ways. First, it is helping the Medical College achieve an immediate campaign goal by funding a portion of a new X-Ray Crystallography Unit. Second, it is contributing to the long-term stability of the highly sophisticated research environment at the Medical College by establishing an endowment fund to support scientific equipment in perpetuity. Finally, because The Kresge Foundation is so highly esteemed and respected for its rigorous grant review process, the awarded a Kresge grant is adding luster to the success of the capital campaign and further enhancing the reputation of the Medical College.