Mexican Billionaire Donates $74 Million to Broad for Disease Research

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helú has donated $74 million to the Broad Institute to continue studying the genomic basis of human disease—the second gift he has given for this effort—according to an announcement made by Slim and Broad President and Director Eric S. Lander at the Broad Institute on Monday.

The donation will build upon the success of research initiated by his first grant, $65 million donated in 2010 for phase one of the Slim Initiative for Genomic Medicine in the Americas—a partnership between the Broad Institute, the Carlos Slim Health Institute, and the National Institute of Genomic Medicine of Mexico.

SIGMA has focused on Latin American populations, which have traditionally been under-researched in genetic studies relative to samples from people of European descent.

“Most genomic research has focused on European or European-derived populations,” said Lander during the announcement on Monday. “It is like doing science with one eye closed.”

Phase one efforts by SIGMA researchers have led to a number of findings, including the identification of new genetic drivers for breast cancer and lymphoma as well as the discovery of a genetic variant that predisposes Latin Americans to type II diabetes.

Phase two of the program will address high-burden diseases, including cancer, kidney disease, and type II diabetes. The project will also emphasize discoveries that can be translated to a clinical setting.

“In truth, this is the next logical extension of the human genome project,” said Joan E. Bailey-Wilson, a branch chief at the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health. “This research will be provide more tools for our toolbox by giving us decent sequencing coverage over populations that have simply not been studied thoroughly.”

The Broad Institute, a joint venture of Harvard and MIT, brings together faculty and students from both universities as well as biomedical researchers from hundreds of private and public institutions around the globe.

“The Broad Institute is a world leader in genomic medicine and shares our own vision for overcoming some of the greatest challenges and solutions in public health,” said Slim at the announcement. “I am convinced that the discoveries we make together will strongly impact the population in Mexico and worldwide.”

—Staff writer Fatima N. Mirza can be reached at fatima.mirza@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @fatimanmirza.