By Kathleen Gallagher and Erica Perez of the Journal Sentinel
Philanthropists Robert and Patricia Kern have pledged $10 million to the Medical College of Wisconsin - the largest, single private gift in the college's history - to develop devices for detecting and treating disease.
The Kerns' personal gift will go to hire researchers and purchase mass spectrometers - sensitive equipment used to find very low concentrations of molecules that might reveal the presence of cancer, heart diseases or other problems.
The new innovation cluster, to be housed in the college's Biotechnology and Bioengineering Center, will capitalize on partnerships with Marquette University, Milwaukee School of Engineering, and in the future, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
"It's a wonderful gift," said Medical College President and CEO T. Michael Bolger. "It will help propel the medical school into the next echelon of research in molecular biology and cellular biology and genetics."
The innovation cluster will develop new technologies using mass spectrometry that can be transferred into commercial use, said Andrew S. Greene, a physiology professor who runs the biotech and bioengineering center.
