Duchossois Family Donates $100 Million for Microbiome Research Institute

The University of Chicago Medicine will be receiving it’s largest single donation in history thanks to the Duchossois family. The Duchossois family, (known for The Duchossois Group) is a wealthy and prominent family within the Chicago-area. They are planning to donate $100 million to the University in order to support research on how our immune systems work together with bacteria in the body, as well as genetics in the pursuit of keeping us healthy.

In the past, the Duchossois family has given smaller donations to the university, however, with this incredibly large gift, they hope to induce a spark that will transform medicine in the future. Joyce Duchossois stated, “A lot of time with illness and disease, we prolong death, and wouldn’t it be a cool concept if we could prolong life and healthy living?”

Researchers hope that this donation will one day lead to ways of preventing particularly severe food allergies, as well as ways to use probiotics to prevent obesity, and also to improve the effectiveness of cancer-related drugs and anti-depressants. Research may even explore an understanding of how the use of antibiotics could potentially lessen the effects of Alzheimer’s disease. by investigating how bacteria and other microorganisms (microscopic organisms including bacterium, virus, and fungus) in the body interact with the immune system in order to keep people healthy. Our human microbiome is similar to a mini-ecosystem composed of communities that consist of these microorganisms which play a vital role in our health.

The family has experienced the effects of severe food allergies, cancer, and other health issues firsthand. Given the personal connection to this research, they hope that their contribution will aid in the treatment and prevention of many health related issues.

The Dean for basic science at The University of Chicago Medicine, T. Conrad Gillian, claims that the Duchossois’ decision to focus their contribution on the microbiome is “prescient”. Gillian says that the microbiome has an effect on every organ and every disease, which is why manipulating it may lead to discoveries that could help to maintain a person’s overall health.

Gillian will head efforts to launch the new project, which will be named The Duchossois Family Institute: Harnessing the Microbiome and Immunity for Human Health.

The family has been contributing to the University of Chicago Medicine for decades. Prior to this recent donation, the family had already given $37 million to the University. This has included a gift of $21 million in 1994, which was used to develop The Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine, which consists of outpatient specialty clinics, treatment faculties, and diagnostic centers.

This new institute will work hand and hand with the University’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in order to bring new developments to the market. They will partner with government agencies, philanthropists, industries, venture capitalists, and the public, as the University will license intellectual property that can be potentially be turned into business ventures. However, Craig Duchossois has said that any money made will be reinvested into the Institute.

A new building will not be developed or dedicated to this institute, but it will consist of it’s own faculty and staff, as well as new labs that will be repurposed in previously existing spaces to fit the needs of new programs.

The $100 million should fund the institute for about 10 years, and after that it will become largely self-sustaining.

Over the past decade, Chicago area hospitals and medical programs have received a large number of gifts. Since 2006, The Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research has donated $118 Million to the University of Chicago Medicine, extensively to support cancer research. The founder and former chief executive of Aon, Patrick Ryan, donated millions to the new Shirley Ryan Ability Lab in Steeterville, which is to replace the old Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. Louis A Simpson, Northwestern University Trustee and Alumni, donated $92 million to support biomedical research programs at Northwestern Chicago Medical Campus.

Featured Image Via Flickr/jevnin