EDITORS NOTE: To obtain an electronic file photo of Bob and Beverly Lewis in jpeg and tiff formats, call the UO Office of Communications, (541) 346-3134.

EUGENE–A $10-million gift from alumni Bob and Beverly Lewis of Newport Beach, Calif., will enable the University of Oregon to launch its sweeping "Brain, Biology, Machine" initiative.

The gift, which establishes the Robert and Beverly Lewis Neurosciences Center, initially will provide matching funds and other startup costs for a facility in Straub Hall to house a new functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) machine–a major tool for the brain research envisioned in the initiative. The gift also will fund an endowed chair, an endowed professorship and support for additional staff, graduate students, equipment and research costs.

"Thanks to the Lewises’ generosity, we will soon have a highly visible focal point for this trailblazing interdisciplinary initiative," says UO President Dave Frohnmayer. "In the long run, the Lewis gift will provide major, ongoing support for research that could lead to major discoveries about the human brain."

The university also has obtained support from the U.S. Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, state bonding authority and the UO Foundation to purchase the fMRI machine and related equipment and to remodel Straub Hall to create a new neuroimaging research facility.

"However, there has always been uncertainty about our ability to maintain, upgrade and expand this enterprise because of uncertainty in funding," says UO psychology professor Helen Neville, a prominent researcher in cognitive neuroscience. "This gift will ensure that brain imaging is a reality on the UO campus. It will enable us to have comprehensive training programs in human brain imaging and to build interfaces between the very strong programs of neuroscience, cognitive science and genetics research on our campus."

Richard Linton, UO vice provost for research and dean of the graduate school, says the Straub Hall remodeling project will start this summer and is expected to be completed by early 2002.

"The Lewis gift was essential in enabling the project to progress on schedule," Linton says.

Bob Lewis says he and his wife made the gift to demonstrate their love for the university, where the couple met in the late 1940s, and to support research that could improve peoples’ lives through new treatments for disabilities, diseases and injuries affecting the nervous system.

The Lewises also have provided major support for a regional cancer care center and other health care institutions in southern California.

"We have gained great satisfaction from that," says Lewis.

The Lewises, who were honored with the UO Pioneer Award in 2000, own a beer distribution company with facilities in Pomona and Lancaster, Calif. They have become well-known in the thoroughbred horse racing world for their ownership of two Triple Crown contenders, Silver Charm and Charismatic, as well as the all-time career money-winning filly, Serena’s Song.

The UO ‘s new fMRI facility will permit imaging of brain function and brain tissue that will allow scientists to better correlate the brain’s anatomy with human thought and behavior. Their studies will lay the groundwork for investigating brain functions such as learning, remembering, paying attention and experiencing emotions. The results of this research could lead to wide-ranging applications from new ways of teaching children languages to new, more effective treatments for stroke victims.

The "Brain, Biology, Machine" initiative brings together top UO scientists in the rapidly growing fields of cognitive neuroscience, molecular biology, genetics, optics and materials science, and computational science to share facilities, ideas and research projects.

According to Linton, future plans include a new building to house more faculty, expansion of molecular biology research facilities, creation of a small-animal fMRI facility to study effects of gene transplantation on brain function and behavior, and establishment of a "neuroinfomatics center" with computer resources to analyze the data from the expanded research efforts.

Linton says the excitement generated by the initiative, added to the university’s strengths in the sciences, already is attracting interest from promising new faculty prospects. He anticipates new hires this year in fields including biochemistry, molecular biology and psychology that will add further momentum to the research initiative.

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