SHORT TAKES:UCI receives donations for brain research center

Two anonymous donors have given a total of $600,000 to UC Irvine’s Brain Imaging Center for stem cell and gene therapies research, university officials announced Wednesday.

The gifts, which came in the amounts of $100,000 and $500,000, will help the center to develop an imaging system to monitor different therapies for brain illnesses.

The center uses scanners and other equipment to observe the active functions of the brain.

“These two anonymous gifts are especially gratifying in that both donors recognize the need to develop new tools to monitor gene and stem cell therapies,” said Steven Potkin, the Brain Imaging Center’s director, in a release. “This monitor system will speed the development of these new breakthrough therapies for those suffering from neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.”

— Michael Miller