UI receives $26.4 million gift for research institute

The University of Iowa has received a $26.4 million gift commitment from John and Mary Pappajohn of Des Moines for the under-construction UI Institute for Biomedical Discovery.

UI officials announced the gift today at the state Board of Regents meeting here.

The UI will name the interdisciplinary research institute the Pappajohn Institute, and the building that houses it the John and Mary Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building.

It is the largest single gift commitment ever to the UI from individual Iowa donors. It brings the Pappajohn's total lifetime gifts to the UI to $38.6 million.

The 200,000 square-foot, six-story facility on the UI health sciences campus will house laboratories and offices dedicated to cutting-edge research across disciplines.