Purdue University is investing more than $250 million in the life sciences over the next five years to advance research that both improves lives and supports Indiana’s critical life sciences business sector.

The investment will enable high-impact, leading faculty hires as well as dozens of new positions across six colleges, advanced instrumentation purchases and shared research facilities that enhance the life sciences.

The funding includes Purdue’s recently announced Pillars of Excellence in the Life Sciences Initiative, with a $60 million investment as part of Purdue’s $2 billion “Ever True” capital campaign. The initiative established the Integrative Neuroscience Center and Institute for Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease, which complement the Purdue Moves’ Drug Discovery and Plant Sciences initiatives.

“Just as in the 2013 choice of two focused research projects, the selection of the two new ‘pillars’ was the result of a careful and deliberative process led by faculty at each step,” said Purdue President Mitch Daniels. “A first-stage review concluded that the life sciences was the sector where Purdue has the greatest unexploited research potential. A second-level inquiry chose the two areas for major investments.

“We are already seeing important results. Forty Purdue-developed drugs are in the pipeline, the university achieved a record $401 million in sponsored research funding this past year, and many strategic partnerships with national labs and private-sector companies have been forged.”

The Pillars of Excellence in the Life Sciences Initiative, which is implemented as a partnership of the pillar leadership teams and the offices of the Executive Vice President for Research and Partnerships and Provost, will be housed in Purdue’s high-profile, interdisciplinary Discovery Park. A multi-million dollar investment in high-throughput screening instrumentation and the establishment of a chemical genomics facility for the Purdue Center for Drug Discovery are planned, as are new core facilities in the neurosciences and upgrades to existing core facilities in Discovery Park. These facilities will support the wealth of talent and scientific expertise in the life sciences at Purdue.