$50 Million Gift to School of Biological Sciences

To the Anteater Community:

I am delighted to announce that UC Irvine has received a transformational $50 million gift from biotech scientist and entrepreneur Charlie Dunlop to support and advance the School of Biological Sciences. This gift will provide unrestricted support for academic and research activities within the school.

The School of Biological Sciences is one of the largest academic units at UC Irvine, with more than 4,000 undergraduates and 300 graduate students. Multidisciplinary research and academic opportunities exist in such areas as cancer and infectious diseases, developmental biology and genetics, environmental and evolutionary studies, mechanisms of gene expression, neurodegeneration, learning and memory disorders, structural biology, stem cell therapies, and science education. This impactful gift recognizes the school’s preeminence in conducting basic, translational and clinical research dedicated to the discovery of new scientific knowledge.

Raised in Orange County and a graduate of our sister campus UC San Diego, Charlie Dunlop founded Ambry Genetics in 1999. The company was a pioneer in genetic testing and the first in the world to offer such tests as hereditary cancer panels and clinical exome sequencing. Additionally, Dunlop championed the open sharing of genetic data, which has revolutionized the industry and catalyzed advancements in health sciences globally. Dunlop was president and chairman of the board of Ambry Genetics until it was sold in 2017. A longtime member of the school’s Dean’s Leadership Council, he has twice served as the featured speaker at the school’s commencement ceremonies, in 2016 and at today’s celebration.

In recognition of his extraordinary philanthropy, the school has been renamed the Charlie Dunlop School of Biological Sciences. Please join me in expressing our utmost gratitude to Charlie Dunlop for his singular generosity and unwavering support of our institution.

Fiat Lux,

Chancellor Howard Gillman