CEDAR FALLS — The creation of a cross-disciplinary neuroscience center in the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine will be made possible with a $45 million grant from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust.

Research will be conducted at this new center to “find the causes of, and preventions, treatments, and cures for, the many diseases that affect the brain and nervous system,” Regent President Bruce Rastetter said at the regents’ meeting Monday.

“This is indeed a transformational gift … ” he said. “The incredible philanthropy of the Carver Charitable Trust and the Carver family cannot be overstated.”

To recognize the gift, the UI requested — and the regents approved — the center’s permanent name be the Iowa Neuroscience Institute.

Jean Robillard, the UI vice president for Medical Affairs and the dean of the Carver College of Medicine, said the Carver Trust wanted to name the center the Iowa Neuroscience Institute.

“They believe that this is an institute for the whole state,” he said.

Approval of the official name ensures that no future individual or corporate name can be attached to the institute. Rastetter said any request to name this institute in the future will not happen on the basis of the regents’ vote unless the vote is reversed.

Additionally, the regents’ approval means the $45 million gift will be added to the UI’s For Iowa. Forever More. fundraising campaign total of $1.85 billion. The campaign started in 2008 and continues through the end of this month, Robillard said.

Robillard said the gift will allow for numerous colleges to work together, including the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, the College of Medicine, and more.

“It will really help bring investigators together, increase collaboration, and really speed up research,” he said. “The gift will continue to help us recruit top notch neuroscientists and bring them on campus and serve, really, as a nucleus to bring other young people around them to really help develop these programs.”

Ted Abel, a faculty member from the University of Pennsylvania, will work at the UI starting in January 2017 and will lead the Iowa Neuroscience Institute. He said he was drawn to the UI for its “extraordinary opportunities in neuroscience” and is excited about the opportunity to help people develop research programs and their careers.

“I’m excited to have the opportunity to hire new faculty, to bring new people to Iowa City and also to work with the community that is in Iowa,” he said. “There is a long, exceptional history in psychiatry, psychology, neurology at Iowa that is something we’re really building on and Iowa should already be proud.”

UI President Bruce Harreld expressed appreciation for the Carver Trust’s “unsurpassed and unwavering support” for the UI in the past 30 years.

“Thanks to their foresight, the Carver name is forever linked with significant scientific discoveries and advanced treatments to cure diseases and to transform lives,” he said. “This new grant furthers that legacy, benefitting Iowans and the world. In particular this gift allows us to continue our leadership in biomedical discovery.”