Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust Supports Advanced Instrumentation and Malaria Research to Empower New Discoveries at Iowa State University

AMES, Iowa - The Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust of Muscatine, Iowa, has committed $378,105 to provide Iowa State University students and researchers the newest generation of chemical instrumentation, potentially accelerating research related to medicine, renewable energy and more. In addition, the Carver Trust has committed $382,915 to support an Iowa State researcher whose studies related to malaria could provide answers in the fight against the disease.

The first grant from the Carver Trust will go toward the purchase of advanced mass spectrometry instrumentation, which is used to identify and characterize molecules. An essential tool in analytical chemistry, modern mass spectrometry is key to the work of chemists and researchers who need to better understand the chemical properties and reactions related to work in biosciences, neurobiology, pharmaceuticals, environmental studies and more. The new instrumentation will grow the scope of scientific investigation at Iowa State, while enabling research teams to move current studies forward faster and more efficiently.

"With the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust's support, Iowa State will be able to acquire emerging technology currently unavailable in Iowa," said Iowa State Department of Chemistry Chair William Jenks. "The goal is to make this instrumentation broadly available to expedite research efforts that lead toward solutions to environmental issues, medical and health problems and renewable and sustainable energy challenges. This includes making the technology available to other Regent institutions as well as those performing research in other labs and governmental agencies nearby."

Through the Carver Trust's generosity, Iowa State will also be able to enhance its graduate and undergraduate courses that incorporate mass spectrometry measurement into the curricula.

The second grant from the Carver Trust will support the research of Assistant Professor of Biomedical Sciences Joshua Beck, who is working to understand how parasites subvert their host cells during the liver stage of malaria infection. The results of his studies could provide new information relevant to the design of novel therapeutics and vaccine strategies for malaria.

"The past decade has seen encouraging progress in malaria control in endemic regions, yet the disease burden is still enormous, with more than 200 million new infections each year that result in nearly half a million deaths, mostly among children under the age of five in sub-Saharan Africa," Beck said. "The ambitious goal of moving toward malaria eradication is also undergoing revival. This will require a combined effort of controlling existing disease while simultaneously blocking transmission and will depend on developing novel strategies to target the pre-patent liver stage with therapeutics and especially an effective vaccine. I am thankful to the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust for its support of our work aimed at understanding fundamental mechanisms of host-parasite interaction in the liver stage that can support these goals."

The Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust in Muscatine, Iowa, is one of the largest private philanthropic foundations in the state of Iowa, with assets of more than $330 million and annual grant distributions of more than $16 million. It was created through the will of Roy J. Carver, a Muscatine industrialist and philanthropist, who died in 1981.

The Iowa State University Foundation is a private, nonprofit organization committed to securing and managing gifts that benefit Iowa State University. The Forever True, For Iowa State campaign, with a historic goal to raise $1.1 billion, will help support Iowa State in becoming the premier land-grant university for the 21st century and beyond.

Contacts
Elaine Watkins-Miller, Communications, Iowa State University Foundation, 515.294.1005, ewmiller@foundation.iastate.edu