The Robert A. and Renee E. Belfer Family Foundation commits to philanthropic donation of $25 million to form the Neurodegeneration Consortium (NDC).

The multi-disciplinary team will include researchers from Baylor College of Medicine, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Texas MD Andersons Cancer Center’s Institute for Applied Cancer Science (IACS).

The aim is to better understand the underlying biology of Alzheimer’s disease and translate this knowledge into therapeutic interventions that can effectively alleviate symptoms by delaying, reversing and/or eliminating the pathology of the disease.

The gift is contingent on consortium partners raising an additional $25 million by January 2016.