Colorado State University recently received its largest contribution ever, and people and animals may benefit in the future.

John and Leslie Malone have donated $42.5 million to create the CSU Institute for Biologic Translational Therapies in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, a 100,000-square-foot facility to develop stem-cell research into commercially viable treatments for animals and humans.

When one of their horses was injured, the Malones turned to CSU’s veterinary experts for help and saw that stem cells were able to regenerate the horse’s knee.

Intrigued, they decided to fund a place to help researchers handle regulatory issues related to stem cell research, test applications on veterinary patients and take the most promising applications on to use in humans.

Plans call to raise $22.5 million more to enable the school to construct a three-story building that will include clinical labs, an advanced surgical center and a 200-seat learning auditorium.

There, research will take place on gene therapy, stem cells, specialized tissue replacement and novel proteins, work that could make CSU a national leader in such efforts.

Since 1998, when researchers learned to remove stem cells from human embryos, there has been much controversy over the use of stem cells, but there are other sources for stem cells and since 2006 researchers have learned to stimulate a patient’s own cells to behave like embryonic stem cells.

Mankind needs responsible stem cell research.

With the Malones’ generous gift, Colorado State University is now poised to play a leading role in ethical stem cell research that could have many future benefits.