CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : IRVINE : Laser Institute Gets $6.2 Million

The UC Irvine Beckman Laser Institute received the largest single contribution in the university’s history as the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation of Corona del Mar presented the medical clinic with $6.2 million. The donation launches a campus-wide campaign that officials hope will bring in more than $200 million over the next few years. “This gift is most exciting because it assures the institute the funding necessary to remain at the forefront of laser biomedicine,” said Dr. Michael Berns, the institute’s director and co-founder. About $5.2 million of the donation will go toward the institute’s research endowment, while the rest will complete a pledge made last year by the Beckman foundation to support new research positions.