Colorado State University graduate and CEO of medical cannabis company Panacea Life Sciences Leslie Buttorff has given $1.5 million to her alma mater for cannabis research, CBS4 reports. Buttorff graduated from CSU in 1979 with a degree in statistics.
Jan Nerger, dean of the College of Natural Sciences, said the gift will give “unprecedented opportunities” for the college’s faculty and students and “places CSU in an unparalleled position to advance research in this burgeoning area.”
Buttorff told CBS4 that the partnership with the college will help advance Panacea’s focus on “developing scientifically driven and medically focused products.”
The university plans to use the funds to create a CBD research center within the chemistry building and study terpene profiles in an effort to advance cannabinoid efficacy to treat both human and animal ailments. The university also plans to study other cannabinoids including cannabigerol (CBG), cannabinol (CBN), cannabichromine (CBC), and tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV).
The donation is the latest from the cannabis industry to a college or university for plant and cannabinoid research. Last year, Seth and Eric Crawford, the founders of Oregon CBD, donated $1 million to Oregon State University’s Global Hemp Innovation Center – the brothers are both OSU graduates. That program was also recently bolstered by $2.5 million in federal funding.
Medical cannabis firm Primative – co-owned by former Detroit Lions Calvin Johnson and Rob Sims – also made an undisclosed six-figure donation to Harvard’s Phytomedicines and Medical Cannabis Institute last year to research the effects of cannabis on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and pain management.
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