The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center has received a $25 million gift from Jack and Susan Taylor to create the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels.
The Institute is named for the company founded by Jack Taylor in 1957 and stilll owned by the Taylor family.
The Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute will expand the scientific expertise of the Danforth Center to speed up development of plant-based renewable biofuels.
Such fuels are expected to decrease the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and reduce dependence on finite fossil fuels in future years.
Roger N. Beachy, Ph.D., professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, is president of the center, located at 975 N. Warson Road.
The Danforth Center is the product of a unique and innovative alliance joining Washington University, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the University of Missouri-Columbia, Monsanto Company, and Purdue University.
Founded in 1998, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is a not-for-profit research institute with a global vision to improve the human condition.
As a hub for regional plant science collaboration, the Danforth Center teams with scientists at businesses and research institutions to undertake research initiatives.