Iowa State President Martin Jischke will highlight the inaugural colloquium of the Plant Sciences Institute Saturday by announcing a private gift of at least $10 million.

Colin Scanes, director of the institute, said the donation will be at least eight figures. He said the money will go toward the Center for Bioinformatics and Biological Statistics, one of the eight centers within the institute.

“I am very excited about this donation,” Scanes said.

The Iowa State Legislature recently gave the institute $2.2 million.

“The goal in 10 years is to raise up to $400 million for the institute through government funding, grants and private donations,” Jischke said.

The colloquium, which is free and open to the public, will be from 8:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Kildee Hall.

Jischke will announce the gift for the institute at 8:45 a.m. in the Kildee Hall atrium. Scanes will follow with a speech on “Plant Sciences at Iowa State for the New Millennium” at 9:10 a.m. in Lush Auditorium.

A series of brief lectures by the Plant Sciences Institute center directors and ISU faculty will follow Scanes’ comments. It will run from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in Lush Auditorium.

The speakers include:

• Basil Nikolau, professor of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, with “Crops as Chemical Factories — Opportunities and Challenges.”

• Volker Brendel, associate professor of zoology and genetics, with “Gene Identification by Sequencing — Recent Progress for Maize.”

• W. Allen Miller, professor of plant pathology, with “Plant Transformation and Gene Expression for the New Millennium.”

• Manjit Misra, professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering,” with “Quality Seeds to Feed the World — The Role of the Seed Science Center.”