Media Contacts: Karen Gajewski, UCSD, (858) 822-3353, or Janet Skidmore, Merck & Co., Inc. (908) 423-3046

MERCK & CO., INC. COMMITS $2.5 MILLION IN FELLOWSHIPS FOR UCSD NEUROSCIENCE STUDENTS                                                              Largest single fellowship gift in history of UCSD to help support students in nation's top-ranked neuroscience program

The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) today announced that it has received a commitment of $2.5 million from Merck & Co., Inc. to help support second-year neuroscience doctoral students. This is the largest single gift for graduate fellowships in the history of UCSD.

The Merck Neuroscience Education Program fund is pledged over a five-year period, and includes an average of $25,000 per student in annual fellowships to cover fees and provide a stipend for students in their second year. Students already receiving funding support from other sources will receive a Merck Fellowship Supplement of $5,000, thereby helping UCSD to attract the very best students in the field. Merck and UCSD also will provide travel stipends for students to enable them to present their research at conferences and to conduct joint retreats and seminars aimed at improving interaction between Merck researchers and academic researchers at UCSD.

"This is a wonderful example of two first-rate institutions playing to their strengths," said William B. Kristan, Jr., Ph.D., professor of biology and director, graduate program in neuroscience at UCSD. "This gift will allow us to attract even more of the best graduate students to our labs, and that increases collaborative opportunities for all neuroscientists in the La Jolla community."

Merck & Co., Inc., a global, research-driven pharmaceutical company, has a longstanding commitment to supporting educational activities in communities surrounding its facilities. In 1999, Merck acquired SIBIA Neurosciences, Inc., a La Jolla, Calif.-based company dedicated to drug discovery for central nervous system disorders. The facility has been renamed Merck Research Laboratories - San Diego (MRL-SD).

"In coming to San Diego, Merck welcomes the opportunity to interact with the outstanding neuroscience research community in the area," said Jeffrey McKelvy, Ph.D., Vice President of Merck Research Laboratories, San Diego. "This gift demonstrates Merck's commitment to basic research in the neurosciences, and to developing much-needed new therapies to prevent and treat problems such as stroke, behavioral illnesses and Alzheimer's disease."

The UCSD neurosciences and neurobiology programs admit 18-20 students per year, with a total of about 90 Ph.D. candidates in the programs. In 1995, the last time ratings were released, the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences ranked UCSD's neuroscience graduate training program as the very best in the nation. The training is highly interdisciplinary, consisting of leading faculty from UCSD's School of Medicine, Division of Natural Sciences, Division of Social Sciences, as well as from neighboring research institutions including The Salk Institute, The Burnham Institute and The Scripps Research Institute.