Columbia University has received a $200 million donation, the largest in the university’s history, to build a new neuroscience center, Columbia President Lee Bollinger announced at a press conference Monday.

The Jerome L. Greene Science Center will feature laboratories that will study the relationship between gene function, brain wiring and behavior for treatment of diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, according to a Columbia press release. The center will likely be located in the Manhattanville area of West Harlem, close to both the university’s central and medical center campuses, pending New York City government approval, according to a letter to the Columbia community from Bollinger.

The donation was made by Dawn Greene and the Jerome L. Greene Foundation, which honors Greene’s late husband, who was a Columbia graduate and a New York lawyer, real estate investor and philanthropist.

Columbia spokeswoman Susan Brown said a commission must review plans for the center before work begins on the project, approximately five years from now.

“The Jerome L. Greene Science Center, on our proposed Manhattanville campus, will forever symbolize our ongoing effort to understand the human organism,” Bollinger said in the letter. “It will also, in very practical ways, lead to cures for diseases and a deeper grasp of our behavior as individuals and societies.”

Among those attending the announcement by Bollinger were New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and three Columbia scientists who will serve as leaders of the center.